Review of The Big To Do Album by Drive By Truckers

Drive-By Truckers have been making music since 1998, and seem to be living proof that if you are good at something you should do it more. The Big To Do is The Truckers' eighth studio album, and if this is anything to go by, the quality doesn't seem to be slipping any time soon.

Drive By Truckers The Big To Do Album

The album begins with the beefy rocker Daddy Learned to Fly. The guitars are fat, the drums are steady and the vocals drift delicately on top, never becoming overpowering but never becoming overpowered by the song. They sound a little bit like Wayne Coyne from The Flaming Lips, which is no bad thing. Also, the closing guitar solo shows some serious chops.

The Big To Do keeps going like this with the fantastic Fourth Night of My Drinking. There is more fantastic guitar work, and the instrumentation remains solid even though the track is a bit quieter and slower.

This is an album full of highlights, but it really finds its feet on the songs that tell dark twisted stories, like After The Scene Dies, The Flying Wallendas and The Wig He Made Her Wear, a slow burning tale of what goes on behind closed doors, with a stop-start riff playing off the fluid lead guitar beautifully. The lyrics are fantastic, and bear all the hallmarks of a band at the top of their game.

The Big To Do is a diverse album, showcasing Drive-By Truckers' skill with the aforementioned rock monsters, but also slower and more delicate songs like You Got Another, enlisting a female singer and a piano. It holds the quality that the rest of the album offers.

The album's closing song Eyes Like Glue brings to mind some of the softer moments on Beck's masterpiece Sea Change, and it's just as impressive as any of these songs. It closes out yet another brilliant album from The Truckers.

Ben Walton

4/5


Official Site - http://www.drivebytruckers.com

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