Customer Reviews

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Drive By Truckers' "Southern Rock Opera" is the best American rock album of 2001, and also the best Southern Rock album since Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Street Survivors" way back in 1977. That's fitting, since the album is a tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd (the original band, not the lame "reunion" version). "Southern Rock Opera" is also the best rock opera since the heyday of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and The Who's "Tommy." If you think this is all hypebole, then just listen to the album.

The band's sound is similar to Skynyrd, updated for the 21st century. Three guitars batter you while leaders Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley trade off on vocals. The album deals with subjects as diverse as southern racism as personified by George Wallace, fatal high school car wrecks, and the plight of a redneck preacher's daughter. All the while, it pay homage to Skynyrd by telling the tale of a younger southern rocker who makes the big time only to suffer a similar fate to the great band. Clever tracks abound, the best of which are "72 (This Highway's Mean)" "Dead, Drunk and Naked" (the album's most tuneful song despite its title) "Zip City," "Women Without Whiskey" and "Shut Up and Get on the Plane." "Birmingham" is an angry rant condeming racism, while "The Southern Thing" warns Yankees not to get too sanctimonious.

Having listened to several of DBT's previous albums, "Southern Rock Opera" is even more amazing. Before this, they were clever, if underachieving, songwriters who were a little too smart alecky for their own good. With "Opera," they have established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in American music. Paraphrasing the title of one of the album's songs, Long May They Rock.

Southern Rock Opera is more than just a collection of great songs. This double album comes straight from the heart of the boys from North Alabama that make up the Drive By Truckers. If you have ever loved 70's southern rock this album will take you back. Above all, it is an homage to the late great Ronnie van Zandt fronted-Lynyrd Skynyrd, a band much under-appreciated by the mainstream musical press, but not by the DBT. The music on this album is lovingly crafted and so are the lyrics. Every song tells a story and means something. It is probably the only concept album I've ever heard that really feels like it has to be listened to straight through. I did just that on Highway 421 in rural western North Carolina just a few weeks ago and I wasn't disappointed. If you are a displaced Southerner like myself who came of age in the 70s or 80s, this album will take you back to a time when Skynyrd blared on the stereo and you ate that beef stew, collards, and butter beans at your friends' house. Mrs. Bishop sure could cook! This album really needs to be listened to straight through to get the whole story, but if you insist on me listing standout cuts, I'll do it. 'Guitar Man Upstairs' is like 'Gimme Three Steps 2002'. 'Shut Up and Get on the Plane' is another classic southern rocker. And 'Zip City' is probably my current favorite, a song with more emotion than most artists muster up in a lifetime's worth of songs. If you care at all about supporting great music, buy this album. I downloaded the whole thing from Audiogalaxy, but it was so great and the DBT deserve the support so much, I also bought the album directly from them. Do yourself a big favor and pick this one up.

Fantastic! As a former (lifelong) Southerner, I was delighted by "Southern Rock Opera". While the music, dense as a curtain of kudzu, is solid, straightforward rock, the lyrics are what make this a truly exemplary album. The issue of prejudice functions as a recurrent theme throughout the piece, and, in the words of "The Three Great Alabama Icons", 'it ain't just white and black'. The singer's razorwire/whiskeysoured voice slices through George Wallace's Machiavellian desire for power; the relationship between Skynyrd and Neil Young; and the many misconceptions held about the South by both Southerners and... well, the rest of you that ain't.
For years, I was ashamed to claim my Southern ancestry, fearing that people would think of me as some negative stereotype rather than a smart gal with a drawl. Now, even with all of "the dualities of the Southern thing", I hold my head high and sing the praises of the Drive-By Truckers, and of the land I once called home.

Sometimes great art is built from remembrance of things past and "Southern Rock Opera" evokes the American South of the 1970s through an oddly affecting homage to Lynyrd Skynyrd. It is hard to explain what it feels like to be of a male white Southerner of a certain age, but one could do much worse than to hand your non-Southern (ok, Yankee) spouse, or kid, or friend, a copy of "Southern Rock Opera" and disappear for a couple of hours. Patterson Hood's sermon, "The Three Great Alabama Icons" is simply stunning, and worth the price of admission alone. The following track, "Wallace," describing George Wallace's arrival in Hell from Satan's point of view, is truly vicious, hysterically funny, and surely the only song in all of rock music to mention Fob James.

