Semi Annual Drive by Truckers Posting Fit

Thanks to the magic of the internet you can easily listen to bootlegged concern tapes without going to any trouble or spending any money. Not news, but pretty awesome.

I did my annual Drive By Truckers thing over spring holidays, so I've been into listening them a lot lately. I discovered a great cache of bootlegs that you can stream. I've been using that at my office radio this week.

Here's a great show from 2005:

http://www.archive.org/details/dbt2005-01-22.km184.flac16


Here's the show I saw over spring break:

http://www.archive.org/details/dbt2010-03-13.km184.flac16


Listening to these reminds me that DBT is overdue for a live album. For my money, they are probably the best band of the past decade. I'd accept the contention that Wilco might be better, but I'm voting for DBT.

(Don't hand me that Radiohead shit. Radiohead is great, but they are a not nearly as consistent as the DBT. There aren't any BAD Radiohead records, but they aren't all essential. If you like DBT, you have to get all of them. Plus Radiohead are popular and fashionable. Nothing wrong with that, but DBT is much more idiosyncratic and interesting. Alt country+the Replacements+Lynyrd Skynyrd=the Drive By Truckers. That sounds completely absurd (Lynyrd Skynyrd?), but it works.)

Anywaaaay. . . .

DBT are one of those bands that have a huge rep as a live act, and they are really a bit overdue for an ambitious live record. They've released a live DVD and a CD/DVD of an Austin City Limits appearance. Both are great, but they haven't really done a definitive live document.

Since they have accumulated so much history, the idea of a definitive live document might be a little dodgy at this point, but here's my proposal:

A boxed set. The first disc would be a complete show from the band's early days, similar to the now out of print "Alabama Ass Whuppin" record, but all from one show. Then you'd include a show or two from the "Southern Rock Opera" period, when the band was playing embryonic versions of some of their best know work along with long chunks of the album in sequence. Then you'd do a particularly good show or two (probably a 40 Watt show like the one linked in this post. . . or do a the entirety of a three night stand!) from the "Dirty South" period. Then one show from 2009 or 2010. (Or do the three night stand thing, or do a pair of shows from the Variety.)

What I'm proposing would be a massive retrospective from the bands first decade. Is there an audience for this? Yep. Would it be awesome? Yep.

Of course, you could just dowload bootlegs and construct your own version of that, but wouldn't a professionally mixed version be better?

Just a thought. Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty have made huge, career spanning retrospective live albums like what I'm describing, so it's not an unprecedented or silly idea. (Tom Petty's is much more successful, by the way. The Live Springsteen boxed set came out during his 80's peak, and so it served the purpose of consolidating the first big chunk of the Boss's career. That' make it a bigger deal in his career, but Tom Petty's live anthology really puts him in a different, more interesting light. It's a lot better sequenced too.)

Anyway. I think it'd be awesome. Somebody call Patterson.