Maverick soul artist Swamp Dogg (aka Jerry Williams) has been described as the "soul genius that time forgot," and "a strange combination of Sly Stone's progressive funk with Frank Zappa's lyrical absurdism." In the seventies he even made the famed Nixon's Enemies List.
"Total Destruction To Your Mind" (1970), has been called "one of the most gloriously gonzo soul recordings of all time." "Rat On!" (1971), was ranked as having one of the top ten worst album covers of all time, an achievement that Swamp Dogg is rightfully proud of, and "Gag A Maggott" (1973), is one of Swamp Dogg's favorite records.
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Total Destruction’s title track roars with amplified funk boogie, with guitarist Jesse Carr and drummer Johnny Sandlin providing fuzz and a gutbucket beat. The song establishes Swamp Dogg as a character on the same wavelength as rock’s avant garde, with gritty, hard-edged melodies, and a clear admiration for blue-collar country. – AQUARIUM DRUNKARD
The soul genius that time forgot. – The GUARDIAN
Total Destruction to Your Mind, the first Swamp Dogg album, begins with the title track, wherein Williams, winking at the Beatles, sings about sitting on a cornflake riding on a rollerskate as his voice is surrounded by curling guitars and blammo horns and the music keeps freaking out from there. He prophesizes a post-bomb wasteland where kids have never known rain or rock'n'roll. Psychedelic music blows his mind, so his patience grows thin with the synthetic world we're living in. He laments being born blue instead of orange-skinned and green-haired like everyone else. He razzes rednecks. He pitches snake oil called "Sal-a-Faster." He wonders about mama's baby and daddy's maybe. His voice is boisterous, jovial, quizzical; his melodies sly and punchy. The music — given perfect shape by its craftsman's hand — suggests a quirky avenue that black music might've pursued if funk hadn't fomented instead. And it came packaged with a cover that showed Swamp sitting in shorts on a garbage truck, wearing a graduation cap. – David Marchese / SPIN
He sings like some unfrozen Atlantic soul man of the ‘60s—his voice clarion pure, his phrasing a model of smoldering restraint. – ROLLING STONE
A unique blend of in-the-pocket cheatin’ soul and defiantly pessimistic civil rights anthems. – MOJO
Listened to in passing, Rat On! offers top-flight ‘70s southern soul, with deep bass and punchy horns. But listened to more carefully, the album reveals a daring songwriter who wasn’t afraid to tell it as he saw it, challenging society’s icons of freedom with “God Bless America For What?” and landing himself on Nixon’s enemies list. The album’s features soulful reworkings of the Bee Gees’ “Got to Get a Message to You” and Mickey Newbury’s “She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye,” and though the original tunes aren’t nearly as absurd those on Total Destruction to Your Mind, their messages are just as powerful, and their grooves are just as deep. – NO DEPRESSION
Nothing matches the mind-blowing power of these R&B/rock/protest/
progressive masterpieces. – ROCTOBER