38 Special - Tour De Force (9 tracks) +Album Reviews

Special Moments Indeed

G. J Wiener | Westchester, NY USA | 10/19/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Probably the premiere recording by these Wild Eyed Southern Boys. The first three songs If I Had Been The One, Back Where You Belong, and One Time For Old Times received a tone of well deerved airplay back in the eighties. Heck the video on If I Had Been The One featured some beautiful footage of horses galloping against a country skyline. Nonetheless, If I Had Been The One is a timeless track with beautiful guitar embellishments, passionate vocals of love lost, and stunning hooks galore.Not to omit the other album tracks, but at the worst they are harmless and at the best they are pretty darn captivating. Twentieth Century Fox rocks with a fine southern charm and Long Distance Affair has some strong hooks on the chorus. Don Barnes and Donnie Van Zandt are both in fine form vocally.If you want to remember some good music from the eighties, pick this record up at once. You will not be dissappointed."

Wild Eyed Southern Boys' Finest Effort

susumu-5 | Japan | 11/23/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

".38 Special is a six-men band featuring twin bass guitars and twin drums often what southern rockers are like. Their sixth album in 1983 may be a bit too defined to be southern rock but is one of the finest albums during that time. Despite the lack of songwriting genius Jim Peterik of Survivor, they could make the greatest song collections with also great songwriting pair Don Barnes and Jeff Carlisi. This album produced two top 20 hits IF I'D BEEN THE ONE and BACK WHERE YOU BELONG. Actually these songs were the very reason why I became a 38 Special fan. These hits were well received by Japanese yogaku (western music) fans during the winter of 1983/84. I just started listening to yogaku program and I instantly liked these songs. The rest of the album is also great with Don Barnes' melody-driven mellow vocal. ONE OF THE LONELY ONES, TWENTY CENTURY FOX and ONE TIME FOR OLD TIME are also the highlights of this album. Recommended for 80's pop rock fans, particularly Foreigner and Survivor fans."

Another Direct Shot From .38 Special

susumu-5 | 09/22/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

".38 Special scored another direct shot with TOUR DE FORCE. The first side is excellent, with "One Time For Old Times" displaying a sensitivity rare in this style of music, while the second side has three great songs- "Twentieth Century Fox", "Long Distance Affair", and "One Of The Lonely Ones." There are a couple of filler cuts on side two, but overall, this is agreat album that most fans of 70s and 80s rock will want."

38 STARS

David J. Spuria | 02/22/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"THIS IS THE BEST SINGLE ALBUM .38 SPECIAL HAS EVER RELEASED"

It's Back

David J. Spuria | Webster, Massachusetts | 06/11/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With a newly remastered version hitting the shelves on June 13, Tour De Force gets the treatment it has always deserved. This is a band that made many great singles, which were culled from collections that often weren't complete, start to finish offerings. Tour De Force is the peak of creativity for a band that later fell prey to the record label, and it's demands to homogenize the band into some kind of top 40 hit machine. The final straw came when Don Barnes was replaced by Max Carl for 1989's Rock N'Roll Strategy. And with that came the band's biggest sellout, and hit for that matter, "Second Chance". But this was the Michael McDonald moment for me. The band had finally gotten to #1 (atleast on the AC charts) but had sold it's soul for a sound that would later fade faster than a pair of 1989 blue jeans. Tour De Force was a final claim to that polished AOR southern boogie that worked for both Don Barnes and Donnie Van Zant. Jeff Carlisi's precise chord changes and stop-start progressions make all of his work totally identifiable. "What If I'd Been The One" is an awesome tale of love gone bad coupled with a stampede of guitars that go right along with the album cover. "One Time For Old Times" should have been Donnie's first #1 single, but it barely made the top 40. It's much more 38 then "Second Chance" as it retains the southerness of all their earlier work. "Back Where You Belong" is delivered with all of the zip of the afforementioned "What If", and also made the top 40 as a nice compliment. "Long Distance Affair" may be the best 38 song you've never heard. What makes this album great is the energy level and production values. This is a band in full stride, not yet looking over their shoulder(s) at a record label who will eventually lose a legendary band. The band later redeems itself on 1997's Resolution. This is a key album in a very underrated catalogue."

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