Drive-By Truckers - English Oceans

http://cdn.pastemagazine.com/www/articles/DBTEnglishOceans.jpg?1386085888

Drive-By Truckers have announced their newest album, which is titled English Oceans and set for a March 4, 2014 release.

The follow-up to 2011’s Go-Go Boots, English Oceans is the 12th studio effort from Drive-By Truckers. The album was recorded in under two weeks in Athens, Ga. with the band’s longtime producer David Barbe. According to the band, the songwriting duties were split evenly between co-founders Mike Cooley, who brought six new songs to the album, and Patterson Hood.

English Oceans is out March 4, 2014 via ATO.

Tracklist:
1. Shit Shots Count
2. When He’s Gone
3. Primer Coat
4. Pauline Hawkins
5. Made Up English Oceans
6. The Part of Him
7. Hearing Jimmy Loud
8. Til He’s Dead or Rising
9. Hanging On
10. Natural Light
11. When Walter Went Crazy
12. First Air of Autumn
13. Grand Canyon

:D

their first album without a third songwriter or third guitarist! really curious about it.

(well, since their first album, I should say)

weird name for a DBT album, no? anyway, the last one left me cold, so I'm keeping my expectations low.

I'm one of those guys who hasn't loved much of what they have done since Jason Isbell left the band but I will probably check it out hoping for the best anyway.

The last 2 Patterson Hood solo records were absolutely fantastic. Better than the last 2 DBT.

Still, even if they never recorded another song, they're one of the great American rock and roll bands.

hot damn I need to hear this!

Mentioned it on the other thread, but I would really set expectations low on this one, alas. It's OK - there are horns, it's really Stones-y - but after a couple of listens it might be their weakest since "Blessing and a Curse." On the other hand, it's their loosest and live-ist. Not bad, just, as I said elsewhere, not the album I wanted from them right now.

There was talk of this being their 'punk' album. I love the cover art. Looking forward to this and a 6/6 Patterson / Cooley split (+ 1 Patterson wrote but Cooley sings? Weird) is very enticing.

Also, while ABAAC is very far from their best, I think I like it more than TBTD.

It's "punk" only in the no-frills, one-take (not unusual for them), raw sense, but it's pretty much still them. Cooley is really stretching on this one. You'll hear some different sides of him, for sure.

Hmm, that's a good question: do I like "Blessing" better or worse than "Big To-Do?" Neither album is bad, per se, but lacking in highlights (despite not lacking in, you know, highlights, because each has great songs).

This one is just kinda generic. But I need to give the lyrics a closer listen, because that's where Cooley and Hood really shine. Class poets, those two.

Also, more duality of the DBT thing: this might be both the band's most generic *and* most adventurous album. There will be some discussion.

xp Agreed. DBT at their worst beats most rock bands at their best imo. Very much excited--even optimistic--about this despite the advance warnings. I loved GGB and that one wasn't very well regarded at first, either.

Is Cooley over his "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" rhythmic / melodic fixation at this point? Back to "Uncle Frank" (or at least "Three Dimes Down") territory, I hope?

also, the more I look at it, I think this may be my favorite DBT cover art. Gonna look sweet on vinyl.

Cooley is all over the place stylistically. "Shit Gets Shot" is "Three Dimes Down"/Jagger (the latter with an overt nod to "Holidays in the Sun"). "Primer Coat" is Cooley at his most melodic. The sort-of title track "Made Up English Oceans" is kinda his "Ghost Riders in the Sky."

Whoops, "Shit Shots Count," I mean.

wow that advance is way out...didn't know labels still did that

I'll preface this by saying that I've considering Drive By Truckers my favorite still-current band since about 2003.

I'm one of the few that REALLY likes ABAAC, and I love BTCD as well, but TBTD and GGB don't do much for me, and I hardly listen to them at all anymore.

People over on the DBT forum are going absolutely crazy over this one, almost universally saying it's their best album since The Dirty South. I've been really excited to hear it based on the glowing reviews over there.

In the end, though, I'm going to have to agree with Josh. I'm not sure where it ranks among the most three recent albums (TBTD, GGB, and EO), but it's not much to get excited about.

