Kudzu Guillotine wrote:It's the more country leaning songs on Gangstabilly and Pizza Deliverance that first drew me to DBT's long ago and even without the pedal steel, it's still a part of their sound to this day and I imagine it always will be. Whether they ever bring back the pedal steel or not, I can only imagine they will circle back to this sound at some point even if it's not for the length of an entire record. It's a huge part of who they are so when and if does happen it would make complete sense.
Agreed.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 1:04 am
by Iowan
Thoughts on GGB: the best band in the world's worst album is still pretty good.
The sound is killer. The space, the sleaze, the sweat on the fingers as they drag across the guitar strings.
The songs just aren't quite on the same level as other DBT albums. Still really good.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 3:23 am
by Smitty
I put it on today for the first time in a long time and was kinda surprised at what songs resonate the most with me now. I was a lukewarm fan of Assholes and Go Go Boots (whoa, someone should write that book) but I really can get down with them now. I think GGB (the song) is a better opening song than I Do Believe, which I dig but just don't think it fits on the record.
The Weakest Man, Pulaski and Cartoon Gold are way up there on my favorite Cooley songs. Hell they may be the best original (and most traditional w/WM & Pulaski) country songs in thirty years. You can talk about Sturgill Simpson, Jamey Johnson, Chris Stapleton or Jason Isbell being a "savior" of country music but not one of them has ever written or sang a song in the same ballpark as any one of those three songs. Sturgill's stuff probably goes back the furthest to the outlaw country movement in the seventies; Cooley's is more rooted in the Statler Brothers or early George Jones of the fifties/sixties. It ain't the "cool" classic country, hell it's not even country-rock, but it's just straight up no chaser country gold, which no one that I'm aware of even attempts to do unironically anymore.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 6:54 am
by Clams
this here is the smoker
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 7:32 am
by beantownbubba
Smitty wrote: I was a lukewarm fan of Assholes and Go Go Boots (whoa, someone should write that book)
Subtitle: "or Where the Sun Don't Shine"
by Cooley Smith
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 8:46 am
by brett27295
I haven't spun Go-Go Boots in probably 18 months. The revival of this thread has inspired me to give it a listen this weekend. It's a bottom 3rd DBT album for me, but it's got several songs that I love. It'll be interesting to see if any of the "lesser" songs on the album have grown on me.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 9:23 am
by Iowan
Go-Go Boots the song is the best example of the sound of this album. The creaking greasiness just oozes from it. It's a good story too, even if it is another preacher/killin' song (which I've been want to criticize).
I still think Assholes is probably the worst non-Shonna DBT song. It just doesn't click with me, I don't find it catchy, and it seems out of place thematically and sonically.
Iowan wrote:Go-Go Boots the song is the best example of the sound of this album. The creaking greasiness just oozes from it.
Agree. That's Neff's slide guitar. I think that sound pretty much defines that era of DBT.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 9:52 am
by ramonz
Clams wrote:
Iowan wrote:Go-Go Boots the song is the best example of the sound of this album. The creaking greasiness just oozes from it.
Agree. That's Neff's slide guitar. I think that sound pretty much defines that era of DBT.
Big fan of GGB. Ray's and Cop are two of my all-time favorite DBT/PH songs.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 9:53 am
by disgruntledgoat
Iowan wrote:
I still think Assholes is probably the worst non-Shonna DBT song. It just doesn't click with me, I don't find it catchy, and it seems out of place thematically and sonically.
Tell it, brother!
I would actually place it lower than I'm Sorry Huston, however, as I quite like that track.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 10:01 am
by beantownbubba
When asked to describe his sculptural technique/prowess, Michelangelo said something like "The sculpture is already in the stone, I just chip away the surrounding rock."
I feel kind of the same way about Go Go Boots. There's a great album in there, we just have to chip away the surrounding rock. I think this is the indisputable core of a great album (in album running order):
Go Go Boots
Cartoon Gold
Ray's Automatic Weapon
Everybody Needs Love
Used to be a Cop
Where's Eddie
Pulaski
Mercy Buckets
That leaves 6 songs. I suspect most people can find 3 songs they really like among those 6, though there would be no consensus on those 3. But whichever 3 one picked, the resulting album would be a legit great DBT album.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 10:27 am
by jr29
Clams wrote:
Iowan wrote:Go-Go Boots the song is the best example of the sound of this album. The creaking greasiness just oozes from it.
