ABAAC Theory

[Iowan]

I was thinking, as there's been a lot of discussion of ABAAC in TBTD threads, about how TBTD was what the Truckers intended to do with ABAAC, but this time they've actually succeeded. I personally subscribe to that school of thought, but I had an interesting thought this morning, on my way to work:

Will ABAAC's artistic "failure" make it stand out as a great album 10 years from now?

What I mean by this, is as time goes on, I continually find this album more and more enigmatic. It was recorded during absolute internal turmoil with the band, and was a pretty huge sonic departure from the album before it. Even though it was pushing for a more accessible sound, the album was extremely "brave" in the sense that it was not safe territory for the band. They'd never made a record like this, ever. Thus, what you get in ABAAC is a bit of a "warts and all" type album that, IMO, is the most vulnerable album the band's ever made. I mean Goodbye has to be the most gut wrenching song I've ever heard about the death of a platonic friendship, and when you look at what was going on in the band at the time, I think Patterson was really thinking he'd have to say Goodbye.

When you look at what the band's intentions were, ABAAC definitely missed that mark, where they absolutely nailed it with the TBTD. However, ABAAC is this big messy accident with hearts on it's sleeve, whether the band meant to put them there or not. AND THAT'S WHAT MAKES IT GREAT. The more time passes, the more "interesting" it becomes, and frankly, the songs are too good to be regarded as merely "interesting", even though it still stands as a massive departure from the Truckers catalogue. TBTD will never be that interesting, even though it's probably a better collection of songs than ABAAC. I think this is an album that will be viewed much more kindly in 2016 than it was in 2006.

[Clams]

I think it is destined to forever be the weak link in the chain of SRO, Decoration Day, The Dirty South and BTCD and time's not gonna change things.

[Zip City]

I think it had the potential to be the saddest DBT album of all time had they swapped Easy on Yourself and Daylight for Dress Blues and When the Well Runs Dry. Outside of Gravity's Gone and Aftermath USA, it would have been one downer after another (until being lifted at the end by World of Hurt).

I almost would have preferred that, though.

[mark lynn]

Hey zip...remember what happened last time you went to the beach For the record Dress Blues was not even considered for ABAAC because it did not yet exist. Makes sense to me. OK.

[Zip City]

Hey zip...remember what happened last time you went to the beach For the record Dress Blues was not even considered for ABAAC because it did not yet exist. Makes sense to me. OK.

When did it exist? There are videos of Jason playing it during the encore of a DBT show. Was that after the album came out?

[Swamp]

Hey zip...remember what happened last time you went to the beach For the record Dress Blues was not even considered for ABAAC because it did not yet exist. Makes sense to me. OK.

When did it exist? There are videos of Jason playing it during the encore of a DBT show. Was that after the album came out?

When we saw them in Macon, 9/14/06, they played it and said it was the
first time they played it together or live. I think it's on archives.

[Zip City]

Hey zip...remember what happened last time you went to the beach For the record Dress Blues was not even considered for ABAAC because it did not yet exist. Makes sense to me. OK.

When did it exist? There are videos of Jason playing it during the encore of a DBT show. Was that after the album came out?

When we saw them in Macon, 9/14/06, they played it and said it was the
first time they played it together or live. I think it's on archives.

when did ABAAC come out?

[rlipps]

when did ABAAC come out?

April 18, 2006

[joelle]

i am a softie and lyrics hit me first.
a blessing and a curse is my favorite trucker's album
and it has my favorite truckers' songs on it
it is the vinyl i always go to first. and repeat side 1
over and over ( partially because i am lazy, but that is not the point...)
1. "Feb 14" (Hood)
2. "Gravity's Gone" (Cooley)
3. "Easy on Yourself" (Isbell)
4. "Aftermath USA" (Hood)
5. "Goodbye" (Hood)
6. "Daylight" (Isbell)
7. "Wednesday" (Hood)
8. "Little Bonnie" (Hood)
9. "Space City" (Cooley)
10. "A Blessing and a Curse" (Hood)
11. "A World of Hurt" (Hood)


wednesday is in my top 3 truckers songs of all time, ok, maybe top 5.
regardless
i don't know much about when it was released.

good thread though. interesting idea.

[Zip City]

when did ABAAC come out?

April 18, 2006

thanks for clearing that up. I was under the (false) impression that Dress Blues was already in the live rotation when ABAAC was being recorded.

mea culpa

[mark lynn]

when did ABAAC come out?

