American Band- 9/30/16

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Markalanbishop
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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by Markalanbishop »

Clams wrote:
Gaetzi wrote:Pizza Deliverance is the quintessential DBT album, for my money.
I'm gonna agree with Gaetzi here.

Still fucking up...
While I strongly prefer the Patton-era DBT from a musical standpoint (including the interpretations of the classics on IGTBA), PD certainly captures the punk rock, DIY ethos that I associate with this band. Cooley came into his own as a writer and they hadn't yet been mislabeled as alt-country or whatever.
Kick out the jams motherfuckers.

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Flea
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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by Flea »

Clams wrote:
Gaetzi wrote:Pizza Deliverance is the quintessential DBT album, for my money.
I'm gonna agree with Gaetzi here.
That could be argued, but it's tough.
Now it's dark.

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lotusamerica
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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by lotusamerica »

1)The Dirty South
2) Decoration Day
3)Southern Rock Opera
4) Brighter Than Creation's Dark
5) American Band
6) English Oceans
7) A Blessing A Curse
8) The Big To Do
9) Pizza Deliverance
10) Go Go Boots
11) Gangstabilly

beantownbubba
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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by beantownbubba »

I looked it up.

Quintessential: "representing the most perfect or typical example of a quality or class."

I think I know what the folks who label Pizza Deliverance as quintessential are getting at, but I don't think it's anywhere near true literally. It definitely defines the band as of a particular time and the image of the band in that era is one that people relate to, but to me, too much of the band's history, achievements and evolution is missing for the album to be a perfect representation. I agree w/ whoever noted that the emergence of Cooley as a songwriter is a key plus for the album.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

coornelius
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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by coornelius »

I'm always up for a ranking:

1. Dirty South
2. Decoration Day
3. SRO
4. Brighter Than Creation's Dark
5. American Band
6. Pizza Deliverance
7. English Oceans
8. A Blessing and a Curse
9. The Big To-Do
10. Gangstabilly (the one I rarely listen to)
11. Go-Go Boots (the one I never listen to)

Markalanbishop
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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by Markalanbishop »

Been in my car all day with AB on continuous (continual?) loop. The only song I sometimes skip is What It Means because it is the least interesting musically to me. AB is holding up well. So has anyone heard any rumors about the next record? I'm thinking of calling CPT and trying to book studio time during the tour breaks and see if I can get them to say, "Sorry, DBT has locked down those two weeks." :lol:
Kick out the jams motherfuckers.

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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by brett27295 »

I've listened to American Band AT LEAST once a week since I got the leak back in July. That gorgeous red vinyl is in regular rotation on my turntable. It continues to grow on me as the months go by. I really love this album. I don't think it will ever surpass Decoration Day or The Dirty South in my personal rankings but it's a very strong album for a band well into their recording career.
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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by John A Arkansawyer »

brett27295 wrote:That gorgeous red vinyl is in regular rotation on my turntable.
I need to get my CD back or burn one, because I'm about wearing that gorgeous red vinyl out. I've played it more than all my other records combined since I got it.
The sooner we put those assholes in the grave&piss on the dirt above it, the better off we'll be

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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

I thought this quote from Patterson (as posted on FB) might worthy of adding here. This is from when he was recently asked about sales figures for the album.
American Band has been our best selling album since The Dirty South. It's our highest charting album ever. It charted at #10 album chart (the big chart was changed up to reflect streams and such after English Oceans with the album chart reflecting what used to be the old chart. It's confusing as hell). It's still selling steadily. It's been our most successful tour yet also.

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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by ramonz »

Just listened to AB on my run today after maybe a 4 month break from it - man, it holds up so stinkin' well. To my ears, it's as good as anything they've ever put out. Haven't been able to see the guys much since HC (if at all?), and by the sounds of The Perilous Night and Heroin, they are still very much en fuego.

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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by beantownbubba »

ramonz wrote:Just listened to AB on my run today after maybe a 4 month break from it - man, it holds up so stinkin' well. To my ears, it's as good as anything they've ever put out. Haven't been able to see the guys much since HC (if at all?), and by the sounds of The Perilous Night and Heroin, they are still very much en fuego.
Was just thinking that it's time for a one year retrospective. Will try to add my 2 cents soon.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

Zip Up to Michigan
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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by Zip Up to Michigan »

Listened this AM. Per usual, a fine listen. Ramon, Darkened Flags, and Surrender just grab you out of the gate. Smoking start. For me, what really drags this album down below their best is the black hole in the middle of "Filthy and Friend" and "Sun Don't Shine" ...as well as "What it Means" a little later in the record. Overall, impressive effort and the way the new songs are sounding, they've got potential to turn out another good one hopefully sooner than later.

