Devil's Road
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Devil's Road
| type = studio
| artist = the Walkabouts
| cover = Devil's Road.jpg
| alt =
| released = 1996
| recorded =
| venue =
| studio =
| genre =
| length =
| 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-walkabouts-mn0000924112/biography|title=The Walkabouts Biography, Songs, & Albums|website=AllMusic}}{{cite magazine |last1=Brothers |first1=Stud |title=Albums — Devil's Road by the Walkabouts |magazine=Melody Maker |date=Apr 6, 1996 |volume=73 |issue=14 |page=40}} The first single was "The Light Will Stay On", which was a hit in many European countries; by 2003, the album had sold around 85,000 copies on the continent.{{cite news |last1=MacDonald |first1=Patrick |title=Hitting their stride |work=The Seattle Times |date=March 21, 1996 |page=D10}}{{cite magazine |title=The Walkabouts |url=https://www.furious.com/perfect/walkabouts.html |magazine=Perfect Sound Forever |access-date=24 July 2022}}{{cite news |title=Strangers in Their Own Town: The Walkabouts Come Home |url=https://www.thestranger.com/music/2003/09/18/15672/strangers-in-their-own-town |work=The Stranger |access-date=24 July 2022}} Devil's Road was regarded as an attempt at a more commercial album in comparison to the Walkabouts' previous work. 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.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fie47qSuTsoC&pg=PA2180|title=The Rough Guide to Rock|date=July 24, 2003|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=9781858284576}}{{cite magazine |last1=Spahr |first1=Wolfgang |last2=Weinert |first2=Ellie |title=German acts show promise, variety |magazine=Billboard |date=Mar 16, 1996 |volume=108 |issue=11 |page=69}} Mark Nichols arranged the string parts, which were performed by the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra.{{cite news |last1=Sinclair |first1=David |title=The Walkabouts Devil's Road |work=The Times |date=April 12, 1996 |department=Features |page=31}}{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.ox-fanzine.de/review/devils-road-92639|title=Review Walkabouts Devil's Road|magazine=Ox-Fanzine}} The songs were written by Chris Eckman and sung by Eckman and Carla Torgerson.{{cite web |title=Walkabouts |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/walkabouts/ |website=Trouser Press |access-date=24 July 2022}}
Critical reception
{{music ratings
|rev1 = AllMusic
|rev1score = {{rating|4.5|5}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/devils-road-mw0000739289|title=The Walkabouts Devil's Road|website=AllMusic}}
|rev2 = Daily Record
|rev2score = 7/10{{cite news |title=Reviews |work=Daily Record |date=April 7, 1996 |department=Features |page=10}}
||rev3 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
|rev3score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2006 |publisher=MUZE |volume=8 |page=477}}
|rev4 = NME
|rev5 = Ox-Fanzine
}}
Trouser Press deemed Devil's Road the band's "most ambitiously eclectic album and certainly one of its best." 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."{{cite news |last1=Breen |first1=Joe |title=Roots |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=14 June 1996 |department=Sound & Vision |page=12}} 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."{{cite book |title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |date=1999 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |page=1207}} 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'."{{cite news |last1=Bryan |first1=Kevin |title=The Walkabouts: Devil's Road |work=Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph |date=27 Oct 2014 |department=Music}}
Track listing
{{Track listing
| all_writing =
| title1 = The Light Will Stay On
| length1 =
| title2 = Rebecca Wild
| length2 =
| title3 = The Stopping-Off Place
| length3 =
| title4 = Cold Eye
| length4 =
| title5 = Christmas Valley
| length5 =
| title6 = Blue Head Flame
| length6 =
| title7 = When Fortune Smiles
| length7 =
| title8 = All for This
| length8 =
| title9 = Fairground Blues
| length9 =
| title10 = The Leaving Kind
| length10 =
| title11 = Forgiveness Song
| length11 =
}}
=Weekly charts=
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Weekly chart performance for Devil's Road |
| scope="col"| Chart (1996)
! scope="col"| Peak |
|---|
| {{album chart|Sweden|41|artist=Walkabouts|album=Devil's Road|rowheader=true|access-date=10 March 2020}} |