Don't be fooled by the Rock Opera thing. There is no real linear story in this compilation and the story written in the jacket is totally superfluous and possibly should have been abandoned. That being said, this is my favorite CD of the year. Some folks complain of the lack of vocal range of the DBT's and lack of production value, like they were expecting this to sound like Skynyrd, just because it was a tribute to them. Well if that is your way of thinking, you may be disappointed. Patterson Hood's vocal range is more simular to a guy some call "The Boss" than to Ronnie Van Zant. And truth be told, it was Skynyrd that worked for MCA. The Truckers are self produced and usually record live. You can even hear a few hesitations in "The Three Great Alabama Icons" that must have been "awe, screw it, good enough" for a band on a tight budget. But who cares. This is awesome music and lyrics that are nostalgic,funny, moving and even educational. The first track, "Days of Graduation" is about a fatal drunken crash of a teenager and the folklore that ensues that most high schools seem to encounter. "Ronnie and Neil" is about the feud in song of Skynyrd and Neil Young. "The Three Great Alabama Icons" is Patterson Hood's monologe about Ronnie,Bear Bryant and especially George Wallace. As a born "yankee", I must say that this song gave me a good Alabama History lesson and made me feel for the souther man and the stigma of the past he must carry. "Let There Be Rock is a nostalgic and funny take on drinkin'druggin'and rockin'in the '70's. "Life In The Factory" , a great song about being rock stars is about the rise of Lynyrd Skynyrd. The final three tracks are about the fatal plane crash that brought is all to an end. These are some of my favorites, but really the whole damn CD is great. Even if your an old rocker like me, pull out the air guitar and crank that stereo. Even if the wife does complain.

This CD is a must for any old Southern Rocker like myself. Other than the fact it pays homage to Lynyrd Skynyrd, it is one heck of a CD. Patterson Hood's songs are real and very descriptive. "Ronnie and Neil" is straight out of Skynyrd's style. "Southern Thing" says it all. I wore this out after I bought it. I saw DBT a couple months ago performing Southern Rock Opera. I just shut my eyes and travelled back to the 70's. BUY THIS CD!!!!!

Everything by DBT is worth listening to. It's about time a tribute record came out that wasn't all lousy covers of timeless songs. DBT wrote their own and play it their way. All 3 of the singers are great in their own way but Patterson is king.

Don't let the dated catergory of "concept album" turn you away - this is much more than that - it is raw, loud rock at its best and there is not a filler to be found. This powerful, literate and thourghly realized record tells a coherent and well written story but the story doesn't, as one might expect, detract from the music which is full of punk rock energy and arena rock hubris that actually delivers. This is a rare achievement - usually rock revivalists are annoying, of the "are you ready to rock?" variety, or too hip and ironic to admit they do love to rock and so can't stop smirking. Today it is refreshing to find compentent songwriters like Patterson Hood who can remind us of what was so great about grand, powerful rock music to begin with. What is most refreshing, however, is how literate the whole thing is. Patterson is a smart guy who knows his subject. I grew up in the south and can vouch that PH has nailed it but you don't have to be southerner to love this album. Anyone who has ever "turned it up" and listened with closed eyes knows the feeling of a real rock album and how rare that is to find these days. Don't miss this one.

Have you ever noticed that there have been a couple of albums (and then CD's) that came through your life that you handled differently?
Those few that you treated with a reverence that you never used with most of the rest of your music collection.
You didn't have to think about it or try, you were just automatically careful to only touch the edges, and you always had to blow off any traces of dust before you slid them back in the cover.

I'm trying to think of the few that I've treated like that. There weren't many. I know Gold & Platinum was one.

I treat "Southern Rock Opera" like that.
Same reverence.

Listen to these three songs:
"72 This Highway's Mean"
"Shut Up and Get on the Plane"
"Greenville to Baton Rouge"
And then notice how careful you are when you take it out of your stereo.
I guess that explains everything.

I've been listening to Neil Young since the 1960s & Skynyrd since the 1970s, but I learned so much about their relationship from this CD. And a whole lot about the South, and George Wallace, and the Muscle Shoals music scene, and well, I could go on and on. And I lived through a lot of it.

There are so many great songs on this CD, songs that really stick with you. And the last song, describing Ronnie's feelings on the plane as he realizes it's going to crash, my God, it's one of the most profound works of art I've ever heard.

If you like Lynyrd Skynyrd, if you like Neil Young, if you like Southern Rock, if you like rock at all, and you don't know about this CD, buy this immediately.