go go boots reviews

[beantownbubba]

The Boston Globe called the album a "knockout."

[Tequila Cowboy]

Slant shredded it.

Listen opinions are opinions but this is ridiculous:

Bassist Shonna Tucker fares less well, with "Dancin' Ricky" playing out as a bald-faced Lucinda Williams knockoff with ridiculous lines like "Don't let your diabetes get you" undercutting its character sketch, and her thin-voiced performance on a cover of Eddie Hinton's "Where's Eddie" recalls Lee Ann Womack at her most anemic.

Personally I think her vocal on Where's Eddie is the best DBT vocal performance on record and Dancin' Ricky is my second favorite cut on the album after Mercy Buckets.

[Zip City]

The diabetes line is pretty awkward, but I've never even thought Lucinda when listening to it

[sactochris]

If you think Shonna's vocal on Where's Eddie, qualifies as thin voiced, then I want some of the drugs that your on because they are obviously very fuckin' good.

[Tequila Cowboy]

If you think Shonna's vocal on Where's Eddie, qualifies as thin voiced, then I want some of the drugs that your on because they are obviously very fuckin' good.

This is what I'm saying. Invalidates the whole review.

[sactochris]

If you think Shonna's vocal on Where's Eddie, qualifies as thin voiced, then I want some of the drugs that your on because they are obviously very fuckin' good.

This is what I'm saying. Invalidates the whole review.

I could understand if someone just didn't like the song, but you have to be crazy to think it's not an outstanding vocal track. I'm not really digging Dancin' Ricky very much, but I think it's another very good example of how strong a vocalist Shonna is.

[Smitty]

Not a review, but I read on another message board someone describing Pulaski as "a joyful song of a southern girl longing for california"
umm, not exactly

[Tequila Cowboy]

Not a review, but I read on another message board someone describing Pulaski as "a joyful song of a southern girl longing for california"
umm, not exactly

I guess they weren't invited to the funeral.

[dbtfan4life]

AMAZING!! GREAT ALBUM!!!

[littlemamma]

Not a review, but I read on another message board someone describing Pulaski as "a joyful song of a southern girl longing for california"
umm, not exactly

I guess they weren't invited to the funeral.

Damn, I gotta listen better!!!

[cortez the killer]

Slant shredded it.

Listen opinions are opinions but this is ridiculous:

Bassist Shonna Tucker fares less well, with "Dancin' Ricky" playing out as a bald-faced Lucinda Williams knockoff with ridiculous lines like "Don't let your diabetes get you" undercutting its character sketch, and her thin-voiced performance on a cover of Eddie Hinton's "Where's Eddie" recalls Lee Ann Womack at her most anemic.

Personally I think her vocal on Where's Eddie is the best DBT vocal performance on record and Dancin' Ricky is my second favorite cut on the album after Mercy Buckets.

Shonna knocks "Where's Eddie" out of the park. "Dancing Ricky" is not a good song. I could really rankle some feathers and say what I truly feel about the latter, but I won't go there. To each his/her own.

[Iowan]

Slant shredded it.

Listen opinions are opinions but this is ridiculous:

Bassist Shonna Tucker fares less well, with "Dancin' Ricky" playing out as a bald-faced Lucinda Williams knockoff with ridiculous lines like "Don't let your diabetes get you" undercutting its character sketch, and her thin-voiced performance on a cover of Eddie Hinton's "Where's Eddie" recalls Lee Ann Womack at her most anemic.

Personally I think her vocal on Where's Eddie is the best DBT vocal performance on record and Dancin' Ricky is my second favorite cut on the album after Mercy Buckets.

Shonna knocks "Where's Eddie" out of the park. "Dancing Ricky" is not a good song. I could really rankle some feathers and say what I truly feel about the latter, but I won't go there. To each his/her own.

Outside of the "diabetes" line I think it's Shonna's best song. I really don't care for anything she put on BTCD, but her last 3 originals have been solid songs to my ear.

[swathorne]

I feel like the only guy who didn't get invited to a party. Just got the chance to listen to the album for the 3rd time. Still not digging it as much a everyone here seems to be. Definitely outside my top 4 or 5 at this point. I need something lound, mean, and gnarly. It took me a while to warm up to BTD but I was definitely jamming to it more at this stage. I can tell it will grow on me...just seems to be the nature of this album....but I don't see it cracking my top 4.

It'll still be in my CD player every day for the forseeable future i'm sure. Just not real fulfilling. I didn't have extremely high expectations for this one though. Maybe it has to do with the agressive mood i've been in lately....doesn't really hit home. I Do Believe was a pretty underwhelming track to start the record off. Cartoon Gold is the big winner here.

[cortez the killer]

I Do Believe was a pretty underwhelming track to start the record off. Cartoon Gold is the big winner here.

No. Somewhat.

[swathorne]

I Do Believe was a pretty underwhelming track to start the record off. Cartoon Gold is the big winner here.

No. Somewhat.

I'm always partial to Cooley tracks. I don't know how to explain how I feel about I Do Believe. I like it but something about the refrain annoys the the shit out of me. Doesn't make a lot of sense but whatever.