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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by hanklow »

Guns of Umpqua is a tough listen today. :(

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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by Sterling Bigmouth »

Upon AB’s release I admittedly wasn’t a huge fan. However over the last year it’s grown on me, and I’d consider What It Means, Baggage, and Once They Banned Imagine to be among their finest work. I don’t think I’d rank it any higher than 6th or 7th in their discography, but considering everything that’s happened in the last 12 months in America I’d say it’s a pretty damn necessary album.
Turn it up to 10 and rip off the knob

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scotto
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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by scotto »

For me it's held up as good as anything they've done at the one-year mark, and I've probably spun this one more than any other LP after the initial new-release burst. Unfortunately, it's been current events that kept me going back again and again. I posted similar thoughts on my FB the other day about how this album continues to grow more and more relevant. Unfortunately.
Still such a strong fucking album.

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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by brett27295 »

I've listened to this album on a pretty regular basis since I first got the leak last July. I still spin the vinyl several times a month. I LOVE this album & really have almost from the start. There were certain songs that really grew on me that I didn't particularly like at first (What It Means & Baggage) and one or two that I don't like as much as I did at first (Ramon & Surrender). I think what's happened over the past year is that I've grown to really like every song on the album, there's not a single track I skip. I can't say that about any other DBT album after The Dirty South. In my opinion American Band is the best album they've released since TDS, I thought that early after getting it, 6 months ago, and today.
Turn you demons into walls of goddamned noise and sound.

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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by beantownbubba »

hanklow wrote:Guns of Umpqua is a tough listen today. :(
Yes.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by beantownbubba »

The short version is that I think American Band is holding up very well both to time and repeated listening. It's a first rate DBT album and a first rate album, period.

Much of what I thought I might write is already reflected in the previous posts. I do want to follow up on scotto's comment re relevance: As was pointed out quite a bit when the album was first released, the risk of releasing a timely/topical album is that it can fade w/ time. The question that lingers w/ American Band is whether it's staying power is due to its overall quality or to the sad fact that it remains every bit as topical and timely today as it was a year ago. I'd say the latter is part of it but it's mostly the former.

Like Brett, my appreciation of all the songs has evolved and I respond to each differently over time but I like all the songs and love many of them. No skippers for me either. To my ears "Surrender Under Protest" and "What It Means" are the pillars of the album, ably supported by "Ramon Casiano," "Guns of Umpquaa," "Darkened Flags," "Imagine" and all the rest to one degree or another. I still think the key lines of "Filthy and Friend" are "Everyone claims that the times are a changing as theirs pass them by and everyones’s right" but the more overt themes of gender roles and feminism also relate quite well to the expressly political tunes.

"Imagine" is still to me a remarkable song. It's not the "best" song and only my favorite sometimes. But the way in which Cooley packs so much history and politics and, importantly, accurate and nuanced history and politics, into a 4 minute song is just mind blowing and an incredible achievement. It is quite similar to that old favorite, "Uncle Frank" in that regard and that's no small compliment.
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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by Tequila Cowboy »

beantownbubba wrote:The short version is that I think American Band is holding up very well both to time and repeated listening. It's a first rate DBT album and a first rate album, period.

Much of what I thought I might write is already reflected in the previous posts. I do want to follow up on scotto's comment re relevance: As was pointed out quite a bit when the album was first released, the risk of releasing a timely/topical album is that it can fade w/ time. The question that lingers w/ American Band is whether it's staying power is due to its overall quality or to the sad fact that it remains every bit as topical and timely today as it was a year ago. I'd say the latter is part of it but it's mostly the former.

Like Brett, my appreciation of all the songs has evolved and I respond to each differently over time but I like all the songs and love many of them. No skippers for me either. To my ears "Surrender Under Protest" and "What It Means" are the pillars of the album, ably supported by "Ramon Casiano," "Guns of Umpquaa," "Darkened Flags," "Imagine" and all the rest to one degree or another. I still think the key lines of "Filthy and Friend" are "Everyone claims that the times are a changing as theirs pass them by and everyones’s right" but the more overt themes of gender roles and feminism also relate quite well to the expressly political tunes.

"Imagine" is still to me a remarkable song. It's not the "best" song and only my favorite sometimes. But the way in which Cooley packs so much history and politics and, importantly, accurate and nuanced history and politics, into a 4 minute song is just mind blowing and an incredible achievement. It is quite similar to that old favorite, "Uncle Frank" in that regard and that's no small compliment.
I'm with you almost entirely here. In completely different ways Surrender und Protest and What it Means became different songs after the election strictly because of context. Ramon Casiano falls in that same category too as every time I hear "He had the makings of a leader Of a certain kind of men, Who need to feel the world's against him, Out to get 'em if it can" I think of the larger context and wonder how Cooley ended up being so fucking brilliant. The one that grew on me the most was Baggage though, as it presents a type of world weariness that I feel every goddamned day, and yet it's the final lines that not only keep me fighting but cap off this fantastic record with fight and just enough hope to make it to the next day. "Tossing off the baggage, too much weight too much drag-gage, All this freight can put you six feet in the ground, Nothing left to do but try to keep it all together, Better off without the baggage that I carry around, carry around, carry around".
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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by John A Arkansawyer »

