Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark: The Anticipation Thread

I'm bummed that Jason Isbell left the band. His contributions to The Dirty South -- especially Darko/Manuel and Goddamn Lonely Love -- were the best songs on that disc.

Agreed. Jason was the best thing to ever happen to that band. But his solo album - not so hot.

Only heard a few songs from his solo disc. Too glossy, I seem to recall.

I presume you mean '08 up there. I woulda been pissed if there were a new album almost a year old and this was the first I'd heard.

Yeah, I'll be there.

Streaming previews sound promising.

Where are they?

Amazon, of all places!

Did anyone like their previous album much?

I did. Isbell seemed to be coasting, but Hood turned in his best vocal work in years on that album, in my opinion.

But it really sounds like they've gone back to the more robust, rootsier stuff we'd grown accustomed to. The samples sound promising. Though 19 songs is a helluvalot.

Yeah, they've definitely reverted to the Southern Rock Opera / Decoration Day-style long-ass album. Let's just hope the material merits it - the last album had its high points but nothing to suggest they can pull off a consistently great (or even good) 75-minute album at this stage.

Sirens Of The Ditch is great, like Eudora Welty x Warren Zevon, at least--much more consistent than the last couple of Truckers albums, and at least as deep. Not that he didn't learn a lot from them, or fit well. Here's hoping they do was well without him as vice versa.

*as* well, too!

Oh yeah, and the Truckers (minus Isbell, but with Spooner Oldham and David Hood, at times) did a good job of backing Bettye Lavette on Scene of The Crime, really an amazing album, the way she adapts songs to her own storyline (even an Elton John song--Patterson said the playback of this transfomation was a highpoint, maybe the highpoint, of his life in music). He also co-wrote a track her--hopefully she and Oldham and the elder Hood will be on the new DBT.

I really hope this album is great. Whenever a Wilco album comes out in a year that a Drive-By doesn't, I start to miss Drive-By.

Whenever a Wilco album comes out in a year that a Drive-By doesn't, I start to miss Drive-By.

And vice-versa?

Nope.

Great album. I don't really miss Isbell, esp since Shonna gets three songs.

Looking forward to the new DBT record. Last one was definitely not up to par. Longer is better with these guys.

Losing Isbell will obviously hurt them though, he's responsible for some of their best songs. I liked his solo record a lot, except there's nothing on it approaching the level of his best Truckers songs. It sounds like a very very promising debut album. H

His next one will be even better. Especially if the song Whisper is on it, a killer ballad floating around the Internet.

Don't get me wrong -- I love Isbell's contributions on DDay and Dirty South, but the DBTs made great records before he joined and they'll continue making great records after he's gone.

"Grown" grabbed me pretty hard, but Sirens overall not as hard as I wished. JI owns at least two of the top four tracks on DD and DS, but so long as the guy who wrote "Zip City" is around I'll be happy eagerly anticipatin'.

When does Cooley get his solo joint?

Isbell said Cooley said he's working on one...

cooley practically wrote a solo album on this one -- 7 songs, most of them good. and 3 by shonna, which are pretty good, and "purgatory line" is great. patterson's songs are a mixed bag, but the iraq war ones are better than i expected and i like "the opening act." overall it's kinda nice and loose. i felt like the last one especially was turning into midtempo guitar grind-off, this is more varied.

(cooley's lyrics on "self-destructive zones" are already my favorite thing of 2008 so far)

(the night the practice room caught fire, there were rumors of a dragon headed straight for muscle shoals
a stoner tries to save an amplifer and it's like the dragon's side of the story's never told)