It's Great to Be Alive! [Live]
by Drive-By Truckers
  • Record Label: ATO
  • Release Date: Oct 30, 2015
Metascore
86

Universal acclaim - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
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  1. Blurt Magazine
    Dec 2, 2015
    100
    Somehow It’s Great To Be Alive seems like the essential set, given that it boasts some 35 tracks spanning all phases of their collective career. It shows them in their true element--raucous, raw and unapologetic, a combination certain to appeal to diehard devotees and practically anyone else whose taste in music is generally affirmed by frequenting sweaty beer joints and any local roadhouse bar.
  2. Magnet
    Nov 17, 2015
    90
    It's Great manages to create a cohesive set that engages the listener at each turn. [No. 126, p.55]
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  3. Uncut
    Jan 12, 2016
    80
    This 3CD/5LP set ably performs the mixed blessing of making you feel that you are there, and annoyed that you weren't. [Feb 2016, p.74]
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  5. Pitchfork
    Oct 30, 2015
    80
    It’s Great to be Alive! is the sound of a veteran band in complete command of its back-catalog.
  6. AllMusic
    Oct 30, 2015
    80
    It's Great to Be Alive! is a bit less than the definitive document of the live DBT experience, but if you want to know why this is a great band and how good it can be on-stage, this set will tell you just about everything you need to know.
  7. American Songwriter
    Oct 30, 2015
    80
    Collectively, they reflect the life’s work of a tight, hardworking/hard traveling act that plays by its own rules. And, judging from the almost three and a half hours of music here, one that continues to improve with age.
  8. PopMatters
    Oct 30, 2015
    80
    For a band that’s made their name and living on the road, showering listeners with an endless stream of rock, It’s Great to be Alive! is the modern blueprint for live albums.
  9. Classic Rock Magazine
    Jan 27, 2016
    70
    At three hours-plus, it’s a lot of breadline bluster, but it’s life-affirming nonetheless.

Awards & Rankings

28
#28 Best Album of 2015

User Reviews

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User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 7 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. harmattan
    Nov 4, 2015
    9
    Metacritic's rating algorithm is gamed, that's how. That's the only explanation how you can have 4 reviews at 80 and an average score of 84.Metacritic's rating algorithm is gamed, that's how. That's the only explanation how you can have 4 reviews at 80 and an average score of 84.

    As for this album, DBT has always been a live band, and this exemplifies that. It's a superb listen.    … Full Review »
  2. Ricko
    May 23, 2020
    8
    This was my introduction to Drive-By Truckers. A three-disc live album with 35 tracks might be a bit heavy for the job of an introduction andThis was my introduction to Drive-By Truckers. A three-disc live album with 35 tracks might be a bit heavy for the job of an introduction and is more for fans of the band. All the same, it luckily led me to checking out the rest of their back catalog. Drive-By Truckers are a band I could never imagine myself enjoying so much but they have an honesty and energy that is hard not to like. As live albums go, it's well recorded, captures the bands sounds brilliantly and would absolutely compel you to go see them live. With the right listening setting you can be there on the night with this record. It dips into their whole career and shows all facets of their sound from the stomping southern rock to the country folk.… Full Review »
  3. glennrwordman
    Feb 15, 2017
    10
    A remarkable live album. It is consistent with other great ones, in that yes, while you can't feel like you're actually there, the vibrancyA remarkable live album. It is consistent with other great ones, in that yes, while you can't feel like you're actually there, the vibrancy and utter commitment of the band to bringing the songs--many of them here in superior version to their studio counterparts--comes really close to capturing the experience.

    Highlights range from the epic (an emotional "Grand Canyon"; "Angels and Fuselage", "A World of Hurt", all Patterson Hood songs) to Cooley's relatively more succinct "A Ghost to Most," "Where the Devil Don't Stay", "Birthday Boy" and the beautiful "Sounds Better in the Song", and several others, as well as a killer "Sink Hole" and "Putting People on the Moon". The ONLY track that doesn't work for me is the old Adam's House Cat track "Runaway Train" which is what it is: embryonic DBT, a hair more cliched and unsubtle compared to their later work.

    It holds up to repeated listenings, and new things get revealed each time. Easily one of my favorite records, of any kind, ever.    … Full Review »
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