Drive-by Truckers - A Blessing And A Curse
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CD Details
Artist: Drive-by TruckersBrand: Baker & Taylor
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2006-04-18
Model: 607396608928
Music Label: New West Records
Soundtracks:
- Feb 14
- Gravity's Gone
- Easy On Yourself
- Aftermath USA
- Goodbye
- Daylight
- Wednesday
- Little Bonnie
- Space City
- A Blessing And A Curse
- A World Of Hurt
Music reviews of A Blessing And A Curse
Music Review: The Next Big Step...
Rating: 5 Stars
Over the last week or so since the release of DBT's fine new album "A Blessing and a Curse" I have read many, many reviews most good, some bad, but overall both good and bad reviews point to the same things. Whether they like or dislike the album everyone seems to agree that it is a departure from their previous work. The difference being whether or not you think the change is a good idea or not. From everything I've gathered the band thought it was not only a good idea, but also a necessary one. They simply were getting tired of constantly being referred to as a "Southern rock band". Some bands get tired of being labeled and rail against it in the press, at their shows, and basically to anyone who might listen. Other bands stumble through a transitional period where they forget their roots, move towards a more pop oriented sound, and lose many of the fans that got them to brought them success in the first place. Nobody can blame an artist for trying steer clear of easy labels, I can imagine it to be quite galling to a superior rock band like DBT to constantly have labels of "alt country" or "southern" consistently applied to their music. To their credit the band explores their roots here as opposed to abandoning them. If anyone thinks influences such as The Faces, Rolling Stones, or even The Replacements are new to DBT, those folks just haven't been listening.
The album opens with the rollicking "Feb 14" with hints of grunge, punk, and rocking days gone by. From the very beginning the Trucker's proclaim while this may not be the "Dirty South" it's still dirty. From there they downshift to the Mike Cooley masterpiece "Gravity's Gone" with it's instantly memorable "champagne hand jobs and kissing ass by everyone involved" line. In fact the line is only a taste of the beautiful wordsmith of the entire song. My only complaint is that the song begs for some more harmonies, but I'm sure those will come as the song lives and breathes in live performance. So as the album starts with a Patterson Hood song, moves to a Cooley crooned gem, it's only natural that the third track comes from Jason Isbell who keeps developing as a songwriter on every release. "Easy On Yourself" is a rock anthem of the old school, soaring guitars, punchy chorus, and a beat that begs you stomp your foot and light up your bic lighter. Hood's "Aftermath USA" follows sounding like the great lost Faces song it aspires to be, as well as feeling utterly (if not a bit exaggerated) familiar to any of us who have woken up after a great party.
The middle of the set gets reflective with "Goodbye" a wistful farewell to a friend who took a different path and Isbell's "Daylight" which almost burns with yearning and hope. "Wednesday" is a playful romp and a winking nod to the Paul Westerberg and the Replacements and while enjoyable, is probably the weakest cut on the album. "Little Bonnie" and "Space City follow by Hood and Cooley respectively and if these songs don't bring a tear to your eye then you should check if you're still human.
The album concludes with the fantastic wordplay of the title track and the cautionary wisdom of "World of Hurt" with its Neil Young backdrop and Hood's world-weary narration. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the excellent rhythm section of Shonna Tucker and Brad Morgan keep everything solid throughout, and are in fact one of, if not the best bass and drum combos currently playing.
What it all adds up to is the best album of the year so far, and a triumphant directional shift by a great rock band. Now if you want to stay in the south with their "The Dirty South" or any of their earlier releases that's fine, enjoy. There is certainly plenty of great music there. But if you want to take a ride with DBT and explore the wonderful, wacky, and redemptive side of great American Rock then Hood, Cooley, Isbell, Tucker and Morgan are willing to take you along. See you on the truck.
Description of A Blessing And A Curse
You hear about "the greatest band in the world" being dropped on many a group, desperately given this medal in hopes they?ll use it to "save rock-n-roll," whatever that means. But no band that has had to suffer under this artificial responsibility has succeeded so triumphantly as Drive-By Truckers. Equal parts back porch historians, runaway drunken firecrackers, and poets of the hard life and how to live it; they came on the scene and set the bar higher for what you can do with the music we love. The songs on this record illustrate the triumphant struggle it is to survive and thrive in this world. It?s not only a great record, but an important statement delivered honestly and passionately without any sugar coating or details spared. It?s a refinement, a honing, and a focusing of what you?ve always loved about them, what makes this band the greatest band in the world.Known for two big-idea concept albums, Southern Rock Opera (dedicated to Lynyrd Skynyrd) and The Dirty South (a 70+ minute exploration of their Alabama roots), the Drive-by Truckers here go economical with a 45+ minute rock album. Three singers (all guitarists, to boot) ensure that moods shift often, even with every voice bearing a sand-blasted quality that grit-pocks everything. Patterson Hood tackles most of the tunes, sounding like a roughed-up Faces on "Aftermath USA," detailing drugs and deterioration against boogied-up guitars, and sounding a more sensitive side on "Goodbye" and "Little Bonnie" (another in a line of Truckers' funeral tunes). With a barrel-chested croak of a voice, Mike Cooley runs down the rudderless-ness of love and desperation on "Gravity's Gone" and slow, acoustic tenderness on "Space City." The loudest guitarist, Jason Isbell, takes on two tracks: "Easy on Yourself" and "Daylight," where he alternates between wry fury and a yearning pine for more time, more space. Isbell basks in an array of slide-guitar throwdowns, always leaving a signature sound the way Skynyrd's Allen Collins and Gary Rossington did in their glory days. All in all, this is a calmer Truckers set, less ragged and more polished--but rest assured: Their live sets still smoke like their 40 Watt Club DVD from 2005. --Andrew Bartlett
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