The Unraveling

Talk about the songs, the shows, and anything else DBT related here.

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RolanK
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by RolanK »

21st Century USA is a fine piece of music. The type of song only PH could have written.
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Rocky
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by Rocky »

Clams wrote:
woollyB wrote:
For that matter, I also think BTCD would be a stronger album if they cut the weakest five songs (although I realize we'd never find a consensus on which five that means).
Well I can think of three right off the bat :lol:
I see what you did there. :mrgreen:
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boyyourself
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by boyyourself »

My love for 21st, Babies, and thoughts and prayers has been a developing process starting with hearing them live and not being so sure about them at all. But they are great individually and fit so nicely on this record and sound so damn good with that volume up to 11 and the knob ripped off. And the cork thrown out. And my lungs smoked up.

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jimmyjack
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by jimmyjack »

Rocky wrote:
Clams wrote:
woollyB wrote:
For that matter, I also think BTCD would be a stronger album if they cut the weakest five songs (although I realize we'd never find a consensus on which five that means).
Well I can think of three right off the bat :lol:
I see what you did there. :mrgreen:
"I'm Sorry Huston" and "The Purgatory Line" are both better than "You and Your Crystal Meth," and I also prefer both of those Shonna tunes to "That Man I Shot." Can't really defend "Home Field Advantage," though.

211poundsofpork
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by 211poundsofpork »

It's been what?- almost 22 years, and "Lisa's Birthday" is still one of my least faves on that record.

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Smitty
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by Smitty »

jimmyjack wrote:
"I'm Sorry Huston" and "The Purgatory Line" are both better than "You and Your Crystal Meth," and I also prefer both of those Shonna tunes to "That Man I Shot." Can't really defend "Home Field Advantage," though.
Jimmyjack! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
Not a big fan of Huston, but I place Purgatory Line above Bob, That Man I Shot, Monument Valley, Y&YCM (studio version anyway), the Home front, HFA & Lisa's Birthday.
I dig HFA musically and it has Will Johnson on harmony but lyrically it's their 2nd worst song (I Hear You Hummin' takes the cake for the worst).

BTCD is Shonna's best album though.
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.

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Smitty
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by Smitty »

211poundsofpork wrote:It's been what?- almost 22 years, and "Lisa's Birthday" is still one of my least faves on that record.
I love "Lisa's Birthday" but hindsight being 20/20 and all in an alternate universe it & Ray's Automatic Weapon should swap places.
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.

Cole Younger
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by Cole Younger »

So I’m the only one speaking up for both The Fine Print and Huston? Man really am the weirdo around here.
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by John A Arkansawyer »

Cole Younger wrote:So I’m the only one speaking up for both The Fine Print and Huston? Man really am the weirdo around here.
Sorry--I was busy defending the honor of bassists in the political shit thread, but you know I'm a weirdo if there ever was one.
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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Flea
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by Flea »

Cole Younger wrote:No love for The Fine Print, folks? I like it better than two and possibly three of their proper albums. That’s more of an endorsement of The Fine Print than an indictment of those three albums.

Hey buddy, are you showing in Athens next week?
Now it's dark.

Cole Younger
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by Cole Younger »

Flea wrote:
Cole Younger wrote:No love for The Fine Print, folks? I like it better than two and possibly three of their proper albums. That’s more of an endorsement of The Fine Print than an indictment of those three albums.

Hey buddy, are you showing in Athens next week?
Sadly, no. Unless something changes last minute. That’s always possible and I’m only three hours away so I can still make it if it does. But for now I’m afraid not. I’ll be with y’all in spirit. I’ll miss seeing everybody.
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KcGhostToMost
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by KcGhostToMost »

DBTs album ranking
Go Go Boots
Brighter Than Creations Dark
The Unraveling
English Oceans
The Dirty South
American Band
Pizza Deliverance
Decoration Day
The Big To Do
Southern Rock Opera
A Blessing and A Curse
The Fine Print
Gangstabilly

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dime in the gutter
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by dime in the gutter »

thoughts and prayers sounds right at home on gangstabilly.

great picking and writing and singing.

