Album of the week -Murdering Oscar (and other love songs)

[UncleFrank23]

Sorry about how late this post is. When I volunteered for this, I had anticipated the voice recognition software wouldn't be quite so cumbersome.

Duality. It is long been a feature in DBT's work. That theme continues in Patterson's second solo album. Songs written at different times, in different eras, from different perspectives. It's truly a testament to his talent that songs can thematically be so different yet fit seamlessly together.

The Cliff Notes version of the story. After moving to Athens in the early 90s, Patterson wrote a series of songs (on cassette tape with a boombox, no less). By his own admission in the liner notes, this was a dark period in his life and the songs reflected that. But before these songs were anything more than handed out cassette demos, he and Cooley reunited and the rest, as they say, is history. Flash forward to around 2004, during a DBT break (corresponding with the impending birth of his first child) he thought about these old songs, and in addition wrote some new ones. Those two sets of songs became the bulk of Murdering Oscar. However, after the songs were recorded the album was shelved for almost 4 years. On paper, it's hard to believe that an album could take almost 20 years from the first writing to the actual release and work so well. But damn, it sure as hell does. Before a brief song by song write up, a few random thoughts about the album.

-While I don't think it sounds like a DBT album, it is Patterson' s most DBT sounding album (if that makes sense)
-it occurred to me while writing this, that despite the praise this album gets on 3DD, it might be one of the least talked about albums. Heat Lightning is newer, Killers and Stars is so different, it just seems that conversation about Murdering Oscar gets lost in the shuffle.
-I elected not to talk about the vinyl bonus tracks, but I would be remiss not to mention "Uncle Phil and Aunt Phyllis in the Month After the Election". David Hood’s baseline is spectacular. The back story in the liner notes about how excited Patterson was to play with his dad and why he didn’t include the song on the “proper” release is interesting in and of itself.
-for the purposes of the song by song write up, those written in the early 90s I'll call "old songs". The songs from the 2000s, will be "new songs". It’s amazing how dark the old songs are, and how borderline happy the new ones are.

1.) Murdering Oscar (old) - no better way to start than with probably the darkest song of the album. I first heard this song on the "Cooley's house" bootleg. But that stripped-down acoustical version is no match for this rocker. To my ears, Cooley's lead guitar really shines.

2.) Pollyanna (old) -I'm not going to lie, this is a tough song for me to decipher. However, in the liner notes Patterson talks about how the song is largely symbolic. It has a fantastic guitar riff. There is quite a bit of talk on the board about harmony vocals, and Will Johnson runs a clinic on harmony vocals in this song. This is one of my favorite songs on the album and gets bonus points for seamlessly rhyming Quaalude.

3.) Pride of the Yankees (new) -Admittedly, this isn't necessarily a "happy" song. But it does come from a far different perspective than the first two songs. As a parent, the closing line "Problems so big in you're so tiny" really hits home. Again, the harmony vocals stand out. I also believe this is one of the few songs that started on piano, rather than guitar.

4.) I Understand Now (new) - Now this one really is a happy song "I’m beginning to appreciate the value of generations changing hands. Family ties and lips and eyes. Pass it down"

5.) Screwtopia (old) -So this is pretty much the exact opposite of the previous on. I love how they flow together, from domestic bliss to domestic nightmare. The song title also gets the award for "most likely to screw up in Ben's voice recognition software"

6.) Granddaddy (new) -A happy song about the joys of getting older. Not something we see much in the DBT catalog. I love Scott Danborn's fiddle on this track. The song just makes me smile.

7.) Belvedere (old) -OK, enough happy thoughts. We're back to a song about a villain. The song took a while to grow on me. Love the piano at the end.

8.) The Range War -an interesting cover. Certainly not my favorite song but it does work well placed where it is.

9.) She's a Little Randy -I didn't classify this as a "new" song because was written for the movie "Randy and the Mob". However, this is one of my favorite songs on the album. I love how it progresses and Neff's pedal steel at the end is top-notch.

10.) Foolish Young Bastard (new) -again, it sounds funny refer to this as a happy song. But when you get down to it, it's about, has Patterson said, "a former business associate was always using salt when sugar would work better"

11.) Heavy and Hanging (old) - Prompted by the suicide of Kurt Cobain, Patterson does a great job of describing the fine line that musicians walk.

12.) Walking Around Sense (new) -Can it be about anyone but Courtney Love? I suppose you could make a case that it’s about any ignored child of a celebrity, but its placement on the album (after Heavy and Hanging) makes it seem obvious.

13.) Back of a Bible (new) -just a fantastic closer, and probably my favorite song on the album. The story behind the song might be one of my favorites. Patterson wrote a love song to his wife, realized the song sucked, then wrote a song about the process of writing the sucky song. I just find that fascinating.

On a personal note, back in September 2012 I caught the first of Patterson’s two solo shows at the City Winery in Chicago. For those of you that aren’t familiar, it is a seated venue and at the time I was very concerned about being able to ever attend a DBT concert at their “usual” type of venue. Anyway, Back of a Bible was part of the encore. He absolutely killed it and then song really resonated with me that night. While that song was playing, I actually remember thinking “well, this is it. This is probably my last concert. What an incredible way to go out”. Now it turns out I couldn’t have been more wrong about it being my last concert (the August shows in Athens will be my fifth and sixth DBT show since then). But every time I hear back of a Bible the feelings that I had that night rush to the surface. It really makes me smile and reminds me that although things change quickly we can never assume what the future will hold.

