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New Drive-By Truckers


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I actually went out and bought the cd at a store yesterday, something I can't remember doing since maybe Warren Zevon's The Wind more than a decade ago

 

Enjoying the crap out of it.  It doesn't seem like it's full of classics, but it is consistently good.  All 13 songs are worth listening to.

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From another site....

 

"Our friend San Diego Jeff hipped us to this event tonight, what amounts to a last-minute super-tiny album-release party. Show was held in the Masonic Lodge at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, right next to the Paramount Pictures lot on beautiful (that's sarcasm) Santa Monica Blvd. The Lodge held, I dunno, 300 people is probably overshooting it by a fair stretch. And as for playing in a cemetery, there ain't many bands that are more suited to such a location. DBT probably got to about 8% of their death-related songs.

The Truckers are in the midst of a shift, with Shonna Tucker out as bassist and some goofy looking dude in her place - dude can play though. As for the new album, they played most of it tonight and I had listened to it a couple times through prior to the show, and while I liked it beforehand I wasn't completely in sync with it. After this show, I'm all in. Shit Shots Count opens the new album and opened this show and I can see this thing plugged in as a regular opener for the DBT going forward. Great Cooley rocker. And, as for Cooley, dude has somewhat famously in DBT circles struggled with writer's block in recent years, but came up big on this album with six songs and at least four of them are really, really good. Hearing Jimmy Loud is another strong Cooley cut that the Truckers are going to be playing for a long time... The Patterson songs I'm a bit more hesitant about, except for the album-closing mini-epic Grand Canyon, which also closed the pre-encore portion of this show, complete with a strong feedback meltdown to close the song. Mixed in tonight, classics like Women Without Whiskey, Zip City and Steve McQueen amongst a main set that was mostly new songs (which was actually a good thing).

Things get hazier as the night goes on (DBT fans are fantastic - friendly, generous, fun), but the encore was at least four songs - Lookout Mountain (who's gonna mow the cemetery, when all of my family's gone?), something of a Zevon mash-up (Carmelita->Play It All Night Long->Ain't That Pretty At All->Play It All Night Long), Shut Up And Get On The Plane (or maybe this was before the Zevon string, who knows?), and then a ridiculously fun People Who Died..

Fun, loud, great rock band in a really special venue. Just me, a couple hundred or my closest short-term friends and the Drive-By Truckers. DBT is out on a couple/three months tour around the country, with Blitzen Trapper (highly recommended as well) opening for them over the first couple weeks of that tour. I can't recommend them enough, but that's just me..."

 

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I'll be 50 this year, and have seen my share of loud shows. I have tinnitus, so I appreciate the heads up...especially since I don't wanna make it worse. Plenty of younger folks with it, too, and it is no laughing matter. Even standard disposable ear plugs beat having nothing at all! Thanks.

 

I've been wearing earplugs since my teen years.  Even at Dead and acoustic shows.  Looking forward to picking this up.  It's the album I've been wanting them to make for a decade.  Vinyl length with equal writing credits.  

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The album sounds great on vinyl. Matt Patton's bass, in particular, is a pleasure to hear. His playing is deep, punchy, in the groove and very melodic. Great addition to the band.

 

Downside to the vinyl -- it's three sides. There's nothing cut into side four. They could have easily put the Dragon Pants EP tracks on it. :-|

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The album sounds great on vinyl. Matt Patton's bass, in particular, is a pleasure to hear. His playing is deep, punchy, in the groove and very melodic. Great addition to the band.

Yeah, the bass was one of the first things I noticed, too. Initially I wasn't sure if I was just looking for it given Shonna's departure, but he really adds a lot to this album.

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I've listened to it a few times. It's good, but I'm not buying a lot of the rapturous praise for it. I think with many aging bands, a lot of fans and/or critics will hail any decent album as a "return to form," whether it deserves it or not. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I think a lot of fans delude themselves; wanting it to be better than it is (see Wilco).

 

I'll give it a few more listens, but St. Vincent's new one is much more exciting and interesting.

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I've listened to it a few times. It's good, but I'm not buying a lot of the rapturous praise for it. I think with many aging bands, a lot of fans and/or critics will hail any decent album as a "return to form," whether it deserves it or not. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I think a lot of fans delude themselves; wanting it to be better than it is (see Wilco).

 

I'll give it a few more listens, but St. Vincent's new one is much more exciting and interesting.

Rapturous praise?  A quick look at Metacritic's aggregate score for EO appears to place it in line with much of the band's 2nd tier output.

http://www.metacritic.com/person/drive-by-truckers

 

This band had undergone so many different line-up changes that I don't understand what a "return to form" means.  Maybe it means making another SRO, DD or TDS.  Considering it is a different band, both in composition and age, I don't see that happening.  Nor do I see that as a realistic expectation for DBT (or Wilco or any "aging band.")

 

I haven't heard St. Vincent's latest record, but comparing a Drive-By Truckers record to a St. Vincent's album is akin to jumping into a discussion about India Pale Ales, saying a particular IPA isn't as good as the hype, and then saying you find pinot noirs more exciting anyway.

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comparing a Drive-By Truckers record to a St. Vincent's album is akin to jumping into a discussion about India Pale Ales, saying a particular IPA isn't as good as the hype, and then saying you find pinot noirs more exciting anyway.

 

:lol Most analogies suck but that one fit as nicely as a comfy old pair of Levi's.

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I've listened to it a few times. It's good, but I'm not buying a lot of the rapturous praise for it. I think with many aging bands, a lot of fans and/or critics will hail any decent album as a "return to form," whether it deserves it or not. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I think a lot of fans delude themselves; wanting it to be better than it is (see Wilco).

 

I'll give it a few more listens, but St. Vincent's new one is much more exciting and interesting.

I have to admit I'm confused by the raves as well. I like it but no more than the last several albums. Of course I'm not really a Cooley guy in the grand scheme. Love some of his stuff but gravitate to the Patterson stuff.

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Rapturous praise? A quick look at Metacritic's aggregate score for EO appears to place it in line with much of the band's 2nd tier output.

http://www.metacritic.com/person/drive-by-truckers

 

This band had undergone so many different line-up changes that I don't understand what a "return to form" means. Maybe it means making another SRO, DD or TDS. Considering it is a different band, both in composition and age, I don't see that happening. Nor do I see that as a realistic expectation for DBT (or Wilco or any "aging band.")

 

I haven't heard St. Vincent's latest record, but comparing a Drive-By Truckers record to a St. Vincent's album is akin to jumping into a discussion about India Pale Ales, saying a particular IPA isn't as good as the hype, and then saying you find pinot noirs more exciting anyway.

I was simply responding to a few reviews I had seen and some comments from people responding to the album, which overstated its greatness. "Return to form" probably means that, for those people that believe it is one, they think this album is better than the last few the band made and is more in line with the quality of earlier albums. Probably not realistic to expect that.

 

St. Vincent and English Oceans came out within a week of each other, so I've been predominantly listening to those two over the last few days, and St. Vincent is the better listen. Also, your analogy doesn't make sense. Beer and wine are two completely different things. I was actually comparing two rock records.

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