Devil's Road Explained

Devil's Road
Type:studio
Artist:the Walkabouts
Cover:Devil's Road.jpg
Released:1996
Label:Virgin Schallplatten
Producer:Victor Van Vugt
Prev Title:Setting the Woods on Fire
Prev Year:1994
Next Title:Nighttown
Next Year:1997

Devil's Road is an album by the American band the Walkabouts, released in 1996.[1] [2] The first single was "The Light Will Stay On", which was a hit in many European countries; the album, by 2003, had sold around 85,000 copies on the continent.[3] [4] [5] Devil's Road was regarded as an attempt at a more commercial album. The album was reissued in 2014, with a second disc of live songs and alternate takes.

Production

Produced by Victor Van Vugt, the album was recorded in Cologne, Germany.[6] [7] Mark Nichols arranged the string parts, which were performed by the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra.[8] [9] The songs were written by Chris Eckman and sung by Eckman and Carla Torgerson.[10] [8]

Critical reception

Trouser Press deemed Devil's Road the band's "most ambitiously eclectic album and certainly one of its best."[10] The Irish Times praised "the countryish lament, 'The Leaving Kind', with Carla Torgerson's evocative doomed vocals carrying a refrain laden with the grim fruits of fate's calling."[11] The Daily Record noted that the Walkabouts "have become more mainstream—without losing any of their simplistic beauty and integrity." NME stated that the band is "still churning out imagery-laden fables of the American heartland."

AllMusic called the album "dark and soulful, the work of a band at the peak of its powers." MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide concluded that "the band is firing in that kind of sublime territory that few rock bands ever reach."[12] Reviewing the reissue, the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph determined that "the band's melancholy fusion of folk, country and Americana is captured at its most compelling on Chris Eckman creations such as 'The Light Will Stay On', 'Rebecca Wild' and 'Forgiveness Song'."[13]

Track listing

Weekly charts

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Walkabouts Biography, Songs, & Albums. AllMusic.
  2. Brothers . Stud . Albums — Devil's Road by the Walkabouts . Melody Maker . Apr 6, 1996 . 73 . 14 . 40.
  3. News: MacDonald . Patrick . Hitting their stride . The Seattle Times . March 21, 1996 . D10.
  4. The Walkabouts . Perfect Sound Forever . 24 July 2022.
  5. News: Strangers in Their Own Town: The Walkabouts Come Home . The Stranger . 24 July 2022.
  6. Book: The Rough Guide to Rock. July 24, 2003. Rough Guides. 9781858284576.
  7. Spahr . Wolfgang . Weinert . Ellie . German acts show promise, variety . Billboard . Mar 16, 1996 . 108 . 11 . 69.
  8. News: Sinclair . David . The Walkabouts Devil's Road . The Times . April 12, 1996 . Features . 31.
  9. Review Walkabouts Devil's Road. Ox-Fanzine.
  10. Web site: Walkabouts . Trouser Press . 24 July 2022.
  11. News: Breen . Joe . Roots . The Irish Times . 14 June 1996 . Sound & Vision . 12.
  12. Book: MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide . 1999 . Visible Ink Press . 1207.
  13. News: Bryan . Kevin . The Walkabouts: Devil's Road . Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph . 27 Oct 2014 . Music.