Live Trucker Kid Rock

Live Trucker

1	Son of Detroit / Twisted Brown Trucker 5:11
2	Bawitdaba / Twisted Brown Trucker 5:44
3	Cowboy (Intro) / Twisted Brown Trucker 2:56
4	Cowboy / Twisted Brown Trucker 5:02
5	Devil Without a Cause / Twisted Brown Trucker 6:12
6	Somebody's Gotta Feel This/Fist of Rage / Twisted Brown Trucker 5:41
7	Picture / Gretchen Wilson 6:09
8	American Bad Ass / Twisted Brown Trucker 4:10
9	Rock N' Roll Pain Train / Twisted Brown Trucker 4:05
10	Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp / Twisted Brown Trucker 7:11
11	Motherf**ker Quite Like Me / Twisted Brown Trucker 5:48
12	Cocky / Twisted Brown Trucker 3:14
13	Only God Knows Why / Twisted Brown Trucker 6:33
14	Outstanding / Twisted Brown Trucker 5:33

Barnes & Noble

Regal titles like "the King of Pop" come and go, but no one has yet been able to challenge this Detroit diehard's claim to the "Raja of Raunch" throne -- a perch that allows him to be as nasty as he wants to be on this greased-up and groove-laden live set. Rock isn't one to mince words, as he proves on "American Bad Ass" and the Muhammad Ali-meets-Ted Nugent boast-fest "Motherf***er Quite Like Me." He pulls it off for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the good humor -- of the broad, foul-mouthed stripe -- that he slathers across the stanzas of tunes like "Devil Without a Cause." The disc, which was recorded across Rock's home state over the course of five years, doesn't skimp on the rap-rock that made him a chart fixture -- this version of "Bawitdaba" makes the studio take seem positively watery. Just as importantly, it showcases his deceptively smart take on dirt-under-the-fingernails rock -- a vibe that's echoed by the Seger-mimicking cover -- on songs like "Son of Detroit" and "Rock 'n' Roll Pain Train." Rock saves the biggest surprise for last, turning his Twisted Brown Trucker cohorts loose on a version of the Gap Band's "Outstanding" that doesn't stop until the final booty begins shaking. Consider this both raw and well done! David Sprague

All Music Guide

Kid Rock may have styled his first live album, Live Trucker, after Bob Seger's classic Live Bullet, paying homage to the artwork right down to the typeface and also choosing to record in his hometown of Detroit, but if Live Bullet caught Seger on the rise, Live Trucker catches Kid on his decline. This isn't a hard-driving, sweaty rock & roll record; this is a Vegas revue, all glam and glitz, with its heart in showbiz. Of course, Kid Rock has always had his tongue planted firmly in his cheek when he went about his self-mythologizing, particularly on his still potent and funny 1998 breakthrough, Devil Without a Cause, but on this live effort recorded largely in August 2004, his joking has turned into inadvertent self-parody. This wasn't the case on his eponymous 2003 effort, which may not have set the charts on fire, but it did capture him in good form, where his rough and rowdy ways still seemed roguishly charming. Here, it's possible to hear the toll that all the partying has taken on him: he sounds hoarse and winded, and when he trades lines with his keyboardist, it seems as if it's because he doesn't have the energy to finish the song, not because it makes for a better show. And while the Twisted Brown Trucker Band sound tight, they also sound too slick, never really giving this white trash rock & roll the grit that it needs. Of course, the album isn't helped by its ridiculously front-loaded sequencing, where "Bawitadaba," "Cowboy," and "Devil Without a Cause" follow back to back in the first four tracks, and his next biggest hit, "Picture" (here performed with Gretchen Wilson, not Sheryl Crow), also appears in the first half of the record; with the exception of "Only God Knows Why," the second half consists largely of new material, or lesser-known hits. Stephen Thomas Erlewine