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| Artist: Drive-by Truckers
Label: New West Records
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $12.39
You Save: $6.59 (35%)
New (44) Used (12) from $9.35
Rating:  44 reviews
Sales Rank: 1826
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 5 x 0.2
MPN: 6135
UPC: 607396613526
EAN: 0607396613526
ASIN: B000ZKRFDA
Release Date: January 22, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed items direct from the Studios. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Quick International Airmail!
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 31-35 of 44
 Need to get back to original stuff June 3, 2008
raider683 (Athens, GA)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have been a faithful follower of this band for a long time and I must say that the last two albums have really been disappointing. The band clearly misses Jason Isbell, if not on the guitar side, but definitely on the songwriting and creativity side. After listening to this album, I've decided that Cooley is the only thing that keeps this CD from being sold to the highest bidder. Also, I know that the band loves Spooner Oldham, but I can't listen to any of the songs that have his awful Wurlitzer playing a half-step behind the rest of the song. It's like fingernails on a blackboard!! Three Dimes Down is a great song until I hear that da%n organ thing in the background, it's AWFUL!!! DBT, please stop experimenting and adding member's and get back to what made you popular, And that is down home, southern fried, gritty rock and roll.
It's a true disappointment.
 Brighter than most other artists. June 12, 2008
Jonathan Clark (Laurel, MS USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When that first song started up, I was immediately transported to "Little Bonnie", which to me in retrospect was one of the few bright spots on the last album. I recently lost my daddy, so DBT's have been on repeat pretty much. "Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife" is, simply put, my favorite song so far of the last year of new releases. I often find myself sitting out in the cemetery, watching the rain fall onto the windshield of my truck as the lonesome banjo rolls on and the pedal steel wails directly into my heart. The harmony is absolutely breathtaking, and I've shed more than one tear listening to this song.
The rest of the album holds up to the very lofty expectations that the first song creates. As a southern family man, "The Righteous Path" made me think of the 'notice of foreclosure' I got one time right when our economy went to hell.
I have to say that Shonna's introduction on this album as a contributing singer/writer is something new and beautiful as well. I hope she keeps doing her thing for a long time to come. Patterson, Easy-B, Cooley, and Shonna have accompanied me on this hell-trip called life for a good while now. This album will get me a few miles further down the highway. It'll do the same for you too.
25 Cents Shy of a Slice of the Doublemint Twins September 1, 2008
mothball raven (so cal)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Let me start off by saying that I love the sh*t out of this band! They have never done a weak album. Sure, some are better than others, but fans tend to get spoiled after the likes of Southern Rock Opera, Decoration Day, the Dirty South and the fantastic Live at the 40 Watt DVD.
I've noticed a bit of rumbling in the ranks since the release of A Blessing and a Curse. Even Patterson Hood has had some misgivings about that album. But it still is quite a fine album when compared to the sad state of rock 'n' roll these days. As far as A Blessing and a Curse is concerned, the longer I owned it and played it, the more it grew on me. DBT albums tend to be that way.
Which brings us to the subject at hand, Brighter Than Creation's Dark, the latest release by DBT. The album is clearly transitional, and not just because Jason Isbell has left the band. The record also showcases the softer, "acoustic" side of the band more than any other previous release. Then there is the emergence of Shonna Tucker as a songwriter and vocalist. John Neff also rises to the occasion with extremely atmospheric pedal steel guitar (Jesus, his work on "The Opening Act" is beyond evocative and atmospheric and really makes that tune the highlight of the album), tasty slide and electric lead("3 Dimes Down") and gorgeous acoustic lead guitar ("Perfect Timing", which sounds like some bastard child of the Grateful Dead's Workingman and American Beauty period with a touch of Reckoning thrown in). It also includes the incredibly wise keyboard playing of veteran sideman Spooner Oldham whose timing is deliciously and perfectly off-kilter for the Jack Daniels meets heroin sound of the DBT.
