I almost want to say, "what happened", but…OK, I am going to say it, although, there were signs of this in the cards, from the last couple of albums. Tight Shoes is the first Foghat record that shows serious slippage in quality and sheer entertainment value. But then again, these guys had been at it for a while, and this being their 9th record in a row, one could not expect the good times to keep rolling. People might peek the date, listen to the album, and claim New Wave was to blame, but I do not think that was the issue here. The big problem is, the fire and passion has left Foghat, and what you hear is a bunch of guys going through the motions of making another record, reaching for something and attempting to stay fresh, but coming up a bit short.
Probably the first indicator is the songwriting - all of it from Dave Peverett, when in the past albums consisted many Dave and Rod Price collabs, and a few interesting covers. Second, everything is in the same coked-out 80's rocker tone that is somewhere between hair metal and generic barroom blues. Third and maybe most important, the rushed feel of each and every song, as if everyone wanted to cut the record as fast as possible, because the simple act of being in the studio together was a chore. One thing I will say is, the anguish and desperation of the material matches the strung-out tone of the music itself, which does make this album a fairly nice candidate for a listening companion if you find yourself in a similar state of mind. Incidentally, this would the last Foghat album which Rod Price would play guitar on, until the mid-90's.
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