Day 0932 - Southern Rock Opera

Drive-By Truckers "Southern Rock Opera"

Pretty much what it says on the tin.   A rock opera utilising and talking about Southern Rock, with special focus given to Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young, and very much (musically) in their style.

From what I've read, the story is supposed to chart the progress of a group of youngsters from their Southern upbringing longing after fame and fortune, to finally getting what they want but with all the eventual pitfalls of fame.

I would say that I enjoyed one or two of the sounds on here, particularly on the second disc which has lots of nice guitar harmony bits going on and there is solid riffage throughout. "Angels and Fuselage" is a yearning epic rock ballad in the vein of Skynyrd's best.

The problem then is the 90-minute runtime.   I didn't really pay much attention to the 'narrative' and there's not enough variety to maintain interest across that duration of music (for my tastes anyway).   As is the case with many double albums, I feel that this could have been shorn down to an arresting single album.   

Day 0008 - The Chirping Crickets

The Crickets "The Chirping Crickets"

The most interesting thing that struck me on reading the entry in the book (other than the fact that the album is well under half an hour) is that this is the only LP to feature Buddy Holly that was released during his lifetime.  I wasn't that familiar with his death aside from the fact that he died in a plane crash, but I'd always assumed that it was at the end of a very long run in the music industry.

As is often the case with albums in the 50s and early 60s, there's not a lot of diversity across the album, but the Crickets really keep it fresh between doowoppy ballads and upbeat rockabilly so that it never really feels stale.

Love the backing vocals from the Crickets