Closed

Drag the River | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 26, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Upland Records
• ASIN: B000063KQ2
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #357,466 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Embrace The Sound

2. Medicine

3. Forgiveness

4. Losin' Everyone

5. So Lonely

6. Song For Robin Reichhardt

7. Barroom Bliss

8. Disclaimer (Pts.2 & 1)

9. Booze N' Pills

10. Calloused Heart #2

11. Get Drunk

12. Lost Weekend

13. Life Of Ruin

14. Smokefinger

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Fort Collins, Colorado-based Drag the River are rooted in punk--their songwriters are Jon Snodgrass of Armchair Martian and Chad Price of the post-Descendants group All--yet their sound is much subtler than one might expect. The country rock on Closed, the follow-up to their 2000 debut Hobo's Demos, is not aggressive or all-out roaring as much as it is hard-driving and confessional. Zach Boddicker paints steel-guitar stripes on steady-rolling roots-rock cuts ("Medicine," "Song for Robin Reichhardt") and downtempo cautionary tales ("Smokefinger"). Elsewhere, the quintet devotes equal time to speedy shuffles (the loser's anthem "Get Drunk") and barroom weepers ("Forgiveness"). --Anders Smith Lindall

Product Description

The Fort Collins, Colorado-based Drag the River are rooted in punk--their songwriters are Jon Snodgrass of Armchair Martian and Chad Price of the post-Descendants group All--yet their sound is much subtler than one might expect. The country rock on Closed, the follow-up to their 2000 debut Hobo's Demos, is not aggressive or all-out roaring as much as it is hard-driving and confessional. Zach Boddicker paints steel-guitar stripes on steady-rolling roots-rock cuts ("Medicine," "Song for Robin Reichhardt") and downtempo cautionary tales ("Smokenger"). Elsewhere, the quintet devotes equal time to speedy shues (the loser's anthem "Get Drunk") and barroom weepers ("Forgiveness"). --Anders Smith Lindall Closed is arguably Drag the Rivers best album. The anthem Get Drunk is the bands most requested song and the album has become an essential soundtrack for drunks all over the world. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Drinks, drugs and emotional wreckage anchor alt.country gem, February 9, 2008

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Closed (Audio CD)

The second album from this Ft. Collins, Colorado aggregation, originally released in 2002, sounds less like a side-project for its punk-rock membership (Chad Price of All, Jon Snodgrass and Paul Rucker of Armchair Martian) and more like a solid alt.country songwriting partnership and band. Though heavy on the electric guitars, there's plenty of melodically careening steel (courtesy of Zach Boddicker), drawled vocals and down-in-the-mouth lyrics.

Price sings with a gruff bluesiness similar to Jon Dee Graham. He and Snodgrass write of the emotional triggers leading to a cozy relationship with the bottle, and the dead-end life of such self-medication. Their songs slide from emotional catastrophes ("So Lonely," "Song for Robin Reichhardt," "Calloused Heart #2," "Lost Weekend") into a downward spiral of drink, drugs and co-dependence ("Forgiveness," "Barroom Bliss," "Booze 'n' Pills," "Get Drunk," "Smokefinger," "Medicine"), with only a brief pitstop at the junction of introspection and hope ("Embrace the Sound," "Life of Ruin").

One might take these songs literally (and, thus, be on the lookout for news of the band's sextuple liver transplant) if their lyrical detail didn't suggest an extended bout of lucidity. Fact, fiction, or somewhere in between, these stories of tormented hearts provide an edginess that's stripped of tear-in-your-beer romance. For maximum commiseration, set your CD player to "repeat." [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an alt.country classic, June 14, 2002

By 

Marvin Mckee "tallyho" (Tallahassee, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Closed (Audio CD)

i am baffled by the previous reviewer's accolades and then a three star rating. in my view this cd is a long awaited revival of true altcountry music. wonderful steel, gritty vocals and, yes, songs about drinking (and its consequences). things have gotten way too tamed down as of late, thanks dtr.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I drink all my waking hours away....., October 24, 2008

By 

William J. Manley (Kingston, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Closed (Audio CD)

Truly honest alt-country record. Beer, pills, and broken hearts. Great for a muggy summer night of drinking alone on the pickup bed under the stars. Pull up a chair and keep the makers mark comin'.