Hood's nine contributions to the album vary in quality and style, the best being the aforementioned "The Opening Act" (which is just killer), "Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife", "Daddy Needs a Drink" and the lethargic "Monument Valley". Patterson's, "That Man I Shot", has powerful and ferocious guitar work which lends to the moral dilema of the song's subject. But the tune, as brash and furious as Hood's interesting lyrics are presented, lacks an interesting bridge. "The Righteous Path" is another interesting lyric which is set to a plodding repetitive simple chord progression which seems borrowed from "The Buford Stick", but the latter song was more interesting. The thankfully short, "You and Your Crystal Meth", is about as interesting musically as an anti-drug TV ad - very forgettable on a musical level.
Hood's other midling efforts for this album include "The Home Front" (an Iraqi war veteran's wife's story) and the suicidal and monotonous "Goode's Field Road".
Shonna Tucker's three contributions to the album deserve more credit than most have given them in previous reviews. The rockin' "Home Field Advantage" has the makings of a hit, although perhaps it should fade out during the dissonant "jam" at the end for the single edit. "Purgatory Line," is gorgeous and atypical of DBT, exposing the possibilities still yet unexplored by this band. "I'm Sorry Huston," leaves plenty of mystery in its lyrics' story line and the melody is palpably mournful. I encourage Shonna to continue her pursuit as a songwriter. She's got some interesting stuff to be heard.
Cooley's always accessible contributions to the album are a welcome interval between the stylings of Hood and Tucker. Mike weighs in with seven tunes, the best of which are "Ghost To Most" (this is classic DBT), and the gorgeous, if not somewhat melodically predictable, "Checkout Time In Vegas." "Lisa's Birthday," might be melodically and subjectively tried and true, but dammit I love this tune. "Bob," is also a cool, melodically simple, yet complex character study done with an economy of words ("He might kneel but he doesn't bend over"). "Self Destructive Zones" is a graet tune melodically, with a lyric which puzzles me at times. The aforementioned "Perfect Timing," has really tasty acoustic guitar by John Neff which really dresses the Cooley tune up nicely.
Cooley's earliest effort on the record, "3 Dimes Down," has stellar slide and other guitar work by John Neff. The track begins in a completely promising fashion with great guitar riffs and interplay with a sound reminiscent of the Stones and Faces in their heyday. It's a great song but I wish it had another verse at the end instead of two verses and a long instrumental bridge and ending. Seems like this tune, like this album, falls 25 cents shy of a slice of the Doublemint Twins.
Still, a DBT album that falls short is ninety nine times better than anything else out there. I give it four stars! So rock on and enjoy it. Play this CD frequently until you are able to see this great band when they come to your town. Make sure you're in a Jack Daniels frame of mind. It's the heroin of booze.
A heavyweight Gothic Americana classic September 8, 2008
Mitchell Howard (Havelock North, NZ)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have a couple of DBT previous efforts, and love them all and rate this up with all I have listened to, for the simple reason that the emotional resonance of the material is far ahead of, and more real than whats gone before. I'm sorry previous reviewers but just because you don't do P (Crystal Meth)and thats a good thing, isn't reason to not try and understand a corner of society and the message being conveyed. I wonder just how some people listen to music. Do you just switch off when you don't like the subject material? (Oh that doesn't suit my small town sensibilities, I will skip this track and give a bummer review)This music is challenging, dark and sometimes scary. Its not better or worse than previous efforts its of a time and a place both in terms of the band and of the environment being talked about. I'm looking forward to listening to Brighter than Creations Dark over the next couple of years and making sense of its many parts and enjoying the dark themes and storys.
A seriously good band. Not commercial but the producer of serious tales of the twisted American south.
Highly recommended February 19, 2008
J. D. JANSEN (St. Louis, MO)
Brighter Than Creations Dark is highly recommended especially for those of us "trying the best to keep keeping on" with "messed up minds for these messed up times". The nineteen songs cover themes of family, death and loss, and especially the consequences of the the decisions that we make as we go through life. For those of us who have made some of those big life decisions--good and bad--these songs should ring true. As expected several of the songs (Three Dimes Down, That Man I Shot, Home Field Advantage)are hard-driving rock tunes, but I was really impressed with some of the quieter, slower tunes (Opening Act, Purgatory Line, The Monument Valley). Despite the length, the album just gets better as it rolls along, and they've packed some of the biggest punches towards the end. Highly recommended.
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