I know it’s pretty brief writeup of each song, but hopefully this’ll get the conversation going about this fantastic album.

[LastLawson]

Nice speak/write-up UncleFrank23! I'll probably edit this to add more tomorrow, but what the heck:

Back of a Bible is top 10 Patterson Hood in my books. The lyrics are simple but so effective, and the music is great. Patterson's singing and guitar playing is top notch. As a lead guitar hack, this is one of the first solos I'm attempting. I'll put a tab up if I ever get through it... halfway through first solo.

The other song that stands out is Pride of the Yankees, in which his voice really shines again.

[Tequila Cowboy]

Nice job UF! Love the record. Love Back of a Bible and She's a Little Randy in particular.

[GuitarManUpstairs]

Great kickstarter UF!

Like HLRITD, I like this album ahead of several full DBT releases. I had the opportunity to catch this one played in its entirety during Patterson's residency at the Caledonia back when this was released. Hell of a show and first time I got to meet Patterson in person. I love the lyrics as usual but what strikes me about this album are the sounds and how they are so evocative and appropriate to the story being told.

Random thought: Comparing this to JI's Sirens of the Ditch that i just wrote about a couple weeks ago: MO is seemingly the polar opposite and has what Sirens doesn't, whatever that is exactly. The album as a whole ends up greater than the sum of it's individual parts. As opposed to Sirens, I don't consider any tracks from MO career defining for Patterson, none that i would classify as masterpeices per se...YET for me MO decisively beats Sirens out as the greater album. And it isn't simply about batting average, as if I thought JI hit a few homers and struck out the rest of the time while Patterson was more consistant....

My favorites in no particular order are:

1. H&H: Especially the ragged guitar solo to the bridge. That rocks balls.

2. B ofa B: My favorite love song.

3. Belvedere: Creepy as fuck but damnit the man can paint a picture lyrically like what some combination of Michealangelo and Picasso might do visually with the soundscape to match. In the hypothetical movie/television series Patterson & I co-produce (he knows nothing about this yet. ) where the cast is made up of all the character studies from the DBT canon this guy gets arrested by the fella that currently used to be a cop.

4.) She's a Little Randy: Again this one is all about the mood and soundscape....and the tag line, "then again who's not?"

5.) Sam's in the Ground: NEFF. Maybe one of the most nonlinear of Patterson's narratives. Simple lyrics that imply a ton about the characters they are referencing, but what it all means and how it all fits together is a puzzle....and how bout this Bob character... looking in the mirror with a wedding gown. Suppose this is anotherBob we know? If so, what is implied runs counter to how I interpreted Bob's character.

Interesting that Patterson chose to give background on every song on the album in the liner notes except this one. Wonder why?

And speaking of liner notes, who is this?

[dime in the gutter]

world class job, uf23.

i had never thought of the duality between old (dark) and new (happy) tunes on the record. with this new concept in mind......i think the old 1/2 stands right up with anything patterson has ever done. the new 1/2 is more challenging....but i totally dig 1/2 of the new 1/2.

always appreciate a little more vision on a subject. now, i'm spotting dimes like george costanza . big thanks.

well done.

[Iowan]

A few skippers, but this an album I like more than when it was released.

I caught onto DBT in 2007. Since then, the only albums in the current DBT universe (Jason solo doesn't count) I can say that about are this and Heat Lightning.

Totally killer angle on the duality of old and new. Definitely saw some of that surface on Heat Lightning.

[gepman]

Back of the Bible may be in my top 5 of favorite PH tunes...

[Clams]

I listen to Murdering Oscar as much, if not more, than any DBT records. It really has it all - guitar jams, creepy characters, sweet pedal steel, dualities, and stones riffs. Could be the best DBT-related release since BTCD. Great write-up, UF23.

btw - there are still a few DBT/Isbell/Cooley records left for this weekly series. If anyone is interested in starting a thread, shoot me a PM and I'll tell you what's left. Thanks.

[beantownbubba]

Whoops, somehow missed this thread until now.

Great job, UF!! Excellent perspective on the duality of the old/new thing.

I'd forgotten how much I like this album. And for me it's a much easier listen than HLRITD which i find difficult for personal reasons (not having to do w/ the quality of the songs/album). More when I've had a chance to reacquaint myself w/ the album.

[Cole Younger]

Excellent job. I really enjoyed this review and I've enjoyed the responses a lot. Particularly GuitarMan's. good observation on how this one gets kind of lost in the shuffle. I love this record but for reasons I don't really understand I don't listen to it that often. But every time I do I think about how I should listen to it more because its dang good.

[WarHenRecords]

One of my all time favorite albums.
Walkin' Around Sense > Back of a Bible is the best 1-2 closer on any record ever IMO. Phenomenal songs.
The fact that this is basically a Drive-By-Matic record is so wonderful.
Went on a safari trip in South Africa, Zambia & Botswana several summers ago and for whatever reason, this was one of 4 records I listened to repeatedly on that trip (Centro-matic's "Candidate Waltz", the Middle Brother record and Lambchop's "Live at XX Merge" were the others). I have wild memories every time I hear anything off Murdering Oscar and as a result the record is very important to me.
Got to tell Patterson how special it was to me on this last tour while out with Hiss Golden Messenger. I think he was surprised to hear someone relate it to the experience I have. Was pretty cool.