[Tyler]

I didn't like it much at first, but at this point I Do Beleive is in my top 5 on this album..maybe top 3.

[Smitty]

Top FIve on mine:
Pulaski
Cartoon Gold
UTBAC
Go Go Boots
Everybody Needs Love

[Tequila Cowboy]

Top FIve on mine:
Pulaski
Cartoon Gold
UTBAC
Go Go Boots
Everybody Needs Love

Interesting. Mine:

Mercy Buckets
Dancin' Rickey
Cartoon Gold
Used To Be A Cop
Where's Eddie

that's just today's though, tune in tomorrow.

[Zip City]

This might be my first DBT album ever where Cooley doesn't make my top 5.

As for Dancin' Rickey, I'd rank it behind You've Got Another and Purgatory Line at the very least.

[cortez the killer]

I don't know how to explain how I feel about I Do Believe. I like it but something about the refrain annoys the the shit out of me. Doesn't make a lot of sense but whatever.

Kinda my initial reaction to it too. It is so different than anything Patterson has written before, so it catches you off guard a bit. Let it soak in for a few weeks and you might change your tune. Great sing-a-long driving song.

[cortez the killer]

Top 5 @ 5:00 (in honor of David Dye & WXPN):

Used to Be a Cop
The Fireplace Poker
Mercy Buckets
I Do Believe
The Thanksgiving Filter

Have I mentioned Patterson owns this record?

[Duke Silver]

My top 5:

1. Everybody Needs Love
2. Cartoon Gold
3. Pulaski
4. I Do Believe
5. Mercy Buckets
HM: Used to Be A Cop
HM 2: The chorus of "The Thanksgiving Filter." Too bad the verses make me cringe.

I don't see that changing much. Everything else on the album ranges from good, but nonessential to shoulda been a b-side. It all works as a whole though, if that makes sense. Great album to listen to front to back.

[Clams]

INPO

Ray's Automatic Weapon
Used to be a Cop
Everybody Needs Love
Pulaski
Weakest Man

[rlipps]

Cartoon Gold
Pulaski
Used To Be a Cop
The Weakest Man
Everybody Needs Love

[Iowan]

Mercy Buckets
Used to be a Cop
Cartoon Gold
Everybody Needs Love
Thanksgiving Filter

[Gator McKlusky]

Mercy Buckets
Everybody Needs Love
Used To Be A Cop
Pulaski
I Do Believe

First time Cooley is not in the top 3 for me.

[Rocky]

I wanna play.

"Used to Be a Cop"
"The Thanksgiving Filter"
"Mercy Buckets"
"Pulaski"
"Go-Go Boots"

[mgsooner]

1. Pulaski
2. Fireplace Poker
3. Mercy Buckets
4. Everybody Needs Love
5. Thanksgiving Filter

[beantownbubba]

More than anything, Go Go Boots is an album. Leaving aside questions of whether it’s “great” or where it ranks in the catalog, I just love listening to it, particularly as a whole. It’s been recorded and compiled in an incredibly thoughtful, caring manner w/ lots of attention to detail. The album has some lovely paradoxes about it that just increase its charm (more on that later). And bottom line, it just sounds great – spacious and flowing, with understated instrumental virtuosity popping up around every “corner” and with an almost non-stop groove holding things together and pushing it along.

But in the end, it’s not a great album, I guess because there aren’t enough great songs. The album starts out strong with “I Do Believe” which has the twin charms of sounding like nothing else in the DBT catalog and being reminiscent of Springsteen’s “Girls in Their Summer Clothes” without sounding anything like it. Both are high energy, positive, “sunny” anthems that incorporate some old sounds (beach boys, soul, top 40) without sounding old.

If the album starts strong, it ends with a real bang: “Mercy Buckets” is one of the best songs Patterson has ever written and sung and the band’s playing on it is stellar. If there is any justice in the world, “Mercy Buckets” will become this generation’s “Colour My World,” familiar to every last dancing prom goer and wedding guest in America (tho i doubt that many wedding bands can handle the guitar parts). Watching them perform it live, I don’t think I’ve imagined that the band seems to know just how good this song is, too. It’s also a great illustration of one of those paradoxes I referred to earlier: This is most definitely not a rockin’, guitars screaming album yet the guitar work throughout, especially on “Mercy Buckets” and the title track, is simply outstanding. Weaving in and out and behind and in front of the vocals/melody, not flashy but oh so tasty, the guitarists manage to be sympathetic and supportive while also demonstrating individual brilliance. The solos and fills sneak up on you and then knock you out. “Mercy Buckets” is a love song, a ballad and a guitar workout all at once without descending once into mawkish power balladry.

Speaking of paradoxes, this album is clearly Patterson Hood’s baby (so clear that I assume it needs no explanation), yet it also serves as something of a coming out party for both Shonna Tucker and Jay Gonzalez. IMO, the band should be especially proud of how it has nurtured Shonna as a singer and writer, and all that hard work and mentoring pays off on GGB. It’s really an extraordinary thing that I can’t compare to anything else in popular music; it’s actually much more reminiscent of “best practices” in the best businesses (and how’s that for weird?!). But it seems to me that “Dancing Ricky” is the best song Shonna’s written (though I agree with those who find the “diabetes” line awkward at best) and “I Hear You Hummin’” (available only on one of the deluxe editions) is also a marked improvement over her previous writing. Her singing on “Where’s Eddie” is just plain fabulous. She nails it and sounds great doing it. Major kudos.

