Brighter Than Creation's Dark

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-08-11 rating:
Average album from world's greatest band
Sometimes the popular opinion is just correct. Jason Isbell's departure from DBT means the band has lost one-third of its quality. Shonna Tucker, for all her fine musicianly qualities, just doesn't fill his very large shoes (especially live - Isbell had a lot of stage presence; Shonna really doesn't). The first DBT album since Isbell's departure is, therefore, about two-thirds as good as The Dirty South, and about one-third longer than it needed to be. I haven't been so disappointed in a band's new album since some time in the Stone Age. There are a couple of top tracks here (Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife comes to mind, and so does The Man I Shot), but the extra depth that Isbell used to provide is sadly sadly lacking. I still love DBT, and I hope they'll regroup around the new personnel and come out of their recent creative slump to produce some more wonderful music. I'll keep on buying their stuff just in case. Meanwhile, though, The Dirty South stays in the CD player.

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review by: date: 2008-04-14 rating:
More Tales From The Home Front
Stories.

That's what we have here and that's what matters.
(Allied of course to a set of damned fine tunes and performances).

There is an affectionate authenticity at the heart of these
down-home observations of southern small-town American life.

Sometimes it's all in the detail :

Bob the loner with more dogs than friends :

"Bob takes care of his Momma,
She's the only one he let's call him Robert....".

('Bob').

and again..... :

The love of a woman of uncertain age :

"Lisa's had more birthdays
Than there are sad country songs....".

('Lisa's Birthday').

There is both warmth and humour in these candid snapshots.

In other songs : 'Man I Shot' and 'Home Front' for example
the horizon widens and a big, cruel, irrational world
comes flooding in.

Sometimes it's an intimate glimpse into the loss and uncertainty
of one woman's private pain .

('Purgatory Line').

What the Truckers bring to these musical tales is a
powerful ability to dignify and enoble the ordinary.

That they manage to achieve this convincingly and without
patronising their subjects is a clear testament to their
sensitivity, sincerity and rough-shod artistry.

Not just another rock and roll band.

(....But they sure can rock and roll !)

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review by: date: 2008-03-13 rating:
A curate's egg of an album, although not without some charm
A long and diverse album that sees DBT moving back to its more alt. country, as a result of Jason's departure, Shonna's raised profile and Mike's increased vocal and song-writing presence on the tracks. In a sense that is a slight disappointment, as I felt they were building up a following and getting a more cross-over rock audience than previously. I'd long given up on them going down the southern rock route of their 'Opera' days, but I thought with 'Dirty South' and 'Blessing' they were creating a balance between their various sides, and having increased commercial appeal (although I can hear the traditionalists amongst the DBT fanbase screaming 'Judas' and 'Sell-out'!)

I know the USA don't have the same prejudice against Country that many in the UK do, and acts like Ryan Adams and the Cardinals are trying to address the balance, but the old steel guitar doesn't half conjure up images of Garth, Tammy, Dolly and all for many of us limeys. Similarly Cooley's countrified vocal style takes an old rocker like me time to get used to it - although it's getting easer as I get older to get rid of C&W stereotypes from my mind-set.

Interestingly enough, I think many of the Cooley-led songs are the strongest on the album, although occasionally you get a real no-no with a track like Lisa's Birthday! Shonna's vocal input works just doesn't work for me and I do miss Jason's more popular song structures. I also agree with some who say that Patterson's input is not at the consistency of old and he's slipping into cliches once again. However, go down the track listing and you've got some crackers, like '3 Dimes Down' (pure Faces/Stones), 'Righteous Path', 'Bob' (where the witty lyrics raise the song beyond what the music might have produced), 'That Man I Shot', 'Self Destructive Zones','Monument Valley' etc.

I remember at the time of 'Blessing' I thought it was their most consistent and accessible album, even though it never had quite the individual heights of 'Opera', Decoration Day' or 'Dirty South'. In some ways 'Creation' has got a few of those peaks back, but has more middling-material.

DBT have always been a multi-faceted band with light and shade, rock and folk/country, and being able to maintain momentum in Europe is not easy. Sadly, I can't see this album helping their profile (just as I can't see Jason Isbell as a solo artist doing it either - although his album is more consistent). Yet, I think the band members are probably happier with this artistic freedom and eclectic range of songs and styles and the core-fanbase, so what the heck! It's just that they "..could have been contenders.." and I think this album only consolidates them rather than moves them on further.

All in all, if you've ever liked any previous DBT, it's definitely worth checking out - just be prepared to hit the track skip button a touch more on this one.

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review by: date: 2008-02-10 rating:
Still on the righteous path
This is the Drive-by Truckers eighth album and the first after the departure of Jason Isbell. It is long but that is a DBT characteristic, the previous album A Blessing and a Curse was uncharacteristically short. The previous reviewer has been unlucky I've seen the band three times in the UK and they should be here later this year. So what about this album? Needless to say I like it, with the addition of pedal steel player John Neff to replace Jason the sound is far more countryish than previous albums especially on songs like Lisa's Birthday.

Here main songwriter Patterson Hood writes less than half of the songs and compadre Mike Cooley steps up to the plate with seven which showcase his economical, terse way with lyrics. Cooley can tell a story effectively with the minimum amount of words. Thematically the album is about ordinary people and their situations from the closet bound loner of Cooley's Bob to the post-traumatic stress disordered Iraq veteran in Hood's The Man I Shot. Bassist Shonna Tucker adds three songs and her harmonies add texture to other songs. Legendary Muscle Shoals sessioneer, Spooner Oldham, appears on most tracks and his keys are glorious. His masterstroke is Daddy Needs A Drink.

The album opens with Hood's two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife about a man looking down on his own wake and plotting revenge and ends with Monument Valley, an elegy to the Western. In between the band explore suicide and insurance, the Iraq War, alcoholism, illegal guns, drug addiction, growing up (or not) and unfulfilled potential. The album may be a little too long but the Truckers rarely disappoint and I think they have produced an album which compares well to the rest of their back catalogue.


review by: date: 2008-02-05 rating:
Is Amazon manipulating ratings?
When this was first released I wrote a critical 1* review which does not appear on the site. Is Amazon manipulating reviews to ensure a positive result and therefore more sales? If not, where's my review??

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