Wooden Wand and the Briarwood Virgins – Briarwood

this record kicks ass

Dude, I'd rather listen to this than just about any other Wooden Wand record, and I was obsessed with the Vanishing Voice years. So badass.

frieze - woops, will get the typo fixed. with regards your second point: eh, whit?

hmmmm.... i've heard nothing but good things about this before this review. have really been looking forward to it. certainly on my wishlist!!!

not a seasoned palate perhaps?
the band?
that's your point of reference?
did you google or wikipedia that?

Nothing good comes from Alabama? That one comment alone let's me know you are nothing short of being a fucking fool. The album is actually pretty good, but you obviously wrote your crap review as loosely as you listened: "but take Brairwood straight-faced and...".Maybe you just aren't the person to review this album.

Is this how all British people hear The Band? Wow.....what a poorly placed reference. Obviously very little experience with American (or Canadian) music here. This review must be knowingly taken as from a person who would qualify their own opinion of "pretty cool". Silly kid.....

"Nothing good comes from Alabama? ...you obviously wrote your crap review as loosely as you listened."

This is it. This is the stupidest post of all time.

Try as I might, the source of this anti-Alabama blethering escapes me – it isn’t in the review itself, that’s for sure... Clearly, Briarwood has already acquired enthusiastic fans, but if this comments thread continues much longer, they’re liable to be outnumbered by spluttering eejits chasing imaginary slights against Dixie.

As to The Band reference: regardless of where they hail from, to me, they suggest a certain vintage of conservative, rootsy Americana – a tradition into which Briarwood seems to fit quite snugly. However, I accept that there are other acts/records with closer musical affinities (hence the Drive-By Truckers references), so it’s a fair objection (in content if not in phrasing - silly kid indeed...)

chris,
i just don't think you've got much else on your plate to compare it with.
it was a lazy review.that's all.
i'll give you a pass because i think you're not familiar with enough music to avoid bland descriptions as"toth’s southern rock opera, a sour mash concoction of country rock and gospel"and"odes to good whiskey, bad women"..ect.
no disrespect,but there's lots of things i wouldn't give my opinion about because i'd be out of my element.if drive by truckers is the next closest thing you can come up with,you're either really young or have a short memory.
and chris..i'm from new york,and if you can't see why southern folks might be a bit confused..i mean have you ever been to the states?besides the coasts?

It must be the organ that reminded the reviewer of the Band. I know what you mean, Chris, by saying "they suggest a certain vintage of conservative, rootsy Americana" on this record." Yet the Band seems the furthest away from the most accurate comparison. What about Crazy Horse? That seems more accurate.

Me personally, though, I just get tired of lazy comparisons to other bands in general. I want to know what things SOUND like. Not other RECORDS but what's actually going on in the record being reviewed. You say that it's a record worth truckin' on by, but why, exactly?

I think this fellow is one of the LEAST cliched and most original--lyrically speaking, at least--writers putting stuff out there. A writer's writer, y'know?

And is there even a lot of pedal steel on this record? Certainly not the primary instrument to my ears.

Hi Eejit – I’m glad the comparison didn’t strike you as completely misguided, and accept Crazy Horse as one of many alternatives. Sorry the review itself disappoints, but I appreciate you taking the time to question it on its own terms.

Likewise George Reyes – though just to clarify this bit:

“and chris..i'm from new york,and if you can't see why southern folks might be a bit confused..”

believe me, the confusion is all mine – it seems as if more than one commenter has wilfully misread the first paragraph of the review. I’m not disparaging Alabama (can’t believe I’m having to restate this), I’m saying the album sounds like it has been influenced by its environment - which is a neutral observation. It’s only in the second paragraph that I add my own opinion on whether the results are much cop (an opinion i've evidently argued for unconvincingly). Dismount thy high horse George - as you and others have already demonstrated, there's plenty else to legitimately criticise in the review without echoing Frieze and Monty's peculiar line of attack...

oh chris,
i didn't mean to hurt your feelings or come off as condescending.i just felt the horse was yours.
when you mention whiskey four times in a small review about stuff you consider "rootsy americana"(?)it's like an american writing about the stone roses reunion and using the word"ecstasy"and pints in the description(four times) and comparing them to them to the stones,charlatans or thunderclap newman.why not drink makers mark when you're listening to it?
i think the generalizations pissed them off.a lot of american whiskey is made in kentucky and tennessee.alabama doesn't come to mind,except in a historic sense.not that it doesn't exist.it was one of those things where if you didn't get it,or thought it wasn't your thing,why touch it?
maybe it'll make sense one day.maybe it won't.come listen to it over here while driving through the mountains.
cheers(just kidding)

Man,I wish Alabama still evoked sour mash, etc. These days it's all Wal-Marts and graveyards. The myth's deadern doornails (and I wish it weren't).

Nae bother George – now that we're both horseless and (i hope) agreeing to disagree when it comes to the merits of the album, I’ll withdraw from this chitchat by saying that you make some good points with regards the review’s weaknesses (jeez, I did mention whiskey a lot, didn’t I…). So consider me learned.

Shukla, thanks for taking me completely out of context with the quote. My intention with that was to point out the typo. But Chris and George's commentary has redeemed the review acceptable! Album discussion is what it's all about! (plus Chris' other reviews are good). Chris, nice call on noticing the "whiskey" references.....now if we can just work in a good Commodores/Alabama reference.......:)

BTW, Chris....I forgot to mention, I think your Driveby Truckers reference was "spot on".....

"Shukla, thanks for taking me completely out of context with the quote. My intention with that was to point out the typo."

This makes literally no sense.

I read reviews like this and wonder how the hell the reviewer ever reached his conclusion. With all due respect, dude, the Drive By Truckers? Is that really the best thing you could come off with here? Regardless of what anyone says about BRIARWOOD, I will say that to my ears it sounds nothing like the Truckers beyond the distorted guitars and the fact that the songs tell stories. And that could describe a lot of records that sound more like this than DBT.

What are specific songs on the record that call up DBT and why? What DBT songs in particular?

Damn Shukla, got any commentary about the topic? Ya know, the album? Thanks for being "constructive".

Couldn't give a fuck about the album, but I ain't gonna apologise for reaching for the Febreze (TM) any time someone shits the bed in spectacular fashion.

Hold on to that PA position as long as you can.

FREELANCE, NICCA!

disagree with the review, love the album. I don't really hear the Band nearly as much in it as I hear something like if Royal Trux and Marshall Tucker Band dropped acid and jammed out all night long with John Prine's outlaw brother singing songs he wrote in jail. This record kicks all kinds of ass and who gives a damn about whether or not it was meant to be ironic? The music stands on its own merits for me.