English Oceans (studio album) by Drive-By Truckers

From buzzdainer 04/09/2018 00:03

After the departure of Jason Isbell, whom I thought was the strongest songwriter in Drive-By Truckers, my expectations going into each subsequent album have been modest. My concerns have mostly been unfounded, though, as Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley have shown themselves up to the task of carrying the band forward and keeping their themes politically relevant and poignant. While I basically like Shonna Tucker, I think her leaving the band actually helped Hood and Cooley sharpen their focus a bit and trim down the number of tracks on their albums, meaning a slightly leaner and better distilled body of work. On English Oceans my favorite track is probably "Grand Canyon," a meditation on how we construct meaning from beautiful places we visit in the midst of the messy chaos of living. It's a wise and mature piece of work, particularly satisfying in the context of the band's wider body of work, which has always brought the passion but not necessarily sophistication.

From zdwyatt 03/31/2014 19:57

Prior to this release, Drive-By Truckers released two albums in two years, neither of which did much for me. It seemed the primary songwriters, Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, had gotten obsessed with true crime stories and A.M. country radio, respectively. But this album is a return to form. It doesn't match their best works, from the early 2000s, but it's definitely their best album in years.

From samistake2ice 03/21/2014 16:03

So much better than their previous 2 records. Cooley seems to be back to his old storytelling self, and Patterson a couple songs that can compete with some of his best.

I'm a huge fan of DBT's & I have to say, @ 1st listen, this is really disappointing. I hope that it grown on my but right now, not sure how often I'm going to play this.