Agree. That's Neff's slide guitar. I think that sound pretty much defines that era of DBT.
x3. I love everything about it.
Iowan,I also agree about Assholes. It does zero for me.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 10:30 am
by Zip City
I'm on the opposite side from Smitty on the three country songs. I mean they're fine, but something about the arrangement/recording of all three is SO BORING to my ears. A country song like Love Like This just absolutely blows all three out of the water
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 10:39 am
by Smitty
I'd swap out "Ray" for "the Weakest Man", which is a brilliant lamentation on alcoholism (or addiction in general) or "Fireplace Poker (Heathen's River)" which is one of Patterson's strongest story songs; it's overly long, musically repetitive yet somehow works marvelously. It's rare that a seven plus minute song like that (which I know by heart) can still keep me in something similar to suspense after almost a decade of listening to it, but that song does.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 10:48 am
by beantownbubba
Smitty wrote:I'd swap out "Ray" for "the Weakest Man", which is a brilliant lamentation on alcoholism (or addiction in general) or "Fireplace Poker (Heathen's River)" which is one of Patterson's strongest story songs; it's overly long, musically repetitive yet somehow works marvelously. It's rare that a seven plus minute song like that (which I know by heart) can still keep me in something similar to suspense after almost a decade of listening to it, but that song does.
My unproven theory is that "Ray" is underrated because it doesn't work well live.
I take "Poker" out of the heart of the order because I find it sends the preacher murder song quota over the edge and I don't think it's as good as "Go Go Boots." But I have to admit it's been growing on me after recent listens. To the extent my view is changing it's exactly for the reasons you state, i.e. it works despite its flaws. If it continues on that path I'd add "Poker" rather than substitute for another already on my list. Respecting your judgment as I do, I'll give "Weakest Man" another shot.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 11:19 am
by Smitty
It has a lot to do with what kinda "country" you prefer. Zip, I recall you saying that didn't even really care for country music, so I doubt that you would get behind a suite of distilled country songs like those on this record.
But as a card carrying devotee of solid country gold™, I love everything about them; the vintage Nashville arrangements, Jay's Floyd Cramer conjuring pianer, the Bottom Feeders' (w/Jack Logan!) background vocalizations, Cooley's honky tonk morality tales... I mean, what's not to love?
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 1:54 pm
by blackwll
Take TBTD and GGB and combine them into one DBT album and one PH Album. Makes sense then. Cooley's songs are mostly older ones on these IRC.
1. I Do Believe - PH album
2. Go-Go Boots
3. Dancin' Ricky - delete (Sorry Shonna, luv ya but...)
4. Cartoon Gold
5. Ray's Automatic Weapon
6. Everybody Needs Love
7. Assholes - PH album
8. The Weakest Man
9. Used To Be A Cop
10. The Fireplace Poker - PH album
11. Where's Eddie - PH album duet with Shonna
12. The Thanksgiving Filter - PH
13. Pulaski
14. Mercy Buckets - PH
15. I Hear You Hummin'(Vinyl Only) - sorry again Shonna
1. Daddy Learned To Fly
2. The Fourth Night Of My Drinking
3. Birthday Boy
4. Drag The Lake Charlie
5. The Wig He Made Her Wear
6. You Got Another (Sorry Shonna)
7. This Fucking Job - PH album
8. Get Downtown
9. After The Scene Dies - PH Album
10. (It's Gonna Be) I told You So - conflicted, I kinda like this one, but...
11. Santa Fe - PH
12. The Flying Wallendas - PH, or add the intro Jay did in ATL for album release night. FWIW, it was compared to Springsteen by a guy who knows and the next night was the best night of DBT I ever saw.
13. Eyes Like Glue - not my fave but Cooley side might disagree as it is a touching song for sure. Heck, I don't really like Space City either (your writer cyber-ducks)
I think TBTD holds up better than GGB but I appreciate the effort on both albums.
On the Shonna songs, I think she should have done a solo EP. Some of her songs are not bad at all, but just did not fit here.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 1:59 pm
by blackwll
blackwll wrote:Take TBTD and GGB and combine them into one DBT album and one PH Album. Makes sense then. Cooley's songs are mostly older ones on these IIRC.
