Album Description
A southern rock opera about growing up in the south in the 70’s, the rise and fall of arena rock, the mythology surrounding the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, and common misconceptions about the south.Amazon.com
You don’t need a bottle of Jack or even a trace of Southern lineage to appreciate the genius of Drive-By Truckers’ Southern Rock Opera. Without a hint of irony, the Athens, Georgia, quintet creates a fast-driving, hard-living tribute to the indelible music and… More >>
Ideas Product
#1 by A. Huss on May 25, 2010 - 11:47 pm
A band that tries to revive a musical style from the 1970’s is going to struggle to bring it into modern times for the sake of reaching popular status. Well, this album does not achieve that status. One thing the album does do well is tell the story of Lynyrd Skynyrd. What the album doesn’t do well is being pleasing to the ear and easy to listen to. I don’t recommend this album unless you really want to hear it. Besides all that, the CD case is a cardboard case without plastic CD holders, very cheap looking. All in all, the entire production of the album seems very low-key and not well thought out.
Rating: 2 / 5
#2 by M. Harris on May 26, 2010 - 12:05 am
I brought this on the strengh of the reviews and with a passion for Southern rock, i mean three guitars up front has to be good…unfortunately its not, In fact it is plain awful. A so called homage to Lynyrd Skynrd lyrically this is so embarassing and musically inept. The guitars are distorted to such an extent that you’ve have difficulty working out what each is playing. This is closer to some of the electric dirges Neil Young has assaulted the unprepared listener with over the years, same tempo, same solo. When you think of the other Southern bands who haven’t half the exposure these wannabees have it makes you literally sick. One of the worse things i’ve heard in years!
Rating: 1 / 5
#3 by Scott Pacyna on May 26, 2010 - 1:11 am
I bought this cd believe what I’ve heard that this band is the next big thing in the y’alternative/”no depression” country-rock scene. No dice.
This album is really tame and boring, nothing at all what you’d expect to hear in a southern rock cd. It just really sounds like these guys were really bored while they were making this cd, they just don’t put any life or emotion into most of the songs. I honestly wouldn’t even have been able to tell you that there was more than one guitar player in the band, most of the time it just sounds like one guy is overdubbing his solos on to the rhythm he’s already played.
This is just a tepid, bland and lifeless cd. Most bar bands pump more life into songs than these guys do on this cd. Very very disappointing…
Rating: 1 / 5
#4 by Kery Gille on May 26, 2010 - 3:18 am
After reading the other reviews of this two disk set, I thougt I’d add this to my collection. What a huge mistake. To say that these guys sound anything like Lynyrd Skynyrd or any other quality Southern Rock Band of the 70’s era would be a total put-down of all the true musicians of that era. When I received this set in the mail, I first pulled out the liner notes and lyrics and read the whole “book”. I liked the lyrics and the theme of most of the songs. Then I put the disks in and listened to this mess. I have never been more disappointed in my life. The longer I listened the more angry I became. Why? These guys suck. They are bad musicians, the production is bad, as far as the general sound quality, it is a muddy mess. If you are looking for good musicians with good tone that understand how to weave three guitars into well written, intricate songs with the sweet twang of southern rock guitars, look elsewhere. These hackers missed the mark by a long shot. They play out of tune, sing out of key and the production is bad. I can’t believe I was suckered into actually paying for this garbage.
Rating: 1 / 5
#5 by Diamond Dave on May 26, 2010 - 4:02 am
.
I’ve listened to tens of thousands of albums, and this is certainly one of them.
Listening to this reminded me of watching the backwards-playing movie Memento. I don’t know if I really liked it, but it was interesting.
I really wanted to like this album. Many of these tunes show promising starts but to me get bogged down in tired vocals and second-hand loud playing. Like a fence post on an abandoned farm, the songs just sit there. For no apparent reason. Critic reviews were -as stated by a few other respondents- glowing.
Many of the songs kick-start with a promising guitar riff, but slowly deconstruct into fuzzy noodling and horrific singing. I mean the playing occasionally makes you think something great is just around the bend, but it is a dead end, for the most part.
I mean they are certainly passionate about their roots. I dropped acid at a Robin Trower concert too, but I didn’t waste people’s time by recording 2 cds worth of minutia about my experiences and how it changed my life.
The lyrics are sort of a narrative, story telling format that go a little like this, like a 5th grade school paper: “Woke up this morning, had a bowl of corn flakes, heard a dog barking, and shot him dead. Lynard Skynard is a great band”. That sort of garbage. And in mind crap is crap. Most of these words rung shallow as an ash tray, and empty as a beer can. The spoken word songs, I found to be more enjoyable. Cause most of the rest of this sucks more than an empty keger on a Friday night. I just wanted to shout out at my CD player, “Will you Shut up and get on with it already!”
Hey, Lynyrd Skynyrd is a great rock band, with several classics, but this is no LS. I also like Neil Young.
But I have 3 words for a band that repeatedly sings songs that include song after song after song after song about Ronnie & Neil. Get over it!
I found “3 Great Alabama icons” interesting, certainly from historic perspective, the information of racist Governor George Wallace was eye opening.
There are a fist full of nice songs pocketed toward the end of side two: “Life in the Factory” rocks, “Cassie’s Brother” (primarily NOT sung by the band), “Shut Up” is good driving rock. “Angels & Fuselage” a decent ballad.
Skip the second hand licks and goat-roper strained, whiskey’n’ razorblades garbled vocals. Stick with the originals; spend your blue collar dollar on “After the Gold Rush” or “Harvest” or “Everyone Knows this is Nowhere” or L.S. Personally I think these guys are less street survivors and more grease spill on the lost rock highway.
Get out the way of this southern thing.
p.s. ditto for their other CD, the Dirty South too. Yawn.
Rating: 2 / 5