I'm old and high.

and that fucking piano.

eta. and that fucking bass on heroin.

eta. mrs claus kimono obvious influence is obvious babies in cages

Mundane Mayhem
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by Mundane Mayhem »

KcGhostToMost wrote:DBTs album ranking
Go Go Boots
Brighter Than Creations Dark
The Unraveling
English Oceans
The Dirty South
American Band
Pizza Deliverance
Decoration Day
The Big To Do
Southern Rock Opera
A Blessing and A Curse
The Fine Print
Gangstabilly
You might be the only Truckers fan to not have any of the “Trinity” in your top 3. And it’s awesome.
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Tequila Cowboy
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by Tequila Cowboy »

Some serious thread drift going on here but since Shonna was brought up he two best songs are I’m Sorry Huston and You Got Another. Both really good songs in their own right even if they didn’t quite fit.
We call him Scooby Do, but Scooby doesn’t do. Scooby, is not involved

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Rocky
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by Rocky »

Cole Younger wrote:So I’m the only one speaking up for both The Fine Print and Huston? Man really am the weirdo around here.
Hi Cole. fellow weirdo here. I think I'm Sorry Houston is Shonna's best song and there are songs on The Fine Print that I absolutely LOVE like Rebels and Mama Bake A Pie and songs I like a lot like TVA and Like A Rolling Stone.
By the time you drop them I'll be gone
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beantownbubba
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by beantownbubba »

Mundane Mayhem wrote:You might be the only Truckers fan to not have any of the “Trinity” in your top 3. And it’s awesome.
This and jimmyjack's relatively low placement of SRO were very surprising and yes, awesome.
Cole Younger wrote:Sadly, no. Unless something changes last minute. That’s always possible and I’m only three hours away so I can still make it if it does. But for now I’m afraid not.
For some reason I had it in mind that you were definitely in for Thursday nite. So not only am I disappointed, I'm surprised too lol. I do hope that a last minute change does occur because you will be missed, sir.
Cole Younger wrote:So I’m the only one speaking up for both The Fine Print and Huston? Man really am the weirdo around here.
The Fine Print is a really good album, I just tend not to think of it as an "original studio album" like the usual suspects. I categorize it more as a collection a la Ugly Buildings which is more arbitrary than helpful I guess. I think "Huston" is Shonna's best song but her best vocal is on "Where's Eddie."

Speaking of Ugly Buildings..., that album title gets more prescient and applicable with each DBT release and every positive, respectful review that mentions their longevity.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

coornelius
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by coornelius »

Clams wrote:
coornelius wrote:The Dirty South
Decoration Day
Brighter Than Creation’s Dark
Southern Rock Opera
American Band
Pizza Deliverance
The Big To Do
English Oceans
A Blessing and a Curse
The Unraveling
Gangstabilly
Go Go Boots

I think. Though I just listened to GGB this week for the first time in years, and if you cut Assholes, Fireplace Poker, and Thanksgiving Filter, it's a lot better.
Why would you cut those songs? Even if you believe they dilute the record (which I 100% disagree with btw), isn't the world a better place with those three songs in it?? Seriously.
I don't think Assholes or Poker made the world a better place. I don't think they're "my favorite band bad," I think they're just bad bad. I think Thanksgiving Filter is one of Hood's better chorus melodies and I like the song, but I feel like a holiday song belongs on a compilation or something more than on a studio record.
Last edited by coornelius on Fri Feb 07, 2020 1:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

coornelius
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by coornelius »

Tequila Cowboy wrote:Some serious thread drift going on here but since Shonna was brought up he two best songs are I’m Sorry Huston and You Got Another. Both really good songs in their own right even if they didn’t quite fit.
Agree with this entirely. You Got Another was a disaster in the live show because it's a delicate moment in a rowdy evening, but it's a beautiful studio moment and good song. Huston is cool.

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Beaverdam
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by Beaverdam »

dime in the gutter wrote:thoughts and prayers sounds right at home on gangstabilly.

great picking and writing and singing.

I'm old and high.

and that fucking piano.

eta. and that fucking bass on heroin.

eta. mrs claus kimono obvious influence is obvious babies in cages
“I’m Old And High”

Single for the next album???

Cole Younger
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by Cole Younger »

beantownbubba wrote:
Mundane Mayhem wrote:You might be the only Truckers fan to not have any of the “Trinity” in your top 3. And it’s awesome.
This and jimmyjack's relatively low placement of SRO were very surprising and yes, awesome.
Cole Younger wrote:Sadly, no. Unless something changes last minute. That’s always possible and I’m only three hours away so I can still make it if it does. But for now I’m afraid not.
For some reason I had it in mind that you were definitely in for Thursday nite. So not only am I disappointed, I'm surprised too lol. I do hope that a last minute change does occur because you will be missed, sir.
Cole Younger wrote:So I’m the only one speaking up for both The Fine Print and Huston? Man really am the weirdo around here.
The Fine Print is a really good album, I just tend not to think of it as an "original studio album" like the usual suspects. I categorize it more as a collection a la Ugly Buildings which is more arbitrary than helpful I guess. I think "Huston" is Shonna's best song but her best vocal is on "Where's Eddie."

