Decoration Day
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Decoration Day Image
Metascore
87

Universal acclaim - based on 16 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 20 Ratings

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  • Summary: The Southern rock band led by Patterson Hood follow up their 2-disc concept album about Lynyrd Skynyrd ('The Southern Rock Opera') with this less conceptual but equally rocking LP.

Top Track

Outfit
You want to grow up to paint houses like me, a trailer in my yard till you're 23 You want to be old after 42 years, keep dropping the hammer and... See the rest of the song lyrics
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. Spin
    100
    A raging, ragged Behind The Music--15 coal-black odes to the casualties that art leaves behind and that life can't avoid. [Aug 2003, p.111]
    All this publication's reviews
  2. Village Voice (Consumer Guide)
    91
    Throughout they succeed in rendering Southern gothic as social realism.
  3. PopMatters
    90
    Few bands today are as good at telling a simple, straightforward, from-the-gut story like the Drive-By Truckers are.
  4. Amazon.com
    80
    The album boasts a handful of crowd-pleasing, party-starting cuts.... Yet more common are moments of startling beauty... and heavy doses of recrimination and regret.
  5. Village Voice
    80
    Darker, more personal than political, Decoration Day rocks easier and rolls harder than Southern Rock Opera, but nevertheless proves beyond a doubt that the DBT engine's got enough horsepower to keep on.
  6. The A.V. Club
    70
    Not since Bruce Springsteen's Darkness On The Edge Of Town has a group of rock 'n' roll musicians been so in tune with the trappings and traps of small-town life.
  7. Q Magazine
    70
    There's a new sense of darkness and despair at their core. [Dec 2003, p.124]
    All this publication's reviews

See all 16 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. EricR
    Jul 26, 2007
    10
    Best rock act going today
  2. AndrewV
    Oct 27, 2003
    10
    Maybe the most honest album made in the past 5 years. Pulls no punches and doesn't look down on its subject matter something very easy Maybe the most honest album made in the past 5 years. Pulls no punches and doesn't look down on its subject matter something very easy to do given the subject matter. Amazing, I listened to it every day for about two months.… Expand
  4. CHaltcountrytab
    Oct 30, 2003
    10
    best record of the year
  5. DamienS
    Sep 1, 2006
    9
    It's not a masterpiece like "Southern Rock Opera," but if ever a band has followed a masterpiece honorably, this is it. Here there is It's not a masterpiece like "Southern Rock Opera," but if ever a band has followed a masterpiece honorably, this is it. Here there is less of the obvious Skynyrd influence and more of the country and punk influences that began DBT on its path toward southern rock, giving it a more unique sound. Meanwhile, the insightful, powerful songwriting that characterized "Southern Rock Opera" remains in full force. This may be the best band working in the world right now.… Expand
  6. Ricko
    Jun 12, 2020
    8
    Drive By Truckers are the only out and out country outfit that I have multiple releases by. They have big tunes but this isn't always whatDrive By Truckers are the only out and out country outfit that I have multiple releases by. They have big tunes but this isn't always what impresses. The big thing with them is the lyrics which paint incredible stories. "Decoration Day" is my favourite album by them. I do think, like all their releases, that some serious editing would be of huge benefit to this. At 15 songs and over an hour long, it's a big ask for it to engage the whole way through unless it is a classic album. Stripped of 20 minutes or so this would have the potential to be a 10 out of 10. Patterson Hood is the main draw for me, his songs and delivery are a cut above the rest.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

9
#9 Best Album of 2003

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