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.
| It's Great To Be Alive! | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | October 30, 2015 | |||
| Recorded | November 20–22, 2014 | |||
| Length | 3:16:13 | |||
| Label | ATO | |||
| Producer | David Barbe | |||
| Drive-By Truckers chronology | ||||
| ||||
Overview edit
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 edit
- Lookout Mountain – 4:51
- Where the Devil Don't Stay – 4:52
- Sink Hole – 5:22
- Made Up English Oceans – 5:16
- The Righteous Path – 5:15
- Women Without Whiskey – 4:31
- The Living Bubba – 6:24
- Primer Coat – 4:19
- Mercy Buckets – 5:26
- Marry Me – 5:46
- Tornadoes – 5:23
- Sounds Better in the Song – 5:10
- Used to Be a Cop – 6:58
- Shit Shots Count – 4:06
- Runaway Train – 5:35
- A Ghost to Most – 4:57
- Goode's Field Road – 7:35
- Uncle Frank – 5:13
- Putting People on the Moon – 7:17
- First Air of Autumn – 3:35
- Box of Spiders – 7:47
- When the Pin Hits the Shell – 3:57
- A World of Hurt – 7:42
- Get Downtown – 3:24
- Ronnie and Neil – 5:03
- Gravity's Gone – 3:35
- Pauline Hawkins – 6:26
- Birthday Boy – 3:32
- Girls Who Smoke – 4:30
- Three Dimes Down – 2:53
- Hell No, I Ain't Happy – 8:10
- Shut Up and Get on the Plane – 5:24
- Angels and Fuselage – 7:53
- Zip City – 5:15
- Grand Canyon – 13:08
This Weekend's the Night: Highlights From It's Great To Be Alive! edit
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 edit
- Lookout Mountain – 4:51
- Women Without Whiskey – 4:31
- The Righteous Path – 5:15
- Birthday Boy – 3:32
- Runaway Train – 5:35
- Primer Coat – 4:19
- Putting People on the Moon – 7:17
- A Ghost to Most – 4:57
- Goode's Field Road – 7:35
- Sounds Better in the Song – 5:10
- A World of Hurt – 7:42
- Zip City – 7:53
- Grand Canyon – 13:08
Critical reception edit
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Pitchfork Media | 8/10[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 edit
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 edit
- Patterson Hood – guitar, vocals
- Mike Cooley – guitar, vocals
- Brad Morgan – drums
- Matt Patton – bass, vocals
- Jay Gonzalez – guitar, keyboards, vocals
- Alan Williams – trombone
Charts edit
| Chart (2015) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200[9] | 111 |
| US Independent Albums (Billboard)[10] | 10 |
| US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[11] | 15 |
References edit
- ^ "Drive-By Truckers – It's Great to Be Alive". Drive-By Truckers.
- ^ "It's Great To Be Alive! – Drive-By Truckers". Allmusic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
- ^ a b Bernstein, Jonathan (October 12, 2015). "Drive-By Truckers: It's Great To Be Alive!". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
- ^ Zimmerman, Lee. "DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS- It's Great To Be Alive". Blurt Online. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
- ^ Horowitz, Hal (October 30, 2015). "Drive-By Truckers: It's Great To Be Alive!". American Songwriter. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
- ^ "It's Great To Be Alive! Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
- ^ "Billboard 200". Billboard. November 21, 2015.
- ^ "Upcoming Releases". Hits Daily Double. HITS Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on July 13, 2016.
- ^ "Drive-By Truckers Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
- ^ "Drive-By Truckers Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
- ^ "Drive-By Truckers Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved December 15, 2015.