Speaking of Ugly Buildings..., that album title gets more prescient and applicable with each DBT release and every positive, respectful review that mentions their longevity.
I appreciate that, Bubba. And I am going to do my best. Agree on Where’s Eddie. I love that song. For some odd reason I’ve always imagined that song playing just before the credits roll and then as they roll on a movie. Pretty sure I never saw that anywhere and it’s an odd thought to have for a man who doesn’t watch TV and rarely ever watches movies beyond old favorites that mostly are confined to westerns. But hey we’ve already established that I’m an oddball. Lol.
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Cole Younger
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by Cole Younger »

Beaverdam wrote:
dime in the gutter wrote:thoughts and prayers sounds right at home on gangstabilly.

great picking and writing and singing.

I'm old and high.

and that fucking piano.

eta. and that fucking bass on heroin.

eta. mrs claus kimono obvious influence is obvious babies in cages
“I’m Old And High”

Single for the next album???
Lol. Gotta be a Cooley song with a title like that.
A single shot rifle and a one eyed dog.

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Tequila Cowboy
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by Tequila Cowboy »

The Unraveling is #1 on the UK Americana charts!
We call him Scooby Do, but Scooby doesn’t do. Scooby, is not involved

Cole Younger
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by Cole Younger »

Ill try and steer this beast back on course since I helped get us over in the grass. I spent a lot of time with The Unraveling today while I drive up and down the road and I’ve discovered that I like it a lot more than I thought. The two biggest surprises for me have been Armageddon’s Back In Town and Grievance Merchants. I heard ABIT before I had heard the rest of the record and somewhere on this board I pretty much panned it. Turns out I didn’t know what I was talking about. I love it now. It’s not necessarily the kind of song I normally love musically or the way Patterson’s vocals sound. His love of power pop is on full display there (according to my understanding of what that is anyway) and that’s not usually my thing. I don’t know what it is. While I know it isn’t a happy song but is delivered in an uplifting way, it just puts me in a good mood and I’ve always liked that method of singing about not so great subjects in a really catchy and deceptively positive way. George Jones once knocked a home run doing that with The King Is Gone and Patterson did with this (I realize this ain’t his first rodeo with that).

I don’t care for Grievance Merchants and it is just about unheard of for me to not like a Cooley song. I’ve even defended The Weakest Man, Eyes Like Glue, and Bob at different times. I like it musically well enough but something about his vocals on that one seem...overdone? I don’t know. I might have a totally different opinion live.

Babies In Cages smokes to me. I get a Goode’s Field Road thing from that one and I bet it’s great live. I like Heroin Again more than I expected to and really like Awaiting Resurrection. I’m not wild bout Rosemary With A Bible And A Gun and I’m disappointed with a title like that. I found that I like Patterson’s songs on this one more than any record in a good while.
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beantownbubba
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by beantownbubba »

Tequila Cowboy wrote:The Unraveling is #1 on the UK Americana charts!
:D :D

Any word on how it's doing in the US?
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

KcGhostToMost
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by KcGhostToMost »

Mundane Mayhem wrote:
KcGhostToMost wrote:DBTs album ranking
Go Go Boots
Brighter Than Creations Dark
The Unraveling
English Oceans
The Dirty South
American Band
Pizza Deliverance
Decoration Day
The Big To Do
Southern Rock Opera
A Blessing and A Curse
The Fine Print
Gangstabilly
You might be the only Truckers fan to not have any of the “Trinity” in your top 3. And it’s awesome.

Thanks lol. Guess I see things differently.

chuckrh
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by chuckrh »

the album lists are missing the live records IMHO. both are stellar!

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glennrwordman
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by glennrwordman »

Well, I'll combine my "Favorite albums" list with my thoughts on the new one.

