I’m in the middle of a glorious
weekend. I’ve had a couple nights in a row hanging out with friends, with more fun
to come.
Also, all of the CDs I ordered on
Amazon a week ago have arrived. I buy 90% of my music at local record stores
(support your local record store!) but about once a year I place an order to
pick up some of the stuff I’ve been hunting for a while without success. Here’s
what I got this time:
- Frank Turner “Sleep
is for the Week”
- Tygers of Pan
Tang “Wild Cat”
- Alela Diane “To
Be Still”
- Thin Lizzy “Black
Rose: A Rock Legend”
- Sleater-Kinney
“Call the Doctor”
- Warren Zevon “Life’ll
Kill Ya
- Harpeth Rising
“Shifted”
I’m excited to make these albums
the soundtrack of my Saturday night.
Disc 932 is….American Band
Artist: Drive-By
Truckers
Year of Release: 2016
What’s up with the Cover? To borrow one of the album’s
song titles, “A darkened flag on the cusp of dawn.” The way this picture is
framed it makes it almost feel like the flag is at half-mast and given the
content of the songs, it makes sense.
How I Came To Know It: I’ve only been into the Drive-By
Truckers for under a year but it is safe to say they’ve made one hell of an
impression on me. When this album was released a few weeks ago I bought it on
faith without having heard a single song.
How It Stacks Up: In the short time I’ve known the Drive-By
Truckers I’ve bought a lot of their music. I currently have five studio albums,
with plans to get a sixth that has been eluding me (but not yet at the ‘order
it from Amazon’ level).
It is
hard to stack up an album when it is the only one (so far) that I’ve taken the
time to properly grok. With some
reluctance I’m going to put it third with the proviso that I might revise it up
or down based on future experience.
Ratings: 4 stars
I’m
careful to avoid political commentary on this blog and stick to the music, but “American
Band” is so steeped in commentary on modern America it is impossible to discuss
it without exploring some of the challenges facing our neighbours to the south.
The
record covers social decay from every angle. Corrupt preachers and politicians
rub shoulders with ingrained racial prejudice, mass shootings, and clinical
depression. Even a walk of shame becomes a metaphor for the loss of youth and
idealism. This is a record that makes you think sad thoughts and enjoy it.
The
signature sound of the Drive-By Truckers remains unchanged; a blend of southern
boogie woogie, roots rock, protest folk, and a bit of country swing to make it
go down easier. The record opens with a bit of bombast, with the first three
songs rockin’ out, but the record then settles down and becomes more introspective
as it progresses. In a way, the song order itself is a metaphor, with the
Drive-By Truckers inviting us to look past all the pageantry of modern America
and contemplate deeper societal issues.
While “American
Band” has a lot of social commentary, songwriters Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley
never make it feel preachy. Sometimes the songs are told through the stories of
others and sometimes they are just in your face dissertations on some of those
challenges noted earlier. Whatever the system, the problem is presented without
judgment. On “What It Means” Hood
takes on the issue of race relations and violence, but even as he lays out his
frustration and disgust with the situation, he ends the song admitting he doesn’t
have the solution:
“Astrophysics at our fingertips
and we’re standing on the summit
Some man with a joystick lands a
rocket on a comet
We’re living in an age where
limitations are forgotten
The outer edges move and dazzle
us but the core is something rotten
Cause we’re standing at the
precipice of prejudice and fear
We trust science just as long as
it tells us what we want to hear
We want our truths fair and
balanced as long as our notions lie within it
There’s no sunlight in our asses
and our heads are stuck up in it.
And our heroes may be rapists who
watch us while we dream
But don’t look to me for answers
cuz I don’t know what it means.”
It is a
refreshing admission that, as Alice Cooper once sang “we’ve still got a long way to go.” Not knowing how to get there is
the first step on the journey.
That is a
lot of lyrics reprinted there, but I hope you read them. If not, go back and do
so. I have a bit of a reputation as being overly focused on lyrics in music,
and there is some truth to it. But on “American Band” the lyrics are more
important than on a lot of other records, and they’re worth your time. With
Cooley and Patterson’s heartfelt vocal delivery and sweet southern drawl they
are even better.
“Guns of Umpqua” tells the heroic story
of Chris Harper-Mercer, who helped rescue students during the shooting at
Umpqua Community College last year, getting shot five times in the process.
“Ever South” finds Patterson Hood in an
introspective mood, as he traces the roots of his own ancestry from Irish and
Scottish immigrants at Ellis Island, down the Appalachia and eventually
becoming southerners, and all the complexity of what it means to be from the
American south.
“American Band” is an unflinching look at
America, from the perspective of someone who clearly loves their country and
wants it to be better. Leonard Cohen once sang:
“It’s coming to America first
The cradle of the best and of the
worst
It’s here they’ve got the range
And the machinery for change
And it’s here they’ve got the
spiritual thirst.”
While
they don’t purport to have all the answers, the Drive-By Truckers aren’t afraid
to take up Cohen’s challenge. The result is a record that makes you think and
despite its often heavy subject matter, inspires you to something better.
Best
tracks: Filthy
and Fried, Guns of Umpqua, Sun Don’t Shine, Ever South, What It Means, Once
They Banned Imagine
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