CortezTheKiller

Too bad they have Public Enemy headlining over Mission of Burma (playing all of Vs) on Friday night. I can't support that. YEEEEEEAAAAA BOYIIIIEEEEE

No love for Chuck D & the boys?

So I started this damn country band cause punk rock was too hard to sing.

The songwriting on AKM is awesome. I remember the first time I listened to it I had a big 'ol shit-eating grin on.

Mary's got a bloody nose from sniffing margarita mix. She licked her lower lip and then she kissed that halleluiah chick. She came off kind of spicy but she tasted like those pickle chips. We thought she was a dancer but her steps they made the records skip. She came off kind of crunchy but she went down like a chicken strip. Dripping wet with the special sauce. She had a confidence smile and a nervous cough. We got off.

Brilliant.

solace - I didn't know you had a thing for royal blue wife-beaters. It looks good on you.

I just wish they would have cut about five songs off the album (including all of Shonna's).

Me too. But that's for the band to decide I guess. Lop off the Shonna songs and You and Your Crystal Meth and I think there might be more kudos for the record. However, as it is, it been pretty well reviewed this year. See for yourself.

fair enough. i'm certainly biased as i was a LP fan before The Hold Steady and saw them a couple times, but i'd agree that THS's music is more accessible that's for sure.

Plus you're more hip than me.

Lifter Puller either...

 

if you've yet to check out Craig & Tad's old band, do so now... i still prefer a lot of LP's stuff to THS.

I have Fiestas + Fiascos. It's okay. I don't think it holds up to BAGIA, SS, or AKM, all of which are outstanding in my opinion.

Dude...a life on the road is an unhealthy life. It's totally understandable.

If did what that man does for a living I'd weigh in at 250lbs and I'm six foot, 155lbs.

I never noticed that there were a disproportionate number of touring musicians that were overweight.

The first three songs on that DBT album are fucking boss. I haven't listened to the whole thing more than 5 times because I always just put those three on repeat.

Get to the 2nd to last song. It's the best on there.

I'm not sure if you ever saw what he looked like when he joined DBT back in 2002. I picked up Decoration Day on vinyl at the Boston show and on the inside flap is a picture of the band, and Jason looks like he just ate John Neff he's so fat. I was shocked. He obviously dropped a shitload of weight. But some of the pictures I've seen of him lately have him slowly inching back towards 2002.

I guess even if we can't agree on BTCD, we can agree on Tim!

3 Dimes down and 25 cents shy of a slice of the doublemint twins.

Come back Mrs. Peel. Rock and roll never forgets.

Well, as far as the JD bottles are concerned, Jason had a full sized one a few weeks ago and it was gone by the end of the show (I know because I tried to reach it to take it home with me), and the DBT's one of the same size had 2/3 left, so......

Maybe that explains why Jason is starting to revert back to his old pudgy days.

Oh yeah, forgot to address that part. How on earth anyone can think those songs are "meh" is beyond my comprehension.

When stacked up against others in the band's catalog, those are average songs. Of course it's strictly my opinion and I don't imagine you will agree with me.

All I know is I can't stop looking at the chick from Girls Aloud who is sitting down daring you to inspect her beaver.

I'm thinking Pink Floyd, or even something more contemporary like Wolf Parade.

 

I like it. New to me though, so I'll see if the fascination lasts.

 

Matt - It is Montreal's Plants and Animals and a concepty album about living the the city's Parc Avenue area.

Unfortunately the review/description set up some pretty lofty expectations for them.

 

Still my favourites...

And who are these naughty vixens?

I tried to get it - with the comparisons to The Band, Dylan, and Neil Young. I couldn't do it, and think the comparisons are unwarranted.

Alright Mrs. Peel. You bring up some valid points. DBT definitely misses Jason's harmonizing vocals. Well, let me rephrase that. Mike Cooley misses Jason's harmonizing vocals. I think Shonna does a great job harmonizing with Patterson, but there's nobody left in the band who can harmonize on Cooley's songs. In comparing Jason to John Neff (his "replacement"), I think Jason is a more accomplished guitarist (Jason is an amazing slide guitarist), but I like what Neff brings to the band as a pedal steel player. He's also a capable guitarist and can play a good slide, just not as well as Jason does. Also, Neff doesn't sing at all. I mentioned Jason's ability as a harmonizing vocalist earlier. As far as missing Jason's songs, the only ones I truly miss are Decoration Day, Never Gonna Change, and Outfit. I like Goddamn Lonely Love as well, but I don't miss it terribly. The rest (The Day John Henry Died, Danko/Manuel, Easy on Yourself, and Daylight) are meh to not good. Considering the catalog the band has built for itself at this stage, I don't think the show suffers from not having the 3 Isbell songs to plug in. I do agree with you about some of the songs you mention. I can do without You and Your Crystal Meth (an outtake from the average A Blessing and a Curse) and ALL of Shonna's songs. Goode's Field Road is okay, but I do like The Righteous Path a lot.

I saw DBT last Saturday in Boston @ The Paradise. They fucking killed it. I won't bore you with a review of the show, but this gives you a good idea about what the show was all about if you're interested. Thankfully, I didn't get You and Your Crystal Meth at my show, but I did get 2 Shonna songs (I'm Sorry Huston & Home Field Advantage) regretably. It was the best Truckers show I've been to.

