Customer Reviews

Ultimate Collection

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's gotta be hard to be from the same scene as REM and the B-52's and get any respect. But, thanks to Hip-O (who have many other great collections, by the way) D'NC's best work is available in one place. "Fly Me Courageous" is the closest thing they had to a hit but, as this collection shows, their lack of commercial success was more bad luck then bad material. "Build A Fire", "House For Sale", "Let's Go Dancing", and "For You" are personal faves but any fans of REM, Soul Asylum, or even the friggin' Goo Goo Dolls would find much to like in this retrospective.

I am a new fan to this old band and the music is timeless. Because they are from Georgia and never received national air play, at least not in my home town of Dallas Tx. I never heard of them until I moved to Atlanta. Every track is good and great to jam while on the road or chill to around the house.

While this contains most of the songs that casual fans would consider dnc's best (they were actually selected by the band to please the fans), it's not the most well thought-out greatest hits collection I've ever heard. Heavy on cuts from the most popular records ("Mystery Road" and "Fly Me Courageous") the record nearly skips the last two releases and steers clear of rarities (except for the excessive live version of "Toy Never Played With"), never persuading the first-time listener that dnc was/is a great band by giving a sense of their uniqueness or their trajectory through 15 years (in 2000) of constant touring and recording. Some deep cuts or rarities might have helped with that. Also, I am disappointed with the quality of the mastering. Still, this material roughly coincides with their greatest hits live album and at least touches on all seven studio albums.

I love Drivin and Cryin. They always have been a southern, gritty, hard rock kind of band. All their songs have great hooks and the lyrics are deep. All the hits are on this one. Build a Fire, Fly Me Courageous, Straight To Hell, HoneySuckle Blue,etc...I would have given this cd 5 stars, but they left out a song that should have been on it. Around the Block Again should have been on there off of Fly Me Courageous. Other then that, its a great cd, and I would recommend it to anyone....

I'm a big fan of this band and Kevn too. Great introduction to the band, but if you like this, you owe it to yourself to buy the individual CDs too. If nothing else, you need to buy "Fly Me Courageous" and "Mystery Road" ("Smoke" too if you like the heavier stuff). The fact that "With The People" was left off begs the purchase of Mystery Road (and "Toy Never Played With").

On a side note: I find it interesting that they cut the other guitarist (Tim Nielson)out of the cover picture. He was not on the later albums, but was an integral part of the early work... which was their best.

Drivin'n'Cryin' is one of those bands whose career does not easily lend itself to summarizing, mostly because of their idiosyncratic songwriting and a lack of real hit singles. That said, "Ultimate Collection" does a reasonable job of presenting this quirky band of modern southern rockers in a favorable light. Contemporaries of R.E.M. and the B-52s on the 1980s Athens/Atlanta rock scene, the band's music had of a regional flavor and they carried the torch of southern rock laid down by 1970S luminaries Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers.

Highlights on this package include five tracks (numbers 10-14) from their 1991 breakthrough "Fly Me Courageous," early classics "Honeysuckle Blue" and "Straight to Hell," and later triumphs "Indian Song" and "Telling Stories." As with any band that lacks obvious hits, it is always possible to quibble. Most obviously missing are "Check Your Tears at the Door" from "Whisper Tames the Lion," the lovely ballad "Right Side of Town," from "Wrapped in Sky" and their smokin' version of "Leaving on a Jet Plane" from their final, self-titled album.

Overall, a decent career retrospective from a horribly overlooked band that always deserved a bigger audience.

To be honest, though I love this band and have met Kevn Kinney a couple times, I only listen to this CD for the first song on it and the last two songs on it. Those songs, particularly "Telling Stories," remind me of what I like about the band. Evocative lyrics, fun if wistful tone and a nice, homegrown acoustic feel to the music. When Drivin N Cryin start to rock out more, though, they lose me. I like it better when it's just the guitars and Kinney's gravelly voice.