Here are some of my thoughts:

1. Patterson is heading downhill fast. Like careening. Some of his songs absolutely slay me ("The Living Bubba," "Sandwiches for the Road," "Puttin' People on the Moon," "The Three Great Alabama Icons," "My Sweet Annette"....I could listen about 10 more songs here that are among my favorite ever by anyone. Some kind of switched flipped around 2010, though, and nearly all of the songs he's released since then have been dreadfully dull and uninteresting to me. I have a feeling I'll be skipping most of his songs on this record (although if you're a fan of his Heat Lightning album, this should be right up your alley).

2. Cooley seems to be on an upswing. "Shit Shots Count" and "Hearing Jimmy Loud" are great. "Primer Coat," too. "First Air of Autumn" seems to be pretty good as well. Not sure about the others yet.

3. Patterson's initial marketing it as a return to their punk roots is totally misguided and got me excited for something that doesn't exist. Without Cooley's few rockers, there would hardly be any energy to this album at all. The whole thing lacks cohesion, just like their last few.

All in all, I agree with the "don't get your hopes up" sentiment. Maybe I was just expecting too much, but I don't think they'll ever go back to the heights of the band that I loved so much for much of the 00s.

I love Heat Lightning so I'm not discouraged. I also like GGB better than ABAAC.

As a fan since 2000, I'd say BTCD is my second favorite from them, after Southern Rock Opera, so as far as potential heights go, I'm not ready to write them off just yet. I agree, though, that Patterson's songs have been lacking a bit. They're hyper-literary but despite being a great writer he's not always a great writer, and too many of his tracks aspire to a poetry he can't quite achieve. I never read Patterson's punk rock quote, but punk rock - a la the first three records - is what this album needed to be. Rough, raw, funny and pissed off. But this album isn't that.

I'll have to head to the forums to see why people are so crazy for this one.

Dumb question but where has this leaked? I don't see it in any of the usual places

...and am dying to hear it

I loved Heat Lightning and Murdering Oscar. Both were better than the last 2 DBT records.

Agree about HLRITD, not so much about MO

this is cooley's record

found the leak. will report back.

'Pauline Hawkins' is probably Patterson's high point on this record

One of the better pieces on them in recent years:

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/02/drive-by-truckers-southern-storytelling.html

Maybe the problem I have with this album is that the songs are not up to the lyrics, which I should probably pay closer attention to than usual.

I have to review this thing and am struck dumb by its boringness.

Hmmm. Do you like their other albums?

I adore Brighter Than Creation Dark and a good portion of the earlier albums. I can even cobble a Big To-Do and Go-Go Boots playlist.

Your dislike of this one is surprising to me, then! To me it plays to the band's strengths, and Cooley's songs are his best in a long while. It feels like the most 'complete' album since The Dirty South to me.

Patterson's last two solo records are better than Go Go Boots and Big To do

This sounds great so far.

I disliked it.

Hey, I read that this afternoon! I like it more than you but you most likely can articulate your feelings about it better than I.

In their defense, how many bands turn in world-beaters on album #12? They're still the best.

What did you mean by fraught for Blessing and A Curse?

i used to love this band, but they lost their grip on the thread some time ago (around the time jason isbell left, a move that's been bad for both acts but maybe the DBT would be on this career-trajectory no matter what).

No way man. Brighter Than Creation's Dark is their best, or maybe 2nd only to Decoration Day. Big To-Do is just OK, but Go Go Boots has Used To Be A Cop which is one of their very best.

This sounds real good so far. And the last two Patterson Hood solo records are alltime.

there was one patterson hood solo disc -- maybe his first one -- that was really good. very feral, fierce-sounding.

Murdering Oscar and Heat Lightning Rumbles are both phenomenal.

Brighter Than Creation's Dark is at least their second best, yeah, so it's not been a downhill tumble. I think they're honestly just stretched a bit thin. Hood and Cooley are older than most people realize - I think he turns 50 this month! - they're both parents now, they tour all the time, Hood churns out solo albums and other things ... there's just a bit less fuel in the engine.

No way man. Brighter Than Creation's Dark is their best, or maybe 2nd only to Decoration Day. Big To-Do is just OK, but Go Go Boots has Used To Be A Cop which is one of their very best.

This sounds real good so far. And the last two Patterson Hood solo records are alltime.

― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, March 5, 2014 11:38 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You and I are in complete agreement about this band, down to your love of UTBAC, which is the song I play people who think DBT is some Southern Culture on the Skids bullshit

I love the new album.

