User Score
Universal acclaim- based on 17 Ratings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 14 out of 17
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Mixed: 3 out of 17
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Negative: 0 out of 17
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Jul 15, 2011
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May 13, 2011The Drive-By Truckers can write some good Southern rock riffs, but this album felt less inspired than Brighter than Creation's Dark or Go-Go Boots. There are some interesting songs on here ("Birthday Boy", "This F****ng Job", "The Fourth Night of My Drinking"), but not having a defined concept seems to have zapped the music of its cohesiveness.
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The Big To-Do features some of the band's most evocative chunks of misery-detailing to date.
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The old comedy adage goes that if it bends, it's funny, but if it breaks, it's not. Tell that to Drive-By Truckers, who break everything in sight yet still strike tragicomic gold every time. The Big To-Do, their eighth full-length, features another cast of walking-dead survivors struggling with their vices in a Faulknerian landscape of rocked-up desperation.
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Musically, the DBTs manage a decent range--from big, squalling rockers to teary, lap-steel balladry--albeit without throwing any great surprises. Same old story, to some extent, but one worth hearing again.