Savoy Brown made the best of Dave Walker's departure for Fleetwood Mac by hiring Jack Lynton as their lead singer. While Lynton's voice can't match the warmth instilled by Walker's, he does do a competent job at melding with Kim Simmonds' guitar playing. His voice is sharp but not overly exciting, yet it still presents "Coming Down Your Way" with enough emotion to make it the album's standout track. The addition of Ron Berg on percussion and Stan Saltzman's saxophone are worthy instrumental extensions, helping to boost the album's energy level another notch. "Ride on Babe," "If I Want To," "Some People," and the title track are straight-sounding efforts, but they seem to lack the blues resilience of what the band is capable of. There's enough of Simmonds' talent to keep die-hard fans fascinated, yet the provocative blues-rock character that has evolved from Savoy Brown as a complete group has been slightly abandoned for the most part. Considering Savoy Brown's past tribulations that have played out in such a short time span, Jack the Toad can be labeled an adequate effort, but when paralleled to the quality of strut and swagger that Simmonds has administered with his members in the past, it may be regarded as a little less than that.
© Mike DeGagne /TiVo