Tequila Cowboy wrote:I'm with you almost entirely here. In completely different ways Surrender und Protest and What it Means became different songs after the election strictly because of context. Ramon Casiano falls in that same category too as every time I hear "He had the makings of a leader Of a certain kind of men, Who need to feel the world's against him, Out to get 'em if it can" I think of the larger context and wonder how Cooley ended up being so fucking brilliant.
Cooley writes vaguely sometimes, and that's a good thing. That bit you quoted, as well as other parts of that song and much of Surrender Under Protest, could be aimed at a lot of different people in a lot of different situations. They are specific to us right now because they were written now about now, but are loose enough that they may be applicable to a variety of situations.
Tequila Cowboy wrote:The one that grew on me the most was Baggage though, as it presents a type of world weariness that I feel every goddamned day, and yet it's the final lines that not only keep me fighting but cap off this fantastic record with fight and just enough hope to make it to the next day. "Tossing off the baggage, too much weight too much drag-gage, All this freight can put you six feet in the ground, Nothing left to do but try to keep it all together, Better off without the baggage that I carry around, carry around, carry around".
This one really has grown on me, too.
The sooner we put those assholes in the grave&piss on the dirt above it, the better off we'll be

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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by beantownbubba »

John A Arkansawyer wrote:
Tequila Cowboy wrote:I'm with you almost entirely here. In completely different ways Surrender und Protest and What it Means became different songs after the election strictly because of context. Ramon Casiano falls in that same category too as every time I hear "He had the makings of a leader Of a certain kind of men, Who need to feel the world's against him, Out to get 'em if it can" I think of the larger context and wonder how Cooley ended up being so fucking brilliant.
Cooley writes vaguely sometimes, and that's a good thing. That bit you quoted, as well as other parts of that song and much of Surrender Under Protest, could be aimed at a lot of different people in a lot of different situations. They are specific to us right now because they were written now about now, but are loose enough that they may be applicable to a variety of situations.
.
Cooley himself knows, and shows, this to be true. Those certain kinds of men he describes in "Ramon" are similar to those in "Made Up English Oceans," just in a different context. E.g.:

"Only simple men can see the logic in whatever
smarter men can whittle down till you can fit it on a sticker
Get it stuck like mud and bugs to names that set the standard,
They’ll live it like it’s gospel and they’ll quote it like it’s scripture"
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

chuckrh
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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by chuckrh »

Sadly American Band (which I think was album of the year in 2016) is even more relevant today. Record always sounds fresh when I put it on which is a good test.

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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by Clams »

American Band definitely holds up. Sun Don't Shine is a perfect October song.
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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by Zip City »

Just listened to this for the first time in awhile. Parts of it definitely hold up well.

I do find it ironic, though, that Isbell catches heat for "not rocking" anymore while this album continues a trend of DBT's recorded material mellowing out. Yes, there are some rockers on here, but Heat Lightning still signifies (to me) a turning point in Patterson and the band's sound that is moving away from the balls-to-the-wall sound of 15 years ago
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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by Eyes Above It »

Zip City wrote:Just listened to this for the first time in awhile. Parts of it definitely hold up well.

I do find it ironic, though, that Isbell catches heat for "not rocking" anymore while this album continues a trend of DBT's recorded material mellowing out. Yes, there are some rockers on here, but Heat Lightning still signifies (to me) a turning point in Patterson and the band's sound that is moving away from the balls-to-the-wall sound of 15 years ago
Isbell catches heat because he's famous now.

One noticeable thing about AB is these songs definitely rock much harder in a live setting.

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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by Zip City »

Eyes Above It wrote:
Zip City wrote:Just listened to this for the first time in awhile. Parts of it definitely hold up well.

I do find it ironic, though, that Isbell catches heat for "not rocking" anymore while this album continues a trend of DBT's recorded material mellowing out. Yes, there are some rockers on here, but Heat Lightning still signifies (to me) a turning point in Patterson and the band's sound that is moving away from the balls-to-the-wall sound of 15 years ago
Isbell catches heat because he's famous now.

One noticeable thing about AB is these songs definitely rock much harder in a live setting.
So do Isbell's *shrug*
And I knew when I woke up Rock N Roll would be here forever

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Re: American Band- 9/30/16

Post by ramonz »

It is Wartime. Where is Our Rock’n’Roll?
http://www.realclearlife.com/music/109646/

This is really good. Some sacred cows slaughtered, but a great (and scary) read nonetheless. We know where to find our Rock'n'Roll, but anyone else out there doing it?

"If you don’t start the revolution, it’s going to be started for you, and it will be started from the other side. It has already started. Someone is already building the gallows your freedoms of speech, movement, desire, and worship will hang from. See, the revolution, the one happening right now, was not just televised; it was everywhere, all at once, it became wallpaper, it became easy to ignore.

There will come a time, soon, after the neo-oligarchs take away your elections and stand under a cross while doing it, that you will wish that rock’n’roll had actually told the truth; you will desperately wish that the revolution you have been crowing about for fifty years hadn’t just been a painted backdrop at a high school production of Hair."

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