1. I Do Believe - PH album
2. Go-Go Boots - PH
3. Dancin' Ricky - delete (Sorry Shonna, luv ya but...)
4. Cartoon Gold
5. Ray's Automatic Weapon
6. Everybody Needs Love
7. Assholes - PH album
8. The Weakest Man
9. Used To Be A Cop
10. The Fireplace Poker - PH album
11. Where's Eddie - PH album duet with Shonna
12. The Thanksgiving Filter - PH
13. Pulaski
14. Mercy Buckets - PH
15. I Hear You Hummin'(Vinyl Only) - sorry again Shonna
1. Daddy Learned To Fly
2. The Fourth Night Of My Drinking
3. Birthday Boy
4. Drag The Lake Charlie
5. The Wig He Made Her Wear
6. You Got Another (Sorry Shonna)
7. This Fucking Job - PH album
8. Get Downtown
9. After The Scene Dies - PH Album
10. (It's Gonna Be) I told You So - conflicted, I kinda like this one, but...
11. Santa Fe - PH
12. The Flying Wallendas - PH, or add the intro Jay did in ATL for album release night. FWIW, it was compared to Springsteen by a guy who knows and the next night was the best night of DBT I ever saw.
13. Eyes Like Glue - not my fave but Cooley side might disagree as it is a touching song for sure. Heck, I don't really like Space City either (your writer cyber-ducks)
I think TBTD holds up better than GGB but I appreciate the effort on both albums.
On the Shonna songs, I think she should have done a solo EP. Some of her songs are not bad at all, but just did not fit here.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2016 2:45 am
by disgruntledgoat
I really like both Shonna tracks on TBTD. Much more than I like Eyes Like Glue or the Flying Wallendas which would be on my all time DBT stink list.
I rate GGB much higher than TBTD as an album, however. I think the vintage country arrangements swing it for me over some pretty boiler plate rockin' on the latter.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2016 2:20 pm
by Iowan
If TBTD had dropped Eyes Like Glue and Flying Wallendas in favor of Strutter and Girls Who Smoke, it's probably tied with ABAAC, or right behind it for me.
Birthday Boy, Santa Fe, This Fucking Job, After the Scene Dies, and Girls Who Smoke are all top shelf DBT tunes, and Strutter was fun as hell.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2016 8:49 pm
by beantownbubba
License plate on a car ahead of me today: IDOBLV.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2016 9:00 pm
by DebbieTrucker
Girls Who Smoke is a killer tune I wish would have made TBTD. I know some people dislike a few songs on both TBTD and GGB but for me that's what makes them both individually great. I for one think they are split correctly as far as sound and theme go. Flying Wallendas has really grown on me over the years. I wasn't a huge fan of it to begin with. Shonna's songs don't match Hood and Cooley's but You Got Another isn't bad. I don't skip it. GGB is one of my very fav DBT albums a top 3 ever. I constantly spin it and there are no songs I skip. I love Thanksgiving Filter and Fireplace Poker. I appreciate Hood's storytelling even with those. I've always thought TBTD was the weaker album of the two but I have grown to really like it a lot over the years. I will always prefer it to ABAAC. Which I put right above GB as my least two fav albums by DBTs.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2016 10:36 pm
by dime in the gutter
just (re)read the original post by tc. outstanding.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2017 11:50 pm
by Danger Bird
Like many of y'all on here, GGB has grown on me over time and has recently become essential listening. Much has been written about the "country soul" vibe of the album. I can't add much to that other than I love the sound and it still feels vibrant five years later. Also, there are some seriously flawed characters on this album which is nothing new and is certainly entertaining to a seriously flawed individual like myself. What really ties the songs together for me though is not the vibe or the fucked up characters - it's Love!
The characters in I Do Believe and Mercy Buckets have plenty of love to give. Whether it is fond memories of a departed relative or the willingness to be there at any cost for someone you deeply admire, you can just feel the love pouring out in these songs. Even in Where's Eddie, I just cant help feeling its going to work out in the end.
