Drive-By Truckers - Ugly Buildings, Whores, and Politicians: Greatest Hits 1998-2009 [2LP Clear]

Drive-By Truckers' Ugly Buildings, Whores, and Politicians rounds up the best of the band's first eleven years, spread across two clear LPs for a proper Southern rock reckoning.

Released in 2011 and produced by David Barbe, the collection draws from the Truckers' first seven albums, from the rough-hewn early days through the triple-guitar glory of Southern Rock Opera, Decoration Day and The Dirty South. It captures the shifting line-ups too, from founders Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley to the era when Jason Isbell was writing some of the band's most beloved songs.

Zip City is Cooley at his sharpest, a tale of small-town longing with a hook that will not quit, and Let There Be Rock is Hood's funny, heartfelt tribute to growing up on loud guitars. Outfit, Isbell's song of advice from a father to his son, still lands like a gut punch, while Lookout Mountain thunders with dark, wild energy.

Across sixteen tracks the stories pile up, full of bad decisions, family ties and the complicated pride of the South, told by some of the sharpest songwriters in American rock.

Funny, furious and full of hard-won wisdom, it is the ideal starting point for newcomers and a great way to hear how far the band travelled.