''Devil's Road'' is an album by the American band the Walkabouts, released in 1996. 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. ''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 Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...

. Mark Nichols arranged the string parts, which were performed by the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra. The songs were written by Chris Eckman and sang by Eckman and Carla Torgerson.

Critical reception

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' deemed ''Devil's Road'' the band's "most ambitiously eclectic album and certainly one of its best." ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' 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." The '' Daily Record'' noted that the Walkabouts "have become more mainstream—without losing any of their simplistic beauty and integrity." ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' stated that the band is "still churning out imagery-laden fables of the American heartland."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

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." 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'."

Track listing

References

{{reflist The Walkabouts albums 1996 albums Virgin Records albums