In order to determine, objectively (ha!), my favorite DBT studio album ("It's Great to Be Alive!" is my favorite record of all-time, so...) I relied on math. I rated every single song, added an "overall" grade (sometimes an album is more than the sum of it's parts), and came up with this list:

The Unraveling 7.944
American Band 7.750
The Dirty South 7.643
Decoration Day 7.600
Gangstabilly 7.318
Go-Go Boots 7.268
Southern Rock Opera 7.250
English Oceans 7.250
Pizza Deliverance 7.017
Brighter Than Creation's Dark 7.013
A Blessing and a Curse 6.864
The Fine Print: A Collection of Oddities and Rarities 6.833
The Big To-Do 6.808

I was surprised with some of the results. (He said, standing outside himself). Some records were definitely hurt by having one or more "weak" songs, while this method rewarded overall consistency over peaks. "Gangstabilly" rated higher than I thought it would, "Southern Rock Opera" and "Brighter Than Creation's Dark" lower. But, it's true to my listening experience, and also interacting with the community overall. Knowing you all simultaneously with the last two records has had an effect.

I think a lot of it has to do with American Band and The Unraveling being released in my "active fandom" lifetime. ("IGTBA!, too). I am sure a lot of the affection for SRO, DD, and TDS not only comes from the music on each, but where people were when they discovered them, especially if they were there when those records came out.

All that being said, with "The Unraveling", currently #1 on my totally objective list, after an initial period of, if not "disappointment", but more like "will I love this record as much as I WANT to love it?", it turns out that I love it.

This does not mean I don't find things that I'd love to have seen done differently. As others have mentioned, for whatever reason, Cooley's vocals on much of both "Slow Ride Argument" and "Grievance Merchants" are just strangely muted--the sound, not the performance. Given how PH's voice cuts through so vividly on his songs, I truly wonder what the heck happened. I hope when the "Super Deluxe Version" comes out...whenever...this gets fixed/remixed/remastered.

While I understand and appreciate the very straight-forwardness of "Thoughts and Prayers" and "21st Century USA", the simplicity of each takes some getting used to for me. Not to say that the construction isn't artful; it is. Each lyric is beautifully constructed. (Although the enjambment of "Down the street from the Mexican/Restaurant..." has always reflected one of my lyric-writing peeves: I prefer the thought not to be split in the middle!) The utter directness just took some getting used to. (Of course the brilliance of the lyrics of "Rosemary with a Bible and a Gun" and the inverted blues of "Awaiting Resurrection" shows the other side of PH's lyrical skill).

But after immersing myself in the record for the last month or so, and especially since the "real thing" was in my hand, it's slipped under my skin in a profound way.

It's testament to Cooley and the band that despite the issues I have with the vocal mix on "Slow Ride Argument" and "Grievance Merchants", both songs just steamroller objection. "Slow Ride Argument" I've loved since the first hearing. I felt it was an instant Cooley Classic, and the studio version, which faithfully communicates the force and flow of the live version, while adding some wonderfully disorienting effects in the bridges, to great effect, in my opinion, codifies that initial judgment. I've mentioned the overlapping vocals elsewhere. Again, the production of the vocals stunts the impact a bit, but the experiment comes across nevertheless: a band, 25+ years in, trying something different, and adding a texture that they've not had before.

It's "Grievance Merchants" that has connected most deeply with me, after some initial just figuring out how the heck the damn thing worked, but knowing somehow that it did.

On most albums I've come to love, it's always a moment that catches me and hurtles me toward ultimately feeling the way I do about it. I was a huge fan of Radiohead's "The Bends", and got "OK Computer", proceeded to listen to it seven or eight times without "getting it" at all, until literally just the chorus of "Let Down" hit me, and opened up the rest of the record for me. It's still one of my favorites, despite it kind of getting buried with the weight of all what people put on it. ("Reinventing rock music", etc...) With "Grievance Merchants" I was brought up short by the astonishing tone in Cooley's voice in the first verses, the stressed and tired gentleness of it; the way he holds the notes, wringing so much emotion out of them in a totally unforced way. The emotion throughout the song seems barely suppressed; which makes the explosion of rage at the end ("May our thoughts and prayers keep 'em company/as they wallow in their helplessness alone") so overwhelming.

(And as with the entire record, Matt and EZB of course have, on this third record together, rendered clear how critical they are to everything the songwriters intend. Here, it's the little walk-up that Matt does right before the "They say the trouble with the ladies..." and the second "Yeah, give a boy a target..." lines. Makes one start at the simple creativity of both of them, and there are moments like that from both of them all over the record. Matt's remarkable tone leading "Heroin Again", Brad's fantastic moment concluding "Armageddon's Back in Town"...underrated? Possibly. Under-appreciated? Hell, no).

