FEATURED REVIEW.............................................................17 APR 2006
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Artist:
DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS |
When you dazzle the critics with a string of superb records, sooner or later you're bound to release one that's merely decent. Success, they say, is both a blessing and a curse.
Don't get us wrong--we're not engaging in any of that band-too-big-for-its-britches backlash (though the Truckers do seem to have outgrown the small town venues in which they earned their well-deserved reputation), we're just noting that the boys from 'Bama, having lately reeled off a series of remarkable records, are due for something a bit more mundane.
The Drive-By Truckers' sixth studio album, A Blessing and a Curse (2006) is a bit more mundane. It is a decent album, to be sure--enjoyable and certainly worth the listen--but measured against the imposing yardstick that is the DBT back catalogue, it falls just a tad short.
Perhaps we're nitpicking. Perhaps it is unfair to measure a band against itself. We'll let you be the judge. (The album, in its entirety, is being streamed below.)
Our two cents, while you listen:
1. "Feb 14" - Officially "leaked" back in December, a straightforward rocker. Unsentimental, despite the title. Available for download here.
2. "Gravity's Gone" - The first song on the disc penned by Cooley. Contains our favorite line on the album: "You woke up sunny side down and I'm still thinkin' I'm too proud to flip you over."
3. "Easy On Yourself" - The radio single, we'd gather. (Does anyone know when or why record producers started sticking the single at the 3rd slot on albums? We're curious.) A damn catchy song--it'll stick in your head for days. Problem is, it sounds like it'd fit comfortably between Warrant and the Damn Yankees on some 90s AOR station.
4. "Aftermath USA" - Hood takes lead vocals and does his best Rod Stewart impersonation. The Faces, circa 1972. (Hard to get past the image of Patterson with a shock of bleached hair and a few warts, isn't it?)
5. "Goodbye" - Nondescript.
6. "Daylight" - An Isbell tune. Top 40 poppy something or another. Sent the cheeze-o-meter whirring.
7. "Wednesday" - Another straightforward rocker. Might have been a filler track (and we don't mean that disparagingly) on any of their past three albums.
8. "Little Bonnie" - The opening, low-end pickin' is pretty durn sweet.
9. "Space City" - The second song on the album by Cooley. The guy can flat write.
10. "A Blessing and a Curse" - The intro is all things Thin Lizzy. We're betting that this one will become a live favorite.
11. "A World of Hurt" - A spoken word closer, which, despite being in violation of the Cheezeball Manifesto § 3.n, we dig. Somehow the pedal steel mitigates the cheeze.
In summation: A few decades down the road, we'd wager, A Blessing and a Curse will not be among the albums for which the Truckers are remembered. But what the hell. Two cheezeballs for some questionable musical references, etc.
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A NOTE ON THE RATING SYSTEM:
5 CHEEZEBALLS = UNLISTENABLE SCHLOCK
3 CHEEZEBALLS = A DIFFICULT SLOG
1 CHEEZEBALL = THE ODD FORGIVABLE MISSTEP
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