Boxcar Preachers - Auto-body Experience

  by Daniel Cressey

published: 18 / 6 / 2006

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Review

If you can get past the appalling title there is a lot to enjoy on this album. The Boxcar Preachers are an old fashioned, banjo strumming, jug blowing, dobro playing bunch. When they get it right, such as on opener ‘Model T’, the results are joyous and exciting, if somewhat twee. Their original material is somewhat patchy though. Most of their self-penned tracks on this album are a bit disappointing. The Preachers really come alive when they take on others’ work. ‘Atomic Power’ comes over as a crazy circus journey to Los Alamos. Other, often religiously oriented, tracks from other musicians are similarly well done. A real highlight is a brilliantly executed rendition of the Velvet Underground’s ‘Venus in Furs’. Although it could be seen as something of a novelty track its a damn good one. 'Auto-Body Experience; is a patchy album and one whose relentlessly deliberate old-fashioned nature can be come wearing. Its highpoints, however, are well worth finding amid the rest.

Track Listing:-

1 Model T
2 Thirsting For The Fire
3 Earthquaker
4 Atomic Power
5 Camping Beer
6 Murky Water
7 Hole In The Ground
8 Get Down On Your Knees And Pray
9 Venus In Furs
10 Ain't Got Money
11 Folsom Prison Blues
12 Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes
13 Badly Bent
14 Don't Kneel At My Grave Site And Cry
15 Ain't No Grave Gonna Keep My Body Down
16 What Are They Doing In Heaven Today