Vic Chesnutt: Drunk
"The story of "Drunk" is this: Scott, Vic and Rob went down to Scott's family farm in South Georgia, took a 12 track digital recording machine and had a party for 3 days. A couple months later, Scott and Vic took the stuff they'd recorded up to D.C. and mixed it, recorded a little and had a party for 2 days."
-from the liner notes.
While the notes for Little mention that there was "no juice" involved in the recording process, this, Vic Chesnutt's first record without patron/saint Michael Stipe is soaking in booze. At times it is drawling (Bourgeouis and Biblical, half-finished and ending in a screech); at others it is hammering (Sleeping Man is an abrasive, pounding non-anthem; so is the title track). Most of the time, though, Drunk's tunes are the mellow, humid stuff of which Little and West of Rome were made. It is notable and kind of funny that the printed lyrics in the liner for this record are frequently far-removed from what's being sung... I imagine that's a drunk thing.
Many of Chesnutt's staple songs (the ones that would fit a Best-Of..., or a greatest hits, if he'd had a hit) are here: Supernatural, When I Ran Off and Left Her, Dodge, and Kick My Ass were all chosen by the covering bands on Sweet Relief II. But ultimately, Drunk seems like a snapshot of a journey more than a destination. The rocking he tries to do here will be more effective on the subsequent records, Is the Actor Happy? and About to Choke. A couple of tunes seem like filler, which is strange for such a prolific writer.
Which is not to say that I think you should give this a miss: the great songs are really great. But in comparison with Chesnutt's other, greater records, this is a B.
Vic Chesnutt: Drunk. Texas Hotel Records, 1993.
review by jep clayton, Bad MonkeyX, 2004.