Selling Out

Swamp Dogg never stopped working in the late '70s but after 1974's Have You Heard This Story??, his last stab at a major, he faded away, grinding out records on labels that were, at best, regionally known. Things changed in 1981 when Takoma – a roots label then owed by Chrysalis Records – decided to sign Dogg and fund the recording of I'm Not Selling Out – I'm Buying In!, an album that represented both an artistic comeback and something of a signal boost as well. It, like all the other Swamp Dogg records before it, did not sell but it did garner attention upon its release, and it stands as one of his best and better-known albums. Despite Dogg's proclamation in the liner notes that he produced this album "because I love Rock & Roll," there's not much three-chord boogie here: just "Wine, Women and Rock 'n' Roll," plus the cheeky revival "Total Destruction to Your Mind Once Again."