April 18, 2006

It's not when it "came out" but when was it mastered and complete. In the grand honor of the Dixie Chicks I believe(although I could be wrong and guess it doesn't matter if I am) but it was first performed in Europe in the spring of 2006. The first time I heard it was at Stubbs after they got back from Europe. That might be the first time it was played in the US(Ithink).

[beantownbubba]

Maybe because i was a relatively new fan when ABAAC came out, but i've never understood all this stuff about how it's such a departure and a failed attempt at something or other. It doesn't have as many great songs as, say, DD, and it's not thematic like, say, SRO, but to me it's got more good songs than bad songs and at least a couple of great ones. The larger debate about the "big picture" concepts continues to elude me, tho i always enjoy reading about it. I mean, it sounds like a DBT album to me <shrug>.

[Zip City]

I'd love to hear "Goodbye" live some day

[sactochris]

It's my favorite DBT album. I think I might of mentioned that before.

[Iowan]

I'd love to hear "Goodbye" live some day

Me too. It always hits me hard, because it reminds me of my cousin, who I was extremely close to until I was about 20-21. Then he got sucked into Quixtar/Amway, and he's a completely different human being than the guy I grew up with, and in a really bad way. If you know anyone who's gotten drawn into that crap, you'd understand.

Anyways, it's crazy because the guy lives across town from me, and we never see each other at all. Ever. The only reason I've heard from him in the past 2 years was when he was desperate to sell some fake red bull, or toilet paper, or something.

[Zip City]

it's tremendously sad

it also has my favorite Shonna bass line

[Iowan]

it's tremendously sad

it also has my favorite Shonna bass line

Great point on the bass line. It's extremely melodic, and just lifts the song along, keeping it out of the moping gutter, and helps Patterson reach a catharsis.

[mark lynn]

I'd love to hear "Goodbye" live some day

Me too. It always hits me hard, because it reminds me of my cousin, who I was extremely close to until I was about 20-21. Then he got sucked into Quixtar/Amway, and he's a completely different human being than the guy I grew up with, and in a really bad way. If you know anyone who's gotten drawn into that crap, you'd understand.

Anyways, it's crazy because the guy lives across town from me, and we never see each other at all. Ever. The only reason I've heard from him in the past 2 years was when he was desperate to sell some fake red bull, or toilet paper, or something.

Hey Iowan...I heard you were a really successful person and liked to make money. You do like to make money? I've been making money in my sleep. Look how successful I am! Meet me at the Mcdonalds on route 5 tomorrow morning at 7AM and I can show you how to make money all the time like me

[mark lynn]

I'd love to hear "Goodbye" live some day

[Zip City]

nice!

now if you have a magic teleportation machine to get me into that audience on that night, I'd be much obliged!

['Scratch]

Will ABAAC's artistic "failure" make it stand out as a great album 10 years from now?

Hard to say. But I do think ABAAC suffers from a certain stigma by many die-hard Truckers fans for all the reasons previously mentioned. For me, it fell short because I was comparing it to DS and DD which are really tough acts to follow when you think about it. That said, over time I think it will come to be judged on it's own individual merits or detractors. Especially by new fans. There are some great songs on ABAAC and they'll come through while the social aspects behind the work may or may not.

[RevMatt]

I'd love to hear "Goodbye" live some day

Me too. It always hits me hard, because it reminds me of my cousin, who I was extremely close to until I was about 20-21. Then he got sucked into Quixtar/Amway, and he's a completely different human being than the guy I grew up with, and in a really bad way. If you know anyone who's gotten drawn into that crap, you'd understand.

Anyways, it's crazy because the guy lives across town from me, and we never see each other at all. Ever. The only reason I've heard from him in the past 2 years was when he was desperate to sell some fake red bull, or toilet paper, or something.

Not to change the subject, but has anybody here ever known someone who got rich selling Amway? You'd think that out of all of these millionaires they hype I would know one or two.

[Zip City]

I'd love to hear "Goodbye" live some day

Me too. It always hits me hard, because it reminds me of my cousin, who I was extremely close to until I was about 20-21. Then he got sucked into Quixtar/Amway, and he's a completely different human being than the guy I grew up with, and in a really bad way. If you know anyone who's gotten drawn into that crap, you'd understand.

