With an ear for a great melody and a twisted lyric, Paterson Hood seems to effortlessly churn out records with a quality of songs that a dozen bands would struggle to come up with in a lifetime of making music what he pens in 12 months.

'The Big To-Do' sees this rabble of rockers turn the geetars up. From their distinctive cover artwork this could possibly be their best outing since the second half of 'Southern Rock Opera.' A sound that is unoriginal yet instantly recognisable. From reading the sleeve notes it seems that Paterson Hood and company recorded 25 songs in 25 days which is pretty damn good going in any day and age in any rocker's book. He also goes on to describe this record as a 'Beast' and he's not far off - the amps turned up to 11 and there is no time for fucking around as the Truckers get down to business with 'Daddy Learned To Fly' sounding like Neil Young jamming with Richard Bacchus and his Luckiest Girl with a couple of the Black Crowes chipping in. What a lovely sound a turned up over-driven guitar is. The pace is maintained through the tracks until we reach 'You Got Another' with its melancholy piano intro and haunting vocal from Shonna Tucker as she tells a tale about infidelity as it builds to a crushing finale. Simply beautiful.

'This Fuckin' Job' has a riff that could have been rehashed from an old Heartbreakers riff (of the Johnny Thunders variety). 'Get Downtown' is simple in structure and we're onto the final few yards of this album where we get several styles, from the Crazy Horse-ish 'After The Scene Dies' to the swooning pop melody of 'I Told You So' to the beautiful 'Santa Fe' and all it's lush lap steel to this majestic final burst of 'Eyes Like Glue' and its acoustic refrain and Wurlitzer.

Oh Mr Hood, you do spoil us with such well crafted odes to rock 'n' roll, long may your cup overflow with music and tales to tell. And here's to the next Drive By Truckers album and the one after that and the one after that!

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