After that, navigating yet another Cooley classic with no clear chorus (hi, Zip City, not to make an untoward comparison; just in terms of structure) was not difficult at all. His diagnosis of the problem in the lyrics is sure, every line matters and cuts deeper and deeper, inarguable, filled with empathy for the preyed upon, both victim and killer, without excusing the behaviors of the latter, and utter venom for the merchants. After the initial vocal that grabbed me, the rest of the vocal is just as astonishing, certainly one of his best ever: cutting through the echo applied, and culminating in one of the great Cooley vocal outros, the band slashing behind him.

Since "IGTBA!" I think the biggest leap the band has made has been both PH and Cooley working hard as vocalists to extend their abilities, to not rest on their considerable laurels, but to push themselves beyond where they've been before. Patterson in particular is in fine, fine voice all over "The Unraveling": the sweetness of "Rosemary...", pushing himself to the edge of his range in "Armageddon" and the incredible bridge of "Heroin Again" ("Didn't '71/teach us anything..."); how he settles into "21st Century USA", never overdoing the vocal; the obvious emotion coming through in "When my children's eyes look at me..." in "Thoughts and Prayers", the control and specificity of the singing in "Awaiting Resurrection"...there are very few vocalists who don't get perceptibly "worse" or more limited over a long career. In Patterson's case, he seems to be working very hard to avoid that. There are moments on this record that the younger version just would not have been able to execute. (Or wouldn't have tried).

Despite the seeming current-event-specific topics, my feeling is that Patterson and Cooley are both wrestling with bigger, more timeless issues than a moment in a political era. Yes, we now have "Babies in Cages" (a dark, serpentine piece that grooves like crazy underneath the utter helplessness and despair of the words. And one does love an electric washboard!); yes, our "leaders" issue "useless thoughts and prayers". But the themes that emerge for me--and this may just be my projecting my own concerns--are time and mortality. Patterson will be 56 in March; Cooley, 9 months younger than me, 54 in September. By age and inclination, the songs wrestle with the dying of the light, the perils of age and foiled escape. From "Rosemary's..." "saturated and decaying in the sun...", "Armageddon's..." race around the country trying to get out ahead of demons and damage, "Slow Ride Argument's" protagonist trying to determine how much time needs to pass before "the clenching creeping into [the] fist" releases, with "no going home again" (though Cooley calls the advice "bullshit"), the doomed kids in "Thoughts and Prayers", the dying towns and people in them depicted in "21st Century...", the lost men and women in "Heroin Again", the strewn dead in "Grievance Merchants", and the perhaps endless wait for redemption, resurrection in the final song. The details may come from the news feeds Patterson writes about in "Thoughts and Prayers", but the themes are eternal, and bodes well for this album's staying power. (Aside from the depressing possibility that, as Patterson said about "What It Means", we'll still be dealing with all this shit years from now).

There are few flaming guitar solos, though the ones in "Heroin Again" burn, and the several ones in "Awaiting Resurrection" made me think of a miracle mash up of post-Harvest Neil Young and Meddle-era Pink Floyd. But throughout, the band sounds like they are in the same room, listening carefully to each other, responding in the moment, a function of their time together as a band, and their utter comfort with each other as people and musicians. If I had any "complaint" about American Band, it was a slightly "hermetic" feeling to a some of it. (The songwriting more than made up for it). "The Unraveling", despite a fair amount more "production", always feels intimate, shockingly close, where you hear the breaths, and experience--whether it actually happened this way or not--the feeling of sitting in the middle of a circle, hearing the band playing around you. Even though the music is really different, it put me in mind of The Band: everyone pitching in only what was needed, the whole winding up much more than the sum of its very good parts.

I listened to American Band a lot when it came out. It was early-ish in my DBT fanaticism, but despite pretty much only listening to the Truckers during that time (mid-to-late 2016), other records of theirs moved into rotation other than "the new one". With "The Unraveling", perhaps also because it's such a neat, tight, old-fashioned 43-minute experience, I've just been playing it over and over and over, each time hearing new things, while having the things that moved me most (like "Grievance Merchants" and "Rosemary..." with its aching strings and Jay's gorgeous piano parts) become even deeper and more affecting. Having heard 6 of the 9 songs live, it's amazing how they've stayed true to the inspiration found there, but made them all so much more than they were before.

I can't wait to hear it all live, in just 6 days.
Last edited by glennrwordman on Sat Feb 08, 2020 10:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Flea
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by Flea »

You have a purty mouth!
Now it's dark.

boyyourself
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Re: The Unraveling

Post by boyyourself »

Incredible write there glen but the subtle brag at the end......I’m just jealous

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