Assholes and Thanksgiving Filter paint more of a picture of unconditional love for me. Loyalty in the face of adversity. The uncle that eats dinner in his PJs is crazy but he is my uncle and I love his crazy ass, even if I only see him once a year. Same for the band. We may be assholes but don't worry about us. We will be fine so fuck you.
The characters in Ray's Automatic Weapon, The Weakest Man, Cartoon Gold and Used To Be A Cop are my favorite. These dudes need Love in their life and need it now. Its not too late but you get the sense that that time is coming quick. The girl in Pulaski didn't find love where she was looking and the end result was heart breaking if not unprecedented.
The preacher in Go-Go Boots and Fireplace Poker crossed the line for good but you can easily see Ray or the Cop slipping down the same slope. The preacher abused love and trust in the most sinister way imaginable. His only hope in the end was the ultimate love in the form of forgiveness which is hard to comprehend for most folks.
I guess my long winded point is Everybody Needs Love!!! Thats the song that brings it all together and what a great song to hammer it home. It should be mandatory listening for every man, woman and child in the country. Long story short... If you have Love to give, give it. If you need Love, accept it. If you think it is too late, it's not.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 12:56 am
by Cole Younger
Man a resurrected old thread about one of the DBT albums at the bottom of the catalog (to me) and I'm enjoying this thread more than any here in a long time.
Go Go Boots is strange in that the concept seemed perfect for this band. A record of murder ballads and country soul songs? Who better to make a record like that? This band is the only band for that.
Except it didnt quite work somehow. As Bubba noted there is plenty here to like. I smiled when I saw this thread brought back because I was thinking about this record the other day. I can't remember what but something reminded me of a thread somewhere on this board where Smitty and I were trading stories about weird and somewhat morbid things that have happened in or near our towns over the years. That of course made me think of Go Go Boots.
When I go back and listen to this record after having g not done so in a really long time I see that individually I really like most of these songs. I have a hard time believing Patterson didn't have a better song laying around than Assholes. That is a straight up skipper for me and I have my issues with some of the Cooley tunes (more on that in a minute) but mostly these are really good songs. Somehow they just don't add up to a great record though. I mean it's not like it's a bad record. It's good. Its really hard to put my finger on it. It didn't turn out to be as great I surely thought it would be when I first heard about it. But that's not all it is. Somehow it just doesn't add up to a really enjoyable record as a whole.
The obvious flaws don't explain it. I never have understood the inclusion of both GGB and Poker. But I enjoy both of those songs. Some of these songs don't come close to being g countrt, soul, country soul, murder ballads or anything approaching any of that. But who cares?
I don't share the love for Mercy Buckets but it's not like it's a bad song.
This is Cooley's weakest record to me. He was going g through writers block and had to use old songs. I couldn't believe it when I was Smitty's post. Smitty is the one guy here that I know loves straight ahead country (no .alt) as much as me so when he said he didn't think Sturgill Simpson, Jayme Johnson, Jason Isbell, or Chris StPleton had ever written a song as good as Cooley's three here I couldn't believe it. I can think of a lot of songs by all those guys that I think are as good and can think of several that I think are better. To me Pulaski is the best of these three songs by a pretty wide margin and it's far from my favorite could try Cooley song. And The Weakest Man is as close to me not liking a Cooley song as I've come other than Eyes Like Glue.
Still that doesn't stop this from being a really good record and I like two of those three songs pretty well.
Ray's Automatic Weapon is one of Patterson's most underrated songs. He does such a great job of nailing what he was going for that I played it on my acoustic guitar for my dad who is a two time combat vet of Vietnam and he just shook his head for a long time and said, "Man who wrote that? That's unbelievable."
And Where's Eddie is Shonna's strongest moment as a Trucker to me. Neff's playing is incomparable.
