Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - The Nashville Sound (June 16, 2017) Album • Page 17

Yep, those 2 plus Relatively Easy are the ones I was referring to. Some artists go their entire career and don't write s song that good, and he did it three times on the same album.

 

It's just a crazy good album. Mind blowingly great.

 

Listening to "Danko/Manuel" and Southeastern back to back is an experience. Snapshots of a guy in two very different stages of his life.

"Fifteen years ago, they owned that road; now it's rolling over us instead."

 

And "Traveling Alone" is right up there for me as well.

 

And Different Days lol

 

And "Songs That She Sang in the Shower." The entire thing is so good. My least favorite is probably "New South Wales," which is still a song I really like.

 

I was going through a nasty breakup after 3 years the first time I heard Southeastern. "Different Days", "Traveling Alone", and "Songs That She Sang.." would absolutely wreck me back then..

I loved it, haha.

 

I can't pick the best songs off of Southeastern without just making a list of 10 of them. The only song I don't like is Live Oak, and I can also understand anyone saying Super 8 is a weak-link on the album even though I enjoy the hell out of the song. The most impressive from a songwriting standpoint to me would be Elephant and Cover Me Up. Personal favorite song would probably be Songs That She Sang In The Shower.

I enjoyed Something More Than Free but definitely was disappointed in it when it was first released. I think it takes me some time with Jason Isbell records to let go of what I was expecting him to do and appreciate what it is he actually did. Time has made me appreciate that album more, although I still feel like it's missing one or two stand out tracks that blow you away and really tie it all together. Others have pointed out that the closer is probably his weakest closer and I agree, even though as a song I thoroughly enjoy it and think it's a fantastic song.

Now with The Nashville Sound this guy has released six albums in a row that I would say all range from simply great to absolute masterpieces. It's a hell of a run. Even his "weaker" albums are loaded with incredible songs.

 

Man, "Live Oak" is one of my favorites. Sounds like a lost Townes Van Zandt tune to me.

 

Yeah not liking "Live Oak" is blasphemy

 

"Live Oak" and "Yvette" are two of his most interesting storytelling songs. I'd watch movies made from both of those narratives.

 

This is how I've found myself feeling about this album. I like a ton, but it doesn't get better than his previous two.

 

Southeastern > Nashville Sound > SMTF for me

 

Guys... "Yvette"

Picturing a little boy with his gun, trying to figure out what to do about his neighbor's father abusing her? It's everything that's great about Jason in one song.

 

Looking forward to hearing this on Friday, he can do no wrong.

I really really like SMTF but Southeastern blows it away for me. Just a much more consistent album.

I LOVE "If It Takes A Lifetime" and "24 Frames", however.

 

Kind of random but for some reason Chaos & Clothes always reminds me of Kevin Devine's song All of Everything, Erased. Not sure why.

 

I agree 100% about "Yvette" - I've just never been able to get into "Live Oak". I've tried many, many times but I always end up hitting skip eventually. I'll try to keep an open mind on my next full listen-through to Southeastern.

 

This entire week has been dominated by Isbell for me. Been streaming it all week on NPR, went to his music video shoot today and watched him play the same 2 songs about 4 times each, and I've got the album release show tomorrow. After all that I still haven't gotten tired of this album or a single song on it, it just gets better. However, the more I listen to this the more baffled I am by the whole "rock" album thing they were advertising. I feel like this is less of a rock album than SMTF.

 

The best thing about New South Wales is that it supposedly is about Justin Townes Earle

 

I'd agree with this. I think "Cumberland Gap" is more of a "rock song" than anything on that record, but I think the band is actually more evenly used throughout Something More Than Free than they are here.

 

No way? Whats the story there? By the way, I just found out that Isbell is all over Harlem River Blues. Didn't know that until I picked it up on vinyl.

 

I like this album a lot but it doesn't touch the past two for me. I think my opinion will be rather unpopular. The core of the issue is ; this album has less storytelling and more traditional autobiographical songwriting.

My favorite 2 tracks are the ones that are rich with storytelling...Cumberland and tupelo.

 

I've just seen it mentioned in passing by folks on DBT forums who seem to know what they're talking about. About a JTE tour of Australia I'd guess.

This remains an awesome live performance, although both of these guys look very unwell here compared to their current sober selves

 

It's crazy how much has changed since then. Back then it seemed like JTE was destined to be where Isbell is now, and now Isbell is huge and people seem to have pretty much lost interest in Earl for the most part.

 

JTE's new album is fantastic. I think he'll leave a real legacy behind me.

Also, I've watched this video a ton of times and never realized that was isbell.

Edit: he says it.