Arlo Guthrie — “Running Down the Road”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — April 14, 2024

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,175) Arlo Guthrie — “Running Down the Road”

This is not your father’s Arlo Guthrie, and it certainly ain’t Arlo Guthrie’s father’s Arlo Guthrie! Coming out of nowhere, the song’s “guitar freak-out by some studio musicians . . . ought to send 20 white blues bands scampering back to the tars of India” (Robert Christgau, https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=10970), its “harsh blasts of distorted psychedelic guitar and tough, walking-blues stance . . . [make it] a standout”. (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/running-down-the-road-mw0000120748)

Robert Christgau calls Guthrie’s third LP — also titled Running Down the Road — “[e]asily his best and most musical album, thanks to production-of-the-year by Lenny Waronker and Van Dyke Parks . . . . [c]ontain[ing] two absolutely superb cuts: “Running Down the Road[]” . . . and “Coming into Los Angeles,” which embodies almost perfectly what it means to be young, hip, and temporarily on top of it in 1970 Amerika.” (Robert Christgau, https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=10970) Richie Unterberger adds:

Although this album’s “Coming in to Los Angeles” crossed Guthrie over and into the rock underground, especially via its performance at Woodstock, most of his third record is actually far more laid-back country-rock. Very much a production of its time, in a slightly negative sense, Running Down the Road features Guthrie employing the cream of L.A.’s top country-rock players as session men . . . . The tone is good-natured and easygoing — too good-natured and easygoing sometimes . . . . Guthrie acknowledges his folk roots with covers of tunes by his father Woody Guthrie . . . Peter Seeger . . . and Mississippi John Hurt. These are surrounded by originals that follow the Dylan “back to basics” mold of the late ’60s, both in musical and lyrical concerns . . . . As such, much of the record is inoffensive but inconsequential, although the drug smuggling ode “Coming into Los Angeles” adds a touch of much-needed urgency. The title track is entirely uncharacteristic of the album . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/album/running-down-the-road-mw0000120748

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