Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By

Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By is the second album released by the Drones. Recorded "100% live" (like its predecessor),[1] the album draws influence from the likes of Neil Young and Rowland S. Howard, though it has been described by Liddiard himself as a punk rock album.[2] The lyrics, penned by Liddiard, deal with issues such as death, depression and alcoholism in its depiction of Australian working class life.[3][4]

Wait Long By the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By
Studio album by
The Drones
Released18 April 2005
Recorded2004
StudioAtlantis Studios (Port Melbourne, Victoria)
Genre
Length53:37
LabelIn-Fidelity (Australia)
ATP Records (UK/Europe)
ProducerLocki Lockwood
Gareth Liddiard
The Drones chronology
Here Come the Lies
(2002)		 Wait Long By the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By
(2005)		 The Miller's Daughter
(2005)
Singles from Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By
  1. "Shark Fin Blues"/"You Really Don't Care"
    Released: 27 March 2006

The album received critical acclaim upon release, regarded later on as the band's "break-out" and one of their most popular releases.[5] The track "Shark Fin Blues", in particular, went on to become a concert staple and was voted by contemporary Australian songwriters as the greatest Australian song of all time in October 2009.[6] The album itself was performed live in its entirety many times, even as a part of the acclaimed Don't Look Back concert series. In 2008, The Age ranked it the best Australian album of the 21st century.[7]

Content

The album has been described as "tight, working-class rock [...] vocal-shredding songs crammed with drunkenness, night sweats, and suicide notes." [3] In relation to their debut Here Come the Lies, the album has been called "a furthering of that vision and a slight turn into darker territory, with all self-penned material" (the debut was "equally split between covers and originals").[8] The album "employ[s] highs and lows, and lights and shades, to take [the listener] from introspective moody blues to pumped up rock and roll jams. It centres on the sharp blues-rock guitars and the vocal harmonies of lead singer Gareth Liddiard and his compadres".[5] It has been called "a blistering amalgamation of the down-under psych garage of the Scientists, the sunburned songbook of Nick Cave, and the rough-hewn yelping of Jon Spencer."[9] The music was also said to have "the boundless cohesion and energy of X or the Gun Club [...] and, of course, the Birthday Party (albeit with less all-over-the-place percussion, horns, and avant tendencies)."[3]

Promotion & Release

Triple J put the album tracks, "Shark Fin Blues" and "Baby²", on medium rotation. During an extensive six-month tour encompassing Europe and the United States, All Tomorrow's Parties issued Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By outside of Australia, towards the end of 2005.[10][11]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
Cokemachineglow67%[12]
Exclaim!favorable[9]
Gigwise[13]
NME(8/10)[14]
Ox-Fanzine(8/10)[15]
Pitchfork Media(8.3/10)[3]
Plan Bfavorable[16]
PopMatters[4]
Uncut[14]

The album received positive reviews from the international press upon its release through ATP Records in 2005. Brandon Stosuy of Pitchfork Media wrote that the album will "rip out your eardrums, perhaps even your heart".[3] Dimitri Nasrallah of Exclaim! wrote that the band "ooze intensity and broken hearts, and dealing with both after you've had a few too many drinks and the bars have all closed on you", calling them "a band you need to break up to."[9] Thom Jurek of AllMusic wrote that "humor and pathos, nihilism and the hope for redemption fight to the death inside Liddiard's voice as his mates [...] carry him back and forth from the sheer pit of darkness up to an Earth that's been scorched, so he can laugh and wail with grief in fits and starts."[8] Derek Cooper of Plan B wrote that the "red raw howling angst" of tracks like "Shark Fin Blues" and "You Really Don't Care" reaches "heights last scaled on Dylan's bitter 'Rolling Thunder Revue' tour back in 75."[16]

A more mixed review came from Dan Raper of PopMatters who found fault with the lack of "real redemption for the protagonists of these songs: They despair, they drink, and they drown", despite conceding that this is "more a comment on me than on the band" and that the band are "experts at capturing this dark-grey, aqueous world in sprawling, dense garage-blues epics".[4] A similar point was made by Mark Abraham of Cokemachineglow, who questioned the "cathartic" elements of the lyrics and the inconsistency of most of the songs. He also criticized the band's decision to open with "Shark Fin Blues" as it "reverse[d] the inertia of [the following] songs" and hence "frontloaded" the album.[12]

Awards & Nominations

The album was also nominated for Triple J's inaugural J Award prize in 2005 (but eventually lost out to Wolfmother)[17] and won the inaugural Australian Music Prize, defeating eight other finalists to win the album of the year.[18]

Legacy
It doesn't pull punches [...] It's not trying to be anybody else, it certainly harks back to music that came before it – there's a bit of Rowland S. Howard or Neil Young in there – but it doesn't just slavishly rip them off. It goes further and it goes hard. It's a good punk rock album, that's what I would say.

