This album couldn\u2019t be more Southern rock if it was wrapped in the Confederate flag and whistled \u201cI Wish I Lived In Dixie\u201d as the box opened.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
This is the third offering from Drive-By Truckers based around the writing partnership of Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood, and it is a sprawling double-disc concept album loosely looking at perceptions of the South, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and a fictional band, Betamax Guillotine (whose career path copies Skynard\u2019s).<\/p>\n
The first thing to say is that this record should be played loud, as it is guitar riff central, many of which feel familiar. Track one, \u201cDays Of Graduation,\u201d sets the scene with the hero of the album\u2019s best friend dying in a car crash, with the stereo still playing \u201cFree Bird\u201d when the paramedics arrive as Hood drawls \u201cYou know it\u2019s a very long song.\u201d<\/p>\n
This kicks immediately into \u201cRonnie & Neil,\u201d which looks at the relationship between Ronnie Van Zant and the liberal Neil Young who, after initially clashing, became life- long friends. This perception of the South and the reality is revisited on a number of occasions in Act 1 of the opera, especially on \u201cThe Three Great Alabama Icons\u201d where Hood doesn\u2019t sing but narrates about Bear Bryant, Van Zant, and mainly Governor George Wallace, whom he portrays as somebody who compromised his politics and adopted racist segregationist policy\u2019s to ensure his success at the polls yet by the \u201870s is repealing those laws and receiving the biggest share of the black vote. However, they don\u2019t let him get off in \u201cWallace,\u201d where the Devil, a Southern gentleman, welcomes him to hell: \u201cI guess Hell\u2019s just the place for kiss ass politicians who pander to assholes \/ So throw another log on the fire, boys\/ George Wallace is coming to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rest of Act 1 includes the rockabilly \u201cGuitar Man Upstairs,\u201d which belts through at 100 miles an hour, and three inter changeable rockers: \u201cDead Drunk Naked,\u201d \u201cBirmingham,\u201d and \u201cZip City.\u201d It concludes with a passionate desert rocker, \u201cMoved,\u201d with Western-sounding guitars and a distorted vocal.<\/p>\n
Act II opens with the best song of the opera, \u201cLet There Be Rock.\u201d With a monster beat, it tells the tale of not getting to see Lynyrd Skynyrd (although having tickets to the fateful \u201cStreets Survivors Tour\u201d) but many other rock bands \u2013 Molly Hatchet, Ozzy Osbourne, 38 Special, and AC\/DC \u2013 with Hood screaming \u201cWith Bon Scott singing let there be rock!\u201d before the guitar solos for the remaining minute of the track.<\/p>\n
This is followed by three songs which just keep up the feel of the record without adding or detracting: \u201cRoad Cases,\u201d which looks a band dreaming of their future (\u201cGonna get ourselves a big tour bus, maybe even an airplane\u201d), \u201cWomen Without Whiskey,\u201d and \u201cPlastic Flowers On The Highway.\u201d<\/p>\n
For \u201cCassie\u2019s Brother,\u201d DBT are joined on vocals by Kelly Hogan, who oozes seduction for a \u201870s rhythm and blues torch song and shows Patterson Hoods\u2019 heritage; \u00a0his father Dave was bassist for the Muscle Shoals Rhythm section.<\/p>\n
\u201cLife In The Factory\u201d is a tribute to Skynyrd, featuring the line \u201cSold-out shows and platinum records \/ New York critics and redneckers \/ Bunch of boys from Florida had them eating from their hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
The last three songs blur the line between the Betamax Guillotine,\u00a0 Lynyrd Skynyrd, and DBT, all around the fatal plane flight, firstly with up-tempo numbers \u201cShut Up And Get On The Plane\u201d and \u201cGreenville To Baton Rouge.\u201d Then, things close with a lament, \u201cAngels And Fuselage,\u201d about the last few moments before the plane crashes, including a haunting harmonica as he sings, \u201cScared shitless, these angels I see in the trees \/ Waiting for me.\u201d <\/p>\n
While the record wouldn\u2019t miss one or two songs and with the right track list would be a dynamite single disc, you have to take your hats off to any band with the guts this century to pull together a double-disc concept album. So pour that can of Sterling Bigmouth (don\u2019t know what it is, but it sounds great) or glass of Jack Daniels and sit back to bask in the glory of the Drive-By Truckers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":30529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8658],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-42196","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-drive-by-truckers","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/82"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42196"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}