Well, it didn't used to be that way; with their recent albums it's like reading alert pulp.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 21 June 2016 21:54 (seven years ago) link
Recent stuff is definitely more self-aware/on the nose. Less angry, more sad.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 21 June 2016 21:57 (seven years ago) link
Hood's described them as "lyrics-driven," but starting with The Big To Do and English Oceans (not counting Go-Go Boots, cos outtakes from TBTD sessions, though some are fine), I got into the sounds right away, and more than the lyrics, in some cases.
― dow, Tuesday, 21 June 2016 22:08 (seven years ago) link
patterson & cooley are now trying harder to sing now which i understand ie wanting to be better technically etc but it was part of the charm for me, i kinda liked the sing-talk delivery of the older stuff
― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 21 June 2016 23:52 (seven years ago) link
I can't wait to hear it. How many bands are still making vital music on the 11th studio album? This is one of the alltime great bands.
― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 22 June 2016 00:33 (seven years ago) link
xpost I never thought of the old stuff as sing-talk, so much as good old fashioned shouting! They're also getting older. Patterson is 52, Cooley is 50. Both are definitely trying harder to sing, because I don't think they could perform as much if they kept blowing out their voices on a regular basis. They drink (at least) less, too. Anyway, I listen to them now as mostly great singer-songwriters and try not to compare them to their past high water marks. They're different people, and a different band.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 22 June 2016 01:46 (seven years ago) link
Wow, "Surrender Under Protest" is great, Cooley has a tremendous way of simplifying complicated issues into great songs.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 23 June 2016 14:14 (seven years ago) link
Cooley has become the more reliable songwriter, I think. Before English Oceans Cooley would generally only contribute three or four songs per album, but the 50/50 split behooves them. Really liking my advance of the new album, actually, especially for Cooley's songs, but a couple of surefire hreatbreaking Hood tracks like "Guns of Umpqua" help, and his "When the Sun Don't Shine" doesn't sound like anything else he's written.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 23 June 2016 18:10 (seven years ago) link
And this one is a keeper:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU-j3Vmspxc
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 23 June 2016 18:25 (seven years ago) link
Have loved to Truckers for, wow, maybe 15 years now? More? 16? Anyway, I need to give the new one some more time.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 October 2016 01:15 (seven years ago) link
Time is passing. Their records do hold up to continued listening. I always thought the multiple singers and songwriters made many bands records more interesting.
I got one sad funny story about the last time I saw The Drive By Truckers live a few years back. I was taking the lady I was dating for a couple months to the show and she had me get a ticket for a friend of her's to go and she would pay me back later. That's cool I figured...we went to the gig had a grand time and then pretty much afterwards I got the ole' never returning your call ever again treatment. For some reason it oddly seemed appropriate, except if it was a DBT song the band in question would have been Blackfoot.
― earlnash, Monday, 3 October 2016 03:53 (seven years ago) link
The new one is exceptionally good.
― kornrulez6969, Monday, 3 October 2016 19:50 (seven years ago) link
def their best in a long time, p much no filler
― if young slothrop don't trust ya i'm gon' rhyme ya (slothroprhymes), Monday, 3 October 2016 20:04 (seven years ago) link
oh my god you guys -- this album is a stone fucking bore. Not a single interesting rhythm: two songwriters strumming to the same backbeat. By the time I got to "What It Means" I couldn't be bothered with listening to the hot takes on racism and America Today.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 October 2016 20:21 (seven years ago) link
Their last record I cared about was released in 2008.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 October 2016 20:22 (seven years ago) link
*jordan shrug* idk man
― if young slothrop don't trust ya i'm gon' rhyme ya (slothroprhymes), Monday, 3 October 2016 20:44 (seven years ago) link
and I like songs on every record since 2010 (I like the opener on this one) but it's all ehhhh
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 October 2016 20:45 (seven years ago) link
Well, that's what makes horse racing.
― kornrulez6969, Monday, 3 October 2016 21:23 (seven years ago) link
xp i will say that its def kinda monochromatic, sonically, more so than some of their other records. i just think they happened to pick a sound they do really, really well. an album like Go-Go Boots is way more adventurous musically but there are huge duds on it (fireplace poker, anybody?) same thing's true of english oceans, which starts p good and just kinda peters out, or the big to-do, which has by far one of their best songs ever ("birthday boy") and also real weak tracks like "flying wallendas" and "eyes like glue" (the v rare cooley misfire)
none of these is ever gonna be Dirty South-level again. granted, thats a p high bar.