Also, Alfred, I enjoyed your review depsite disagreeing with it; I think you ably articulate your dislike of a band you're obviously pretty familiar with (title blunder aside - it's "Get Downtown," not "Going Downtown"). Also, hadn't noticed the "Perfect Timing" / "First Air Of Autumn" thing but you're totally otm there. Eric Church dig was way off-base and harsh, though imo

Alfred doesn't dislike the band! If anything, the review does a nice job going out of its way to say what he does like about the group (if only in passing) to set up what he doesn't like about this album. Eric Church dig was indeed harsh and unfair, though, especially because while this album is relatively dull, musically, imo, Hood and Cooley remain excellent lyricists, which makes the DBTs always worthwhile. If anything, the problem with the DBTs is one of high expectations, taking consistent greatness for granted (Richard Thompson OTM; Patterson is a huge fan of Hand of Kindness, btw), and the band's inconsistent (lately) ability to sell those lyrics with songs and hooks and stuff that match. Which is not to say any of these songs are turds on the run, just that, again, high expectations. These guys and Springsteen are operating on a similar plane, but I sure know whose relative mediocrity I'd rather take these days.

Well put. Also, is should have said "dislike of an album," my bad. I think it's obvious from the piece that Alfred digs DBT.

Hand Of Kindness, huh?

Listening to this album for the first time in a long while and it sounds pretty good. But really, I think this band keeps it so real it shoots itself in the foot: same producer, same no-frills approach. Especially now that there are more keys and horns and stuff, I sort of wish they had their REM moment and moved on to new producers. Hell, I bet Mitch Easter could make this band sound great. Or maybe someone like Chris Stamey.

remembering to rock would help

a few cod-reggae songs here and there couldn't hurt.

Yeah, Southern cod reggae would be cool.

Catfish reggae?

So Christgau's review: a major album by a major band, thanks to the emergence of Cooley.

The Dean's review of Pizza Deliverance was how I first got into the Truckers. He's turned me on to more good music than anybody alive.

But it's as if he realized Cooley is a good songwriter years after his and the band's peak.

Nah, he goes nuts for Cooley in his SRO review, iirc.

btw thanks for the defense. I thought it was obvious in my review (and sundry ILM threads) that I love these guys.

No prob. Your review came from the right place.

Maybe XGau now realizes Cooley's no mere second banana? Does seem belated.

Cooley, in a Magnet editorial:

Cooley: When I meet other people my age and tell them what I do for a living (only after unsuccessfully avoiding it), after the usual what kind of music, name of the band questions, etc., things turn to my thoughts on the merits or lack of in today’s pop music. Sometimes I think they want me to reassure them that they are not just turning into old assholes. Saying the same things old assholes said about them and their music. In order to determine if you’re turning into an old asshole, you have to accept the fact that the rate at which a society progresses can be measured by the rate at which its old assholes die or accept their irrelevance. Since we can’t change your life expectancy, let’s focus on relevance.

Why was your music all that anyway? If you’re thinking “because they played their own instruments” you may be becoming an old asshole.

Why?

Ted Nugent plays an instrument. What is he? You guessed it. I was even young enough once to think he had something meaningful to offer the world.

Basically every generation deserves a chance to get it wrong! And if you think the one coming up is going to get it any more wrong than yours did: congratulations! You’re an old asshole.

Don’t be an old asshole.

Jason Isbell joined Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley for a benefit show last Sunday. It was an all acoustic show, so it's somewhat subdued. Great banter and guitar playing though. And the sound quality is impeccable. Here's the link to the download - https://t.co/dZdYMnZHC3

Thanks!

Very very cool

yay!

The last 2 Patterson Hood solo records were absolutely fantastic. Better than the last 2 DBT.

― kornrulez6969, Friday, December 6, 2013 5:12 AM (6 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Patterson's last two solo records are better than Go Go Boots and Big To do

― kornrulez6969, Thursday, February 27, 2014 3:34 AM (3 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I loved Heat Lightning and Murdering Oscar. Both were better than the last 2 DBT records.

― kornrulez6969, Thursday, December 19, 2013 2:06 AM (5 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This sounds real good so far. And the last two Patterson Hood solo records are alltime.

― kornrulez6969, Thursday, March 6, 2014 4:38 AM (3 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

but what do you think of the last two patterson hood albums

It was a benefit for Terry Pace, who had a stroke a few months ago. Nicest guy on earth.

X-post. I like them a lot, thanks for asking.