Gareth Liddiard, 2017[2]

Stereogum wrote that the album "finds [the band] at their brainy, raw, eardrum-battering and-heart tugging best".[19] Revisiting the album 10 years after its original release, Matt Hall of Howl and Echoes wrote: "they don’t make albums like this anymore."[5] God Is in the T.V. called it "the band’s classic".[20] The West Australian wrote that the album "only gets better with age. Perhaps it helps having the eternally excellent Shark Fin Blues as its opening track. But above all Wait Long ... is the purest distillation yet of the Drones’ uniquely Australian voice."[21] In 2018, Greil Marcus wrote that the band's performances on this album and its follow up were "as fierce [...] as I’ve ever seen", despite seeming "austere" in comparison to Liddiard's later work with Tropical Fuck Storm.[22]

In September 2009 the album was performed live in its entirety as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties-curated Don't Look Back series. "Shark Fin Blues" was voted by contemporary songwriters as the greatest Australian song in October 2009.[6] The song would go on to be used in television shows such as Rectify and Altered Carbon.[23][24] Britt Daniel of Spoon-fame included the album among his favorite records of the decade.[25] In 2008, The Age ranked it the 18th best Australian album of all time, making it the highest ranked 21st century release on the list.[7] In a poll organized by Triple J in 2011 where "some of the country's top musicians and industry experts [were asked of] their favourite Australian albums of all time", Wait Long was voted #24 out of 100 entries.[26]

Track listing
  1. "Shark Fin Blues" – (Gareth Liddiard, Rui Pereira) 5:43
  2. "Baby²" – (Liddiard, Pereira, Fiona Kitschin, Christian Strybosch) 3:34
  3. "The Best You Can Believe In" – (Liddiard) 7:35
  4. "Locust" – (Liddiard, Pereira, Kitschin, Strybosch) 6:40
  5. "You Really Don't Care" – (Liddiard) 4:40
  6. "Sitting On The Edge Of The Bed Cryin'" – (Liddiard, Pereira, Kitschin, Strybosch) 7:38
  7. "The Freedom In The Loot" – (Liddiard) 6:16
  8. "Another Rousing Chorus You Idiots!!!!" – (Liddiard) 5:57
  9. "This Time" – (Liddiard, James McCann) 5:34

Personnel
The Drones
  • Fiona Kitschin – bass, vocals, piano
  • Gareth Liddiard – guitar, vocals, synth, hammond
  • Rui Pereira – guitar, vocals, violin
  • Christian Strybosch – drums, vocals
Additional musicians
  • Steve Hesketh – hammond wurlitzer

References
  1. "The Vine interview: Gareth Liddiard of The Drones, April 2010".
  2. "The Drones – Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By". Double J. 27 April 2017.
  3. "The Drones: Wait Long By the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By". Pitchfork.
  4. "The Drones: Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By". PopMatters. 11 January 2006.
  5. "Ten Years of The Drones' Wait Long by The River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By". 18 August 2015.
  6. Donovan, Patrick (30 October 2009). "Drones' 'Shark Fin Blues' tops rock list". The Age. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 17 April 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  7. "The Top 50 Australian albums". www.theage.com.au.
  8. "Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By - The Drones - Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic.
  9. "The Drones Wait Long By the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By". exclaim.ca.
  10. "The Drones (2) - Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By". Discogs.
  11. "The Drones - Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By". All Tomorrow's Parties.
  12. "Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By (All Tomorrow's Parties; 2005) - Record Reviews @ Cokemachineglow.com". web.archive.org. 15 September 2012.
  14. (sourced from press blurbs on the issue's first page)
  15. "Reviews : DRONES / Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By CD :: ox-fanzine.de". www.ox-fanzine.de.
  16. "Plan B Magazine Issue 09" – via Internet Archive.
  17. "triple j - The J Award 2005". www.abc.net.au.
  18. "2005".
  19. "ATP Rocks The Catskills This Weekend". 10 September 2009.
  20. "The Drones – The Wardrobe, Leeds, 11th November 2015". 12 November 2015.
  21. "The Drones at Rosemount Hotel review". The West Australian. 24 August 2015.
  22. "Real Life Rock Top 10: Memories of Aretha". www.villagevoice.com.
  23. ""Rectify" Sexual Peeling (TV Episode 2013) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  24. "Altered Carbon Soundtrack - Netflix Spotify playlist". www.sharedplaylists.com.
  25. "Guest List: 2000s Edition". Pitchfork.
  26. "Industry Results | Hottest 100 Australian Albums Of All Time | triple j". www.abc.net.au. 25 January 2011.
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