It seems odd to say this about a band that’s been together for over a decade, but Jay’s keys round out and “glue” the band’s sound beautifully. The piano and organ fills, trills and backgrounds provide a fresh spin on the classic “3 guitar attack,” allowing the band to remain recognizably “DBT” without sounding stale. Jay is all over GGB, featured far more prominently and in a far more integrated way than on The Big To Do. He seems more comfortable in the band and the band seems far more comfortable with him and with what he brings to the band’s sound.

Five paragraphs in and barely a mention of Cooley. How did that happen?! Well, Cooley makes it happen with his quietest contributions to any DBT album. It’s interesting, and new, that all of his singing/songwriting contributions showcase the country side of the band. I have no idea if there’s any meaning or message there, but it is different. All 3 songs exhibit the classic Cooley traits of singular and wonderful turns of phrase/word play, great insights into his characters and the ambiguity that helps make his songs both intriguing and frustrating. It is a comment on the public and not Cooley or the band that both “Pulaski” and “Weakest Man” sound to me like country chart hits waiting to happen for some mainstream country singer (I don’t know enough about that scene to say who the likely candidates might be). “Pulaski” in particular is classic Cooley – he nails what he’s describing perfectly and without a wasted word. And no review of GGB would be complete without the opening lines from “Cartoon Gold,” which are Cooley at his word playing finest: “I'm not good with numbers, I just count on knowing when I'm high enough.”

The band’s celebration of Eddie Hinton is a big win-win. Eddie deserves the attention for sure, and the band does him justice. Patterson’s vocal on “Everybody Needs Love” is among his finest and almost as good as Shonna’s on “Where’s Eddie.” The band cooks and simmers, without flash but with total confidence and they get that muscle shoals sound just right (a david barbe contribution?). Who knows, “Everybody Needs Love” could maybe just might break out…

The key conundrum on the album is “The Fireplace Poker.” It is obviously central to the album by its placement and length as well as by virtue of being an r&b murder ballad on an album Patterson has described as the band’s “r&b murder ballad album.” I don’t know if it’s the redundancy when taken with “Go Go Boots” and even “The Wig He Made Her Wear” from TBTD, the length, the essentially mundane telling of the tale and its musical setting, or what, but half the time I just can’t wait for this song to end so we can get to some more Eddie Hinton. OTOH, half the time I think this is a well told tale with Hood’s typical eye for detail that fits perfectly into the album and the DBT mythos. I guess my ultimate verdict on the album will depend a lot on how I come down on this song. It doesn’t help that I find it to be one of the band’s weaker concert tracks not just off this album, but period.

Briefly noted: “Used to be a Cop” is classic Hood, sets a fantastic mood aided greatly by the fine, fine work of the rhythm section and is an absolute barnburner in concert. “Ray’s Automatic Weapon” is solid but suffers by comparison to “UTBAC.” In context, “Assholes” is little more than a throwaway, but if there were a genre known as “business rock” this would be at the top of the charts. Hood nails the disintegration of a business relationship and the dissipation of once great hopes between partners as well as its been done, not that there’s a whole lot of competition. “Thanksgiving Filter” is its own set of paradoxes: one of Hood’s best choruses w/ a melody that doesn’t keep up; some daring word play and some sophomoric straining; some knowing insights and some ordinary cliches.

But it would be a mistake to view this album as a bunch of individual tracks. It is an album in the finest, most cohesive old style sense of the word. One of the reasons for that is the consistent excellence of Brad Morgan (drums), Shonna Tucker (bass) and Jay Gonzalez (keys) who set and maintain those wonderful grooves and flow, and the continuing dazzling excellence of John Neff on all manner of stringed instruments, particularly pedal steel and slide guitar. This is a great band in every sense of the word and they’re at the top of their individual and collective games. Ultimately that’s what makes this such a wonderfully listenable, enjoyable album.

Since it's the topic of the day, my top 5:

Mercy Buckets
Everybody Needs Love
Go Go Boots
Pulaski

Then a knot for the 5th spot including
Dancing Ricky
Used to be a Cop
I Do Believe
Where's Eddie

Today it'd be DR, yesterday it was I Do Believe, in concert it would be UTBAC.

[Jack Flash]

Nice review! I agree with this statement:

Who knows, “Everybody Needs Love” could maybe just might break out…

I agree that if DBT are ever going to have a "hit single" it's gonna be with ENL. That "kinda soulful" sound is kind of in vogue right now... I'm thinking of recent hits like "Tighten Up" by the Black Keys or "Fuck You" by Cee-Lo... but I certainly wouldn't bet money on it.

My top 5:

1. Mercy Buckets
2. The Fireplace Poker
3. Cartoon Gold
4. Used To Be A Cop
5. Go-Go Boots