I've seen both Jason and DBT twice in the last 12 months. With both it was one okay show and one good/excellent show. While I know you want Jason to do well and you're excited about Jason's solo career, I don't know how you could say Jason & The 400 Unit are "far superior" to the Truckers. Frankly, I don't think they're in the same league. To get a sense of where the two acts stand, one needs to look no further than the Jack Daniels bottles each has on the stage for their respective shows - DBT oversized jug, 400 Unit little bottle you and I could handle in one sitting. Jason is a very talented musician, but he has a very long way to go to match the stage presence and charisma of Patterson Hood. For me (and I'm obviously biased), there Truckers are more than their music, they're an attitude. I think there's defiinitely a "DBT Thing" that they bring to the table. Jason and his 400 Unit are just a group of young 'uns touring and trying to generate some interest. I think they're good and I like Sirens of the Ditch, but there is a sizeable gap between Jason and his former band.

I think Jason is more poppy than the Truckers and will translate better to a national audience in the same way that Ryan Adams as a solo artist does more so than Whiskeytown does. But for me it's DBT and Whiskeytown over Jason Isbell and Ryan Adams any day of the week. And I like Jason and Ryan alot.

In a perfect world Jason Isbell is still in Drive-By Truckers. I think the Southern Rock Opera (just before Jason came on board) - Decoration Day (the band's masterpiece) - The Dirty South run for the band was amazing. They took a small step back with A Blessing and a Curse, but I love the direction they've gone in the wake of that record and the departure (dismissal if you ask me) of Jason Isbell. "Late Night" John Neff being back with DBT brings them back to their roots, but with much more maturity in 2007/2008 than they had in the late 90's. I LOVE Brighter Than Creation's Dark despite of some its warts (the aforementioned Crystal Meth and Shonna songs). Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife, 3 Dimes Down, The Righteous Path, Perfect Timing, Self-Destructive Zones, The Opening Act, Checkout Time in Vegas, That Man I Shot, A Ghost to Most (best song I've heard this year), and Monument Valley rank as some of the best stuff they've ever recorded. And I was a bit apprehensious last Saturday when I went to see them in Boston (average show in NYC in July and the departure of Jason), but I was blown away. As the Boston Globe article I linked above states - The next time someone whines to you that rock 'n' roll is dead, killed by a wan army of sensitive emo types in guyliner, please buy them a ticket to see Drive-By Truckers.

Touche Ms. Peel. I'm working on my retort when I have a few minutes to put some thoughts on the screen.

So I saw the Truckers last night....I figured I'd post in this thread since this was where we were talking about the new album and how it would translate live.

 

The show was good. But it wasn't mind blowing like any of the other times I've seen them. They're still a great rock band, but there was absolutely something missing. First of all, the new material still didn't do much for me, even in the live setting. That Crystal Meth song was particularly painful with its reverbed vocals and extended psychedelic breakdown part complete with blacklight effects on their backdrop. Then they went straight into the Wah-Wah-laden Goode's Field Road, which put a long drawn out damper on the set. Two Daughters was nice, and so was Daddy Needs A Drink. Shonna's songs just don't do much for me, with the exception of Purgatory Line (which they didn't play) and she's not a very strong live singer, so those points of the evening dragged too. And, I really really dislike the monotone singing of The Righteous Path, so that didn't sit too well with me either. They've also seemed to change up some of their older songs in disappointing ways. Sinkhole was done a tad slower, and the last verse has been tremendously slowed down which takes away the phenomenal build up to "Damned if I wouldn't go to church on Sunday and look the preacher in the eye. OWWWW!" That's what makes the song, IMO. Plus, I really missed Jason's songs as well as his backing vocals. All night I kept "hearing" where Decoration Day would have fit in perfectly. And he and Cooley had great harmonization parts live that are nonexistent now.

It sounds like I hated it, doesn't it? I don't mean to sound so harsh, but every time I've ever seen them I've come away saying no one could touch them with a ten foot pole. Last night, I enjoyed The Whigs as much as the Truckers (they rocked!). Of course I was singing along and having fun all night, they don't disappoint. But when you spend the whole ride home talking about what could have been better.....well, they didn't live up to my lofty expectations this time. I saw Jason and the 400 Unit last month in the same place and they were far superior. It's too bad he's going to have to claw his way back into the spotlight.

 

I stole this setlist from the Truckers board:

 

Living Bubba (opener)

Ghost to Most

Checkout Time in Vegas

Crystal Meth>Goode's Field Road

2 Daughters

Daddy Needs a Drink

Self Destructive Zones

Huston

Home Field Advantage

Righteous Path

Gravity's Gone

Devil Don't Stay

Putting People on the Moon

Lookout Mountain

The Deeper In

Sink Hole

My Sweet Annette

Marry Me

Hell No, I Ain't Happy

Ronnie & Neil

ZIP CITY!

Let There Be Rock (with cool story about David Hood playing with Traffic in 1972 - kicking off the tour in New Haven)

Women Without Whiskey

People Who Died (with singer from The Whigs on guitar)

 

So as you can see, if you aren't a big fan of the new album you didn't get off lightly. Obviously I enjoyed the second half of the set immensely.