There was a time around the turn of the century when Old 97’s were the greatest band on earth: 99’s Flight Songs, 00’s Satellite Rides are achievements any ready bloody Texan, any red bloodied rock band, would be proud to call it a day on. Uncle Tupelo? Wilco? Whiskeytown? None of em came close.
Fight Song’s was a ludicrously literate ride on the coattails of a callow, but aware of his callowness, “serial lady killer”. The follow up? Prince’s Dirty Mind for a different generation and a different sound and different songs. And not just because they both include songs about nailing a bride on her way to be wed.
I saw em live maybe twice around that time and I am gonna compare em to early Rilo Kiley and not just to take another dig at Rilo Kiley but also because they had some stuff in common . I saw Rilo Kiley around The Execution of All Things/More Adventurous period and though they couldn’t pull it off on stage (because Blake and Jenny didn’t mix the way they needed to mostly) those were two classic albums, and everything after was worse. Old 97’s two album punch was unsustainable and unsustained. But on stage was as hot and sweaty a rock and roll show as you would want to see.
Still is -I see em whenever they are in town and they never let me down (I have seen lead singer Rhett Miller off his game precisely once). But live? Sometimes they nail it dead but so often they just don’t. For every “Blame it On Gravity” or “Coahulla” there are dozens of “The New Kid” or , er, “Champaign, Illinois”…
Wait, bad choice. “Champaign, Illinois” was written for the sole purpose of making MCR’s dreadful “Desolution Row” sound like an improvement. Why the hell did Rhett rewrite the Dylan classic to such small effect? “You Were Born to Be In Battle” sounds like a Mel Brooks spoof of a cowboy song.
“You Smoke Too Much” which starts like “You Can’t Hurry Love” but then… stops.
Or “Love Is What You Are” or…
Let’s find some goodies if we can. “The Magician” has a place somewhere in their catalogue, maybe around the middle. “Let The whiskey take the reins (how about, shorter titles, guys, I was gonna mention “Every Night Is Friday Night Without You” but got bored of writing the name half way thru).
Yeah, lotsa moments, lively, melodic, middle of the road, but of a drag. If I didn’t already know em I wouldn’t like em now and if I could get my $13.00 back I would.
I dunno what to say except it is a central tenent of rock nyc, that it isn’t about whatever was, it is about whatever is. Old 97’s are the Derek Jeter of rock: they were the best in the biz but they have no range and they can’t get round on the fast ball. Yeah, they’ve done a lot for me but I don’t owe em a damn thing… I certainly don’t owe em a positive review of this ordinary album