― if young slothrop don't trust ya i'm gon' rhyme ya (slothroprhymes), Monday, 3 October 2016 21:29 (seven years ago) link
I do think the arrangements are dull, but especially Cooley's lyrics are better than ever. I think I'd be into it more if I approached it as more of a loud folk record.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 October 2016 21:29 (seven years ago) link
I agree with this, and if anything BTCD is underrated
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 3 October 2016 22:45 (seven years ago) link
Their best, which means, yes, better than The Dirty South, Decoration Day, and the Shonda tunes on BTCD.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 October 2016 22:52 (seven years ago) link
BTCD is their peak, I think. Ever since then it's been just a little too much yet not quite enough. Still love 'em, still great live, etc.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 03:00 (seven years ago) link
OK, listening again, and there are some great, great songs (esp. Cooley's) and performances. But I think the problem may be as simple as sequencing. "Darkened Flags" is just not a terribly good song, and it sort of kills the momentum before it even begins, especially between "Ramon Casiano" and "Surrender Under Protest."
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 5 October 2016 18:00 (seven years ago) link
Watching them kill it right now. Right band for the right time.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 21 July 2017 01:09 (six years ago) link
just covered The KKK Took My Baby Away!
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 21 July 2017 01:35 (six years ago) link
Best tracks of their last LP: "Ramon Casiano" (another biting Cooley song), "Surrender Under Protest", "Guns Of Umpqua" and "Ever South".
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 21 July 2017 02:13 (six years ago) link
Wow, just heard that awesome brand new song they snuck out. Called The Perilous Night, and it is without question the most political thing they've written to date. Calls out Trump by name, and so on. Hood on point.
Incidentally heard it in tandem with a new Neil Young protest song, Already Great, which sounded pretty awesome too.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 12 November 2017 18:19 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Luoe-6ok_TE
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 12 November 2017 19:31 (six years ago) link
Not into the political stuff. Not why I listen to DBT.
― calstars, Sunday, 12 November 2017 22:23 (six years ago) link
Weird. They've always been pretty political!
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 12 November 2017 22:53 (six years ago) link
Dad drunk and Amex
― calstars, Sunday, 12 November 2017 23:21 (six years ago) link
It's okay. And every song by every act is political. Breathing clean air is a political act.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 12 November 2017 23:27 (six years ago) link
Women Without ILX
― calstars, Monday, 13 November 2017 00:04 (six years ago) link
Angels and SNA
― calstars, Monday, 13 November 2017 00:08 (six years ago) link
Wow, the enthusiasm is overwhelming.
Seriously, if this is not why you listen to the Drive-By Truckers, then I guess I don't know why any of you listen to the Drive-By Truckers.
And every song by every act is political.
Oh, come on.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 13 November 2017 00:22 (six years ago) link
I think they've always been political, but in the new song they name names.
I love the DBTs even though their work is very disciplined and rarely exciting. I'm seeing them live in Feb and also seeing Cooley and Hood's local solo shows.
― Randall Jarrell (dandydonweiner), Monday, 13 November 2017 02:05 (six years ago) link
If you're gay, every love song is political.
This song is topical.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 13 November 2017 02:11 (six years ago) link
I thought the political songs on the last album were great but this one’s pretty awful. Boring music, super on the nose lyrics.
― louise ck (milo z), Tuesday, 14 November 2017 04:17 (six years ago) link
This is fucking awful. I can just sense that my opinion is in some way regressive or rockist or whatever, but so be it. I wouldn't run screaming from a room where this was being played, but who could actually get into this
― ur-oik (rip van wanko), Tuesday, 14 November 2017 05:23 (six years ago) link
God knows we need something from music right now, but it's not a cringey, ham fisted explication of a sensible if obvious POV, set to pubrock
― ur-oik (rip van wanko), Tuesday, 14 November 2017 05:40 (six years ago) link
truly sorry for the triple dip, but I do want to say I love the exultant defiant The High Road by Isbell, which deals just as directly with this administration. I guess it's because the message is, transcend it instead of griping about it or wallowing in it. TPN's message is more suited to an op-ed or blog post imo
― ur-oik (rip van wanko), Tuesday, 14 November 2017 05:48 (six years ago) link
Into the Perilous Night: An Essay by Patterson Hood
― fact checking cuz, Wednesday, 15 November 2017 22:41 (six years ago) link
I mostly like the riff and the faster than usual tempo. I also like Hood in righteous mode.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 15 November 2017 23:04 (six years ago) link
xpost that's a great essay, I love his honesty.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 15 November 2017 23:16 (six years ago) link
He's a fantastic writer.
― kornrulez6969, Thursday, 16 November 2017 02:17 (six years ago) link
Something about the wrinkle in your foreheadTells me there’s a fit about to be thrownIf we get the van out of the ditch before the morningAin’t nobody gotta know about what I’ve done
― calstars, Saturday, 9 December 2017 04:27 (six years ago) link
As good as I have ever seen them tonight, and I've seen them a lot!
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 7 April 2018 03:23 (six years ago) link
They just released an album by Hood/ Cooley’s 80s band Adam’s House Cat, with re-recorded vocals. It is excellent as usual. If you haven’t heard it yet, definitely check it out.
― kornrulez6969, Monday, 24 September 2018 00:18 (five years ago) link
Saw them again last night, playing a truncated set at a beer fest. Great as usual, if shorter than usual. Hold Steady opened!
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 September 2018 02:16 (five years ago) link