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UncutA Blessing... is perhaps a more personal and introspective record than usual. But truly there's still a lot to marvel at. [Apr 2006, p.112]
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All in all, this is a calmer Truckers set, less ragged and more polished.
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BlenderThe barn-burners are still grimy with brawling guitar, but more than ever shot through with delicate light... and the pithy ballads are crisp as cold beer. [May 2006, p.108]
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MojoThere's plenty of soul and swagger again here. [Apr 2006, p.94]
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Even in a lower gear, the Truckers are hardly idling.
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For the Truckers... it’s an abnormally concise record that also happens to be their least sloppy.
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Entertainment WeeklyFinds [Drive-By Truckers] turing from the social concerns of 2004's Dirty South to the more personal with career-best results. [21 Apr 2006, p.75]
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The New York TimesThis album feels smaller and more casual than some of its predecessors. [17 Apr 2006]
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It's the kind of album that finds its own cozy place somewhere between Lynyrd Skynyrd and Leonard Cohen.
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If it isn't as ambitious as the three releases that preceded it, it still confirms that the Drive-By Truckers are still what they were before making this record: the best hard rock band in America today.
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For the first time in the group's decade of existence, they've made an album that doesn't entirely live up to their reputation.
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It showcases an artistic range that had been up to this point unexplored.
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Under The RadarKeeping its ambitions manageable and its wheels on the rails, Blessing is a simpler pleasure and ultimately a lesser triumph. [#13, p.84]
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Taken for what it is, a straight up and down rock album, ABAAC is quite good.
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A Blessing and a Curse easily qualifies as the Truckers’ most straightforward album.
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With its broader musical canvas, "Blessing" may seem like a left-turn to diehard Truckerheads, but it's likely a wise move toward growing the DBT fan base.
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As a whole, A Blessing And A Curse is the album that Drive-By Truckers have always threatened to make, a hard-rocking testament to the intelligence, sensitivity, and soul of a people often discredited for lacking all three.
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While there are unmistakable traces of that swampy, sweaty sound, particularly in the three-guitar sturm und twang of the title track, at other points the Truckers openly embrace their rock and punk roots, as if hoping to stomp that nettlesome Southern Rock label into the ground.
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MagnetCement[s] the Truckers' status as one of the best rock 'n' roll bands going. [#71, p.93]
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SpinMusically, A Blessing and a Curse is the Truckers' least complicated album. [May 2006, p.93]
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[A Blessing] isn't as detail-rich as 2004's The Dirty South, but it's another engaging variation on old-school Southern rock.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 18 out of 19
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Mixed: 1 out of 19
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Negative: 0 out of 19
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Jun 21, 2020
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VincentH.Mar 19, 2007
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LawrenxcePAug 7, 2006Still the best and most solid honest country-rock band around..."world of hurt" is one of their very best and most heartbreaking tunes.