drive-by truckers - "feb 14" (from the a blessing and a curse cd, released april 18, available for preorder here.)

in brief : heavy traffic on the expressway to your heart, emphasis on heavy.

flowers fly across the room,
vases smashed against the floor,
you said, "i'd rather be alone,
take your chocolates and go home.

"feb 14" kicks off the new drive-by truckers album w/ big, barreling drums, followed by fussy licks that mew like a siamese cat from the tertiary period, the size of a hippopotamus. chief trucker patterson hood sings a chorus of "BE MY VAL-EHN-TIIIIIINE" w/ a tone that suggests neil young as a southern man. it ends w/ a honking sax solo, like something off an early roxy music album, obviously played by a man w/ a bad liver and a broken heart. the drums are incessant, the song's heartbeat if you will, but everything else is uncertain, tentative; the wonderfully sloppy sax closing is confused and muddled; cupid is a total no-show : you're on your own, bub.