Drive by Truckers: Alabama Ass Whuppin'
2000
ATO Records
Format I Own it on: Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. Why Henry Drinks 2. Lookout Mountain 3. The Living Bubba 4. Too Much Sex (Too Little Jesus) 5. Don't Be in Love Around Me 6.18 Wheels of Love 7. The Avon Lady 8. Margo and Harold 9. Buttholeville 10. Steve McQueen 11. People Who Died 12. Love Like This
Here are a couple of cartoons to give you a moment to grab some popcorn before the main feature begins...
Here is "D.B's Cartoon"...
Here is "D.B. & Slice Fight a Dragon:...
And here is an old Family Circus strip I dd while Bil Keane was on vacation...
,,,and here's a Garfield strip I did while I was filling in for Jim Davis...
Alright...Now onto "Alabama Ass Whuppin'"...
This is a live album by the Drive by Truckers that's pretty interesting for being recorded before the band's breakthrough third album "Southern Rock Opera"...To be honest, I've never heard the band's perennially out-of-print first two records, which tend to be written off as jokey juvenalia ("The Living Bubba" being the exception) ...So I didn't really know what to expect when this reissue came out...
Surprise, surprise...It's great...If they didn't quite have it all figured out on the recording front, they sure as hell had their sound down in a live setting at this point...If'n you're not familiar with DBT, they have an FM-radio southern rock sound with a good amount of Crazy Horse roar tossed in to put it over the top...When they rock, they rock mightily, when they slow down, they slow down beautifully...Another signature of the band are their deep, rich lyrics packed with intricate storytelling...Even if you're not a big fan of the music, I'd imagine the lyrics would be enough to suck you in...Sometimes these live versions go straight up into spoken word territory ("18 Wheels of Love" and "Avon Lady")...This Patterson Hood guy likes to talk...Fortunately, he's interesting....
The only downside I can find is the lack of Mike Cooley vocals...He gets the big closer "Love Like This" and that's about it (I demand nothing less than a 3:1 Patterson Hood to Mike Cooley ratio)...Otherwise, this is a good introduction to early DBT and it also gives you a bunch of songs that don't appear on any of their albums...I'm not sure where they dug up "Don't Be in Love Around Me" (maybe a more knowledgeable DBT fan could tell me if they ever did a studio version) but it's become my go-to DBT track when I'm not in the mood for something wordy....Just a simple southern rock/punk rock hybrid with a chorus too big for whatever small club it was recorded at...
"Steve McQueen" is my other favorite...Just a sheeyit-kickin' good time that calls out Alec Baldwin for being a pussy in the Thomas Crown Affair remake...Awesome! Y'know, I'm not so sure I've ever seen any Steve McQueen movies outside of The Blob and The Towering Inferno...Still, this song convinces me Steve McQueen was badass, so good job...
The song that best points the way to their later material is "The Living Bubba" with its darker, plainspoken tone and high mortality rate...It tells the true story of a local musician with a terminal diagnosis giving it one last go and busting out show after show, song after song...A story that most other bands would turn into some manipulative, overbearing sentimental weeper, but to Hood's credit there are no tears here...Bubba's just a guy who chooses to face oblivion smoking, drinking and playing music...He seems to be resigned to his fate while simultaneously refusing to face it without distraction...It kind of comes across as a grim, good time, which is how I would categorize a good chunk of the band's discography...
This album was out of print forever but was recently reissued by ATO records, which is a pretty big-time operation, so hopefully this release sticks around awhile (as opposed to the 2005 reissues of "Gangstabilly" and "Pizza Deliverance" which went right back out of print before I could even get a chance to pick them up), cos there's a lot of stellar performances here for DBT fans...Although some folks might balk at the fact that about a quarter of the running time consists of talking...
Here's "Don't Be in Love Around Me"...Enjoy...
Don't Be in Love Around Me is my favorite too and no it's not on the first 2 albums either is People Who Died or The Avon Lady. Everything besides Margo and Harold, Too Much Sex, Love Like This and Lookout Mountain are on Gangstabilly. Lookout Mountain is on The Dirty South and the other ones are on Pizza Deliverance. I love the first 2 albums. If you ever come across the pick them up. Gangstabilly is the first one which is like you said jokey but on Pizza Deliverance they tend to get away from that a little more bit. Check out Bulldozers and Dirt, One of These days and Nine Bullets. Brandon used to play Too Much Sex at the Green Turtle when he used to dj there along with Piss Up a Rope lol.
ReplyDeleteI remember you showing me "Bulldozers and Dirt" one of the times I came up to Michigan...It was a great song...I still remember the whole thing clearly even aftrer hearing it only once a good decade ago...That's how you know something is a good song! I've looked everywhere for these albums and can't find them...Not for a reasonable price anyway...I might have to resort to the unreasonable price....I forgot about the Green Turtle! I don't think I ever went in there, but the name was funny...Was it even open when i still lived there?
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure the Green Turtle didn't open back up till after you left. Now its a business where they make dentures lol.
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