Alabama Kids - Drowsy Driver - LP + CD

"The Alabama Kids were my new favourite band back in 1993. They were our tour buddies on a Dutch/German stint that started at the Pop-Komm ‘messe’ in Köln and ended somewhere in Holland a few weeks later. Our band, Motorpsycho, recognized fellow travelers when we met them, but we bonded with the Alabama Kids in a different way than with most other bands. We seemed to pull from the same well and look at things the same way too, and it felt like magic to meet such close cohorts so far from home.
The Alabama Kids were a fearsome live act on a good day. A band that somehow seemed to synthesize everything I dug in guitar rock right then, without becoming just another grunge/ alternative yawn. They had classic songs seemingly minted from the same place Neil Young and J Mascis got theirs, they had three lead guitars - and everyone had a both a big muff and a wah wah pedal - so the psych quota was well and truly filled. They had the best rhythm section this side of Can, and they somehow always managed to catch your cerebral cortex in their sonic crossfire, making you feel both sad and elated at the same time. They made us play better, and we paid close attention to what they were doing, adopting (well, stealing really….) all we could and slowly making it our own in the process. Bet we were out-played as often as not, and the rivalry was for real, but we all benefitted from it: It was a great tour!
OK, so maybe not all of it worked on their first two records, but by the the time they released Drowsy Driver, their third album, they were faultless - a different band in the grunge plethora of the day, of it, but somehow singular as well. Listening to Drowsy Driver today some 23 years later, it still sends chills down my spine like it used to back in the day. The songs are still as good, the arrangements as trippy (listen to the groove on the false ending of The River!), and the playing as tasteful as I remember it. It’s a great album any way you look at it, and I’m stoked that it’s available again. The world is a better place with this album on your turntable.