36 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Best Rock Album of 2001, Hands Down,
April 9, 2002 Brian D. Rubendall (Oakton, VA) - See all my reviews
Drive By Truckers' "Southern Rock Opera" is the best American rock album of 2001, and also the best Southern Rock album since Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Street Survivors" way back in 1977. That's fitting, since the album is a tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd (the original band, not the lame "reunion" version). "Southern Rock Opera" is also the best rock opera since the heyday of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and The Who's "Tommy." If you think this is all hypebole, then just listen to the album.The band's sound is similar to Skynyrd, updated for the 21st century. Three guitars batter you while leaders Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley trade off on vocals. The album deals with subjects as diverse as southern racism as personified by George Wallace, fatal high school car wrecks, and the plight of a redneck preacher's daughter. All the while, it pay homage to Skynyrd by telling the tale of a younger southern rocker who makes the big time only to suffer a similar fate to the great band. Clever tracks...Read more
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful
A masterpiece,
March 7, 2002 James F. Colobus (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews
Southern Rock Opera is more than just a collection of great songs. This double album comes straight from the heart of the boys from North Alabama that make up the Drive By Truckers. If you have ever loved 70's southern rock this album will take you back. Above all, it is an homage to the late great Ronnie van Zandt fronted-Lynyrd Skynyrd, a band much under-appreciated by the mainstream musical press, but not by the DBT. The music on this album is lovingly crafted and so are the lyrics. Every song tells a story and means something. It is probably the only concept album I've ever heard that really feels like it has to be listened to straight through. I did just that on Highway 421 in rural western North Carolina just a few weeks ago and I wasn't disappointed. If you are a displaced Southerner like myself who came of age in the 70s or 80s, this album will take you back to a time when Skynyrd blared on the stereo and you ate that beef stew, collards, and butter beans at your friends'...Read more
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
More rock than you can shake a stick at,
September 24, 2002 By A Customer
This review is from: Southern Rock Opera (Dig) (Audio CD)
Fantastic! As a former (lifelong) Southerner, I was delighted by "Southern Rock Opera". While the music, dense as a curtain of kudzu, is solid, straightforward rock, the lyrics are what make this a truly exemplary album. The issue of prejudice functions as a recurrent theme throughout the piece, and, in the words of "The Three Great Alabama Icons", 'it ain't just white and black'. The singer's razorwire/whiskeysoured voice slices through George Wallace's Machiavellian desire for power; the relationship between Skynyrd and Neil Young; and the many misconceptions held about the South by both Southerners and... well, the rest of you that ain't.
For years, I was ashamed to claim my Southern ancestry, fearing that people would think of me as some negative stereotype rather than a smart gal with a drawl. Now, even with all of "the dualities of the Southern thing", I hold my head high and sing the praises of the Drive-By Truckers, and of the land I once called home.
(69 customer reviews)