Anyways, it's crazy because the guy lives across town from me, and we never see each other at all. Ever. The only reason I've heard from him in the past 2 years was when he was desperate to sell some fake red bull, or toilet paper, or something.

Not to change the subject, but has anybody here ever known someone who got rich selling Amway? You'd think that out of all of these millionaires they hype I would know one or two.

Pyramid scheme

[joelle]

nice!

now if you have a magic teleportation machine to get me into that audience on that night, I'd be much obliged!

just be certain said teleportation machine puts him
1.) less than an hours drive from the venue,
2.)make sure he is not working, and
3.)has a babysitter.
and don't forget the brewskis.
then he would be there to rawk


oh zip...your reputation precedes you. and follows you like a stray dog.

[Duke Silver]

I have no major beef with ABAAC. I think it's a fine album, head and shoulders better than 99% of what else is out there. Some of the songs are classics, most are strong, and only a couple are, IMO, weak. Other than Gangstabilly, it's probably my least listened to DBT album, but when I do listen to it, it stays in the stereo for weeks.

I guess what knocks it into the lower tier of DBT albums for me is that it lacks that certain something, that certain magic, that takes collections of songs and elevates them to something greater than the sum of their parts. ABAAC just fails to cohere as a unified statement, to my ears. Overall, I think the band sounds cautious, as if they're aware that this is going to be the "gateway album" for a lot of new fans, and they don't want to do anything that might turn them off. All of the rough edges are rounded off; for a band that is all about finding beauty and redemption in those rough edges, that's a mistake. Someone, maybe it was me, called it their most polite album in another thread, and I agree with that.

I think that in time the negativity surrounding it (Patterson's included) will fade, but as long as it's sandwiched between DD/TDS and BTCD, it's destined to be in that second tier of albums.

[RevMatt]

nice!

now if you have a magic teleportation machine to get me into that audience on that night, I'd be much obliged!

just be certain said teleportation machine puts him
1.) less than an hours drive from the venue,
2.)make sure he is not working, and
3.)has a babysitter.
and don't forget the brewskis.
then he would be there to rawk


oh zip...your reputation precedes you. and follows you like a stray dog.

If you have a magic teleportation machine, bring us all back some qualudes.

[Clams]

nice!

now if you have a magic teleportation machine to get me into that audience on that night, I'd be much obliged!

just be certain said teleportation machine puts him
1.) less than an hours drive from the venue,
2.)make sure he is not working, and
3.)has a babysitter.
and don't forget the brewskis.
then he would be there to rawk


oh zip...your reputation precedes you. and follows you like a stray dog.

[Fool No Where]

nice!

now if you have a magic teleportation machine to get me into that audience on that night, I'd be much obliged!

just be certain said teleportation machine puts him
1.) less than an hours drive from the venue,
2.)make sure he is not working, and
3.)has a babysitter.
and don't forget the brewskis.
then he would be there to rawk


oh zip...your reputation precedes you. and follows you like a stray dog.

IMO, Jason's contributions on ABAAC are far below the standards he set on TDS and DD. That is major reason why the album comes up a little short.

[RevMatt]

ABAAC was the first DBT album I listened to. "Gravity's Gone" was the first song where I stopped what I was doing and listened closer. The guy who turned me on to DBT told me that Jason Isbell was the best songwriter, so I listened to "Easy On Yourself" very closely and thought that it wasn't as good as the songs by the other two guys, but it wasn't bad either. I also realized when listening to it that he was the singer of the song I had heard the previous day on YouTube ("Gooddamn Lonely Love") that caused me to stop everything and buy the album in the first place. By the time I got to "Space City" I was completely sold on the band. The line "Sometimes the words I used were as hard as my fist" was one of the most honest lines I've ever heard in a song. When "World of Hurt" came on I listened to it three times. It seemed to me to be an obvious homage to Neil Young's "Tired Eyes" but it transcended that song. I was sick as shit from the stem cell transplant and hadn't decided whether or not the things I had to do to go on living were even worth it. I never feared the reaper because I believe everything I preach, so dying honorably is an option. But that song was the real turning point in deciding that I was not only going to go on living but that I was going to live well.

Sometimes I kick myself for not getting into DBT sooner. But I got into them when I had to. Rock and roll has saved my life twice, first when I was a teenager and second, when I was in my mid-forties and close to death.

Shit, I wish I was going to be at the 9:30 Club tonight.

[joelle]

^
rev matt
this is the very best post i have read from you.
cheers.