New Wax
I've always been sort of lukewarm on the Drive-By Truckers... they have a lot of great songs that are thematically rich yet catchy, but much of their material is a tad too southern rock for me, and I actually prefer a bit of a country tinge, so that's saying something. While 2007 saw the departure of long-time Drive-By Trucker guitarist and songwriter Jason Isbell (who put out a solid solo album entitled Sirens Of The Ditch), the band follows up 2006's A Blessing And A Curse with this year's Brighter Than Creation's Dark. The much acclaimed Athens, Georgia collective has gained praise for its intelligent and conceptual brand of alt. country, and they boast a handful of songwriters who all contribute immensely. Initially described as a modern-day Lynyrd Skynyrd, the band has expanded their repertoire over the years, inching towards a more complex sound both musically and thematically. In my humble opinion, the best Drive-By Trucker songs exhibit more of a Tom Petty influence. At a resounding 19 tracks, the ambitious Brighter Than Creation's Dark opens with a memorable track in "Two Daughters And A Beautiful Wife," but the album has its share of missteps. While I could listen to tracks like "Daddy Needs A Drink" all day long, I really could do without songs like "3 Dimes Down." This is why I'd classify myself as a casual fan of the band. I don't exactly dig everything that they do.. but if you're one of their many diehard fans, I'm sure you'll be ecstatic with the new album. -- Capt. Obvious
Listen:
MP3: Drive-By Truckers - Two Daughters And A Beautiful Wife
MP3: Drive-By Truckers - Daddy Needs A Drink
1.02.2008
Drive-By Truckers: Brighter Than Creation's Dark (2008)
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at 12:47 PM
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7 comments:
Because seeing it spelled the wrong way just makes me loco for some reason, it's Lynyrd Skynyrd. It's nothin' but Y's all the way down, so to speak :-)
Quality blog, btw.
owned by the grammatical-conscious "skynard" fan...
haha... my bad. i did do a quick google check and a bunch of results popped up so i assumed i spelled it right. guess there a lot of people who screwed that one up. good one.. anonymous.
My first thoughts on the album is that it is not the "typical" DBT album. Now that the band is sans-Isbell and Shonna Tucker singing lead on a few tracks, it could hardly be anything but different.
However, song by song, many of Cooley's songs have the same overtones as his past offerings. "Ghost to Most", "3 Dimes Down",and "Self-Destructive Zone" have many of the same quippy lines one would expect from Cooley.
Similarly, many of Hood's songs also stick to the same formula he has used in the past. "Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife" reminds me "Sands of Iwo Jima" while "The Righteous Path" has similar qualities to "The Buford Stick."
The addition of the Shonna Tucker songs is what really changes what a DBT Album is. Taken seperately, they are not bad songs. In fact "The Purgatory Line" is a pretty good song. However, I don't see Tucker's new place in the band as a lead vocalist drawing more women into the legion of DBT fans. At best, they add a women's point of view to "The Southern Thing" but in all honesty, if that's what I was looking for I can find it from plenty of alt.country female artists with established solo credentials....bless her heart.
For fans looking for the second coming of "Southern Rock Opera"...keep looking. I find Cooley's songs to be what carries this album and undoubtedly these will be the songs from this album that will be still be played at DBT shows long after the "need" to play the current songs has passed.
-Bill Deaton
Hawley, PA
This is one of dbt's best yet. Longish but not a wasted track on it.
Capt.
So happy you are a casual fan, hopefully we won't hear DBT over and over 24/7 in 2022.
Maybe the release of their entire catalog on vinyl is a signal?
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