It's Great to Be Alive!

It's Great To Be Alive!
Live album by
Drive-By Truckers
ReleasedOctober 30, 2015
RecordedNovember 20–22, 2014
Length3:16:13
LabelATO
ProducerDavid Barbe
Drive-By Truckers chronology
English Oceans
(2014) 		It's Great To Be Alive!
(2015) 		American Band
(2016)

It's Great To Be Alive! is the fourth live album by the Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers. Several versions of the album are available on LP, CD and Digital Editions. The album was recorded over a three-night run at the Fillmore in San Francisco, CA on November 20, 21 and 22, 2014.

Overview

2014 marked the 20th anniversary of the Drive-By Truckers, and It's Great to Be Alive! commemorates this anniversary. The album's title is a lyric from the Truckers' song "A World Of Hurt". The album is available as a deluxe set that includes five LPs, three CDs, four small posters, and extensive liner notes. The regular issue includes three CDs.

Track listing

  1. Lookout Mountain – 4:51
  2. Where the Devil Don't Stay – 4:52
  3. Sink Hole – 5:22
  4. Made Up English Oceans – 5:16
  5. The Righteous Path – 5:15
  6. Women Without Whiskey – 4:31
  7. The Living Bubba – 6:24
  8. Primer Coat – 4:19
  9. Mercy Buckets – 5:26
  10. Marry Me – 5:46
  11. Tornadoes – 5:23
  12. Sounds Better in the Song – 5:10
  13. Used to Be a Cop – 6:58
  14. Shit Shots Count – 4:06
  15. Runaway Train – 5:35
  16. A Ghost to Most – 4:57
  17. Goode's Field Road – 7:35
  18. Uncle Frank – 5:13
  19. Putting People on the Moon – 7:17
  20. First Air of Autumn – 3:35
  21. Box of Spiders – 7:47
  22. When the Pin Hits the Shell – 3:57
  23. A World of Hurt – 7:42
  24. Get Downtown – 3:24
  25. Ronnie and Neil – 5:03
  26. Gravity's Gone – 3:35
  27. Pauline Hawkins – 6:26
  28. Birthday Boy – 3:32
  29. Girls Who Smoke – 4:30
  30. Three Dimes Down – 2:53
  31. Hell No, I Ain't Happy – 8:10
  32. Shut Up and Get on the Plane – 5:24
  33. Angels and Fuselage – 7:53
  34. Zip City – 5:15
  35. Grand Canyon – 13:08

This Weekend's the Night: Highlights From It's Great To Be Alive!

Also released was a single-disc or dual-LP release entitled This Weekend's the Night: Highlights From It's Great To Be Alive! featuring selections from It's Great To Be Alive! People who preordered this release were emailed select additional tracks over a three-month period.[1]

Track listing

  1. Lookout Mountain – 4:51
  2. Women Without Whiskey – 4:31
  3. The Righteous Path – 5:15
  4. Birthday Boy – 3:32
  5. Runaway Train – 5:35
  6. Primer Coat – 4:19
  7. Putting People on the Moon – 7:17
  8. A Ghost to Most – 4:57
  9. Goode's Field Road – 7:35
  10. Sounds Better in the Song – 5:10
  11. A World of Hurt – 7:42
  12. Zip City – 7:53
  13. Grand Canyon – 13:08

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Pitchfork Media8/10[3]
Blurt Magazine[4]
American Songwriter[5]

It's Great To Be Alive! received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album holds an average score of 88, based on six reviews.[6] Pitchfork Media's Jonathan Bernstein said the album "is the sound of a veteran band in complete command of its back catalog."[3]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at No. 111 on the Billboard 200,[7] selling 5,000 copies in the first week. It has sold 16,000 copies in the United States as of July 2016.[8]

Personnel

  • Patterson Hood – guitar, vocals
  • Mike Cooley – guitar, vocals
  • Brad Morgan – drums
  • Matt Patton – bass, vocals
  • Jay Gonzalez – guitar, keyboards, vocals
  • Alan Williams – trombone

Charts

Chart (2015) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[9] 111
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[10] 10
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[11] 15

References

  1. ^ "Drive-By Truckers – It's Great to Be Alive". Drive-By Truckers.
  2. ^ "It's Great To Be Alive! – Drive-By Truckers". Allmusic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  3. ^ a b Bernstein, Jonathan (October 12, 2015). "Drive-By Truckers: It's Great To Be Alive!". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  4. ^ Zimmerman, Lee. "DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS- It's Great To Be Alive". Blurt Online. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  5. ^ Horowitz, Hal (October 30, 2015). "Drive-By Truckers: It's Great To Be Alive!". American Songwriter. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  6. ^ "It's Great To Be Alive! Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  7. ^ "Billboard 200". Billboard. November 21, 2015.
  8. ^ "Upcoming Releases". Hits Daily Double. HITS Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on July 13, 2016.
  9. ^ "Drive-By Truckers Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  10. ^ "Drive-By Truckers Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  11. ^ "Drive-By Truckers Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved December 15, 2015.