Yet somehow none of that together adds up to a great album and it should.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 2:00 am
by RolanK
For a moment there I thought I was going senile or something: "Jeff!? Who the fuck is Jeff? There is/was someone in Truckers called Jeff and I never noticed?". Before; "Ah! off course; autocorrect (or beer)"... Anyways, great posts from both of you! I think I may actually rank this album somewhat higher than what seems to be the consensus here. I suppose maybe "necessary" for the band to do after the Betty Lavette and Booker T albums. And it gave us Used to be a Cop, amongst one of my favorites of the live show.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 2:42 am
by Cole Younger
RolanK wrote:For a moment there I thought I was going senile or something: "Jeff!? Who the fuck is Jeff? There is/was someone in Truckers called Jeff and I never noticed?". Before; "Ah! off course; autocorrect (or beer)"... Anyways, great posts from both of you! I think I may actually rank this album somewhat higher than what seems to be the consensus here. I suppose maybe "necessary" for the band to do after the Betty Lavette and Booker T albums. And it gave us Used to be a Cop, amongst one of my favorites of the live show.
Jeff is Neff's twin brother. If you saw the band play any time in the last two months before Neff's departure was officially announced you were seeing Jeff as he filled the last few months of Neff's commitments on tour and the whole thing was kept really quiet. Or something .
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 3:11 am
by RolanK
Cole Younger wrote:
RolanK wrote:For a moment there I thought I was going senile or something: "Jeff!? Who the fuck is Jeff? There is/was someone in Truckers called Jeff and I never noticed?". Before; "Ah! off course; autocorrect (or beer)"... Anyways, great posts from both of you! I think I may actually rank this album somewhat higher than what seems to be the consensus here. I suppose maybe "necessary" for the band to do after the Betty Lavette and Booker T albums. And it gave us Used to be a Cop, amongst one of my favorites of the live show.
Jeff is Neff's twin brother. If you saw the band play any time in the last two months before Neff's departure was officially announced you were seeing Jeff as he filled the last few months of Neff's commitments on tour and the whole thing was kept really quiet. Or something .
Someone should volunteer to listen to all these albums backwards. There may be hidden messages.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 9:45 am
by beantownbubba
Danger Bird wrote:Like many of y'all on here, GGB has grown on me over time and has recently become essential listening. Much has been written about the "country soul" vibe of the album. I can't add much to that other than I love the sound and it still feels vibrant five years later. Also, there are some seriously flawed characters on this album which is nothing new and is certainly entertaining to a seriously flawed individual like myself. What really ties the songs together for me though is not the vibe or the fucked up characters - it's Love!
The characters in I Do Believe and Mercy Buckets have plenty of love to give. Whether it is fond memories of a departed relative or the willingness to be there at any cost for someone you deeply admire, you can just feel the love pouring out in these songs. Even in Where's Eddie, I just cant help feeling its going to work out in the end.
Assholes and Thanksgiving Filter paint more of a picture of unconditional love for me. Loyalty in the face of adversity. The uncle that eats dinner in his PJs is crazy but he is my uncle and I love his crazy ass, even if I only see him once a year. Same for the band. We may be assholes but don't worry about us. We will be fine so fuck you.
The characters in Ray's Automatic Weapon, The Weakest Man, Cartoon Gold and Used To Be A Cop are my favorite. These dudes need Love in their life and need it now. Its not too late but you get the sense that that time is coming quick. The girl in Pulaski didn't find love where she was looking and the end result was heart breaking if not unprecedented.
The preacher in Go-Go Boots and Fireplace Poker crossed the line for good but you can easily see Ray or the Cop slipping down the same slope. The preacher abused love and trust in the most sinister way imaginable. His only hope in the end was the ultimate love in the form of forgiveness which is hard to comprehend for most folks.
I guess my long winded point is Everybody Needs Love!!! Thats the song that brings it all together and what a great song to hammer it home. It should be mandatory listening for every man, woman and child in the country. Long story short... If you have Love to give, give it. If you need Love, accept it. If you think it is too late, it's not.
This may be for New Year's messages what Molly Ivin's "sunscreen" speech was to graduation speeches (I mean in terms of excellence, not humor). Nice to wake up to.
Plus it's always nice to come upon an old thread where I'm not embarrassed by my original comments.
Re: DBT Albums: Week 11 Go-Go Boots
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 7:43 pm
by Clams
beantownbubba wrote:
Plus it's always nice to come upon an old thread where I'm not embarrassed by my original comments.
Ain't that the truth. I cringe almost every time I read my old posts. Esp all those old tracks of the week threads.
Btw I like go go boots now way more than I did in 2011. Esp the preacher killing songs, assholes, the Eddie Hinton songs, and all of cooleys songs.
