Old 97s / Rhett Miller - Classic Or Dud?

there's another c/d thread on this somewhere with a split vote and some s/d choices. i've only heard fight songs and rhett's the instigator and i think they're both excellent. not sure how indicative they are of the remaining catalogue, though.

Although Rhett Miller's solo album isn't the most original material, I find it pretty enjoyable. Still very much in the pop/alt. country vein with the added bonus of some singer/songwriter stuff. If you're not looking for particularly serious or edgy music, "The Instigator" (his album) is for you.

I haven't listened to enough Old 97's material to decided whether or not I like them.

Search: Too Far to Care, Fight Songs

Destroy: Well, you don't have to destroy anything, but skipping everything post-Fight Songs (including the Rhett solo album) isn't going to hurt you.

"Big Brown Eyes" is plenty good, as are "Lonely Holiday," "Oppenheimer," and lots more on those two discs.

I love that "Murder or a Heart Attack" song so much. I bought the album (Fight Songs) but I didn't like it as much even though it had a few good songs. Download that "Murder or a Heart attack" song it's really good power pop!

If you liked "Murder or a Heart Attack" try their last album , Satellite Rides

S: Every album. I dunno about Rhett's solo album, I never had the guts to pick it up.

everything is good except rhett's solo record, which is really hit or miss (and mostly misses).

Too Far to Care and Fight Songs are both classics

(That one has my thoughts organized better. I'm still half-asleep.)

fuck that solo album.

definitely dig up your 'wreck your life' then go get 'too far too care'. About half of Fight Songs is good so just download it.

If you like S. Rides, then go away, I don't want to talk to you. You are unclean.

Ill advised Blooshot faze?

The solo album is embarassingly underwhelming given his talent. Definitely stick to the Old 97s, which are not classic but generally above average.

Fuck Rhett Miller in his stupid ass.

I went with my girlfriend to see this guy. Bored me to tears, but he played his hit song two (2) times!!

solo album is very disappointing

all Old 97s records are good, with Satellite Rides the best (and least alt-countryish) -- don't believe these lunatics who dismiss it.

Problem with Rhett Miller is he's gone from the frontman of a fairly kick-arse band to being one of those sad-eyed fops in residence at various yuppie shiteholes around L.A., plying his mediocre wares under the smirking gaze of Jon Brion, et al.

as you've probably picked up, you can see the 97's career as a progression from twangy alt-country (HITCHHIKE TO RHOME) to barnstorming country-influenced rockers (TOO FAR TO CARE) to power-pop that's barely country influenced at all (SATELLITE RIDES). How you feel about those respective genres probably determines which albums you'll like the best. My two faves are probably WRECK YOUR LIFE and FIGHT SONGS (the former falls between HITCHHIKE and TOO FAR, while the latter falls between TOO FAR and SATELLITE), but there's great songs on every one and very few outright duds.

Which brings me to the Rhett Miller album, which is completely stripped of almost everything that makes the 97's good. "Our Love" is a great song, admittedly, and there's a couple other okay ones, but he's definitely trying to get his feet wet in a different songwriting idiom and it only works out some of the time, and for every song that kind of works there's a "Point Shirley" that doesn't.

POX Old 97's: "Barrier Reef", "Bel Air", "Book of Poems", "Doreen", "My Sweet Blue-Eyed Darlin'", "Jagged", "Oppenheimer", "504", "Rollerskate Skinny" ... that's just a start, and I'd probably pick five different ones tomorrow.

Three new tracks from the new album available for listening on the Old 97's website, apparently hasn't leaked yet.

http://www.old97s.com/

"Satellite" is OK, kind of laid-back. Not their best work. (But this is a Windows Media feed, everything sounds crap.)

"New Kid" is good, sounds like something from Fight Songs.

"Won't Be Home" - okay, now I'm really excited by the new album

arggh I was supposed to get an advance of this ages ago, thanks for reminding me. I heard a bunch of the new songs in concert, sounded pretty good.

Not very exciting. Definitely their weakest album yet. It just doesn't feel necessary or that the band's heart isn't in it for the most part. The production sucks, too - the band is pushed into the background and Rhett's vocals are too far front (w/ too much reverb).

Occasionally they start to sound like the band that did the "without ever knowing the way" song. Ugh.

that's fastball. I like this album for the wrong reasons, namely that it reminds me of some of their early stuff. The production does indeed suck.

I haven't heard the album, but I saw them a couple weeks ago and it was the best show I've been to in ages. Shame about Rhett morphing from awesome geek to be-scarved Brad Pitt lookalike.

It doesn't sound like their early stuff to my ears. I guess they're working the same territory, but it doesn't have any of the spirit or passion that Hitchhike or Wreck Your Life have. There's something missing, it's very detached. The Old 97's making an Old 97's album instead of just making an album.

"Won't Be Home" would be great if the instruments wasn't muffled (cf. shitty production, Rhett sounding like he's in another room), and "Moonlight" is nice. "Smokers" is where I start thinking Fastball (thanks), "Coahuila" is dire, and nothing stands out until "The New Kid." I like that one quite a bit - the bass reminds me of some of Frank Black's last album.

it's average. But at least it's better than that horrible solo album did a couple of years ago.

The Opal cover (Northern Line) on the Moveon compilation is better than almost everything on Drag It Up

after listening to the album, i'm a real, real sucker for "adelaide". but yeah, the album on the whole is depressingly complacent, like they don't give a shit anymore about expanding outside their niche.

It's so weak Murry's contribution to the album sucks even harder it usually does.

I like Adelaide and Valium Waltz (though that could have been better).

hey, Valentine is one of my faves. and that's a murry tune. so phhhht.

Naw, I actually like Valentine (in fact it's probably one of the best songs off 'Fight Songs') and his song on Satellite Rides is not too bad, but don't sit there and post saying you like Valentine yet you have nothing to say about Coahuila.

thought Coahuila was Bethea's tune?? Smoker is the Murry song i thought you were denigrating. that one sucks worse than Coahuila, which is more of a joke song, in all honesty. i hate it when the 97s do genre pastiche. "Dancing with teardrops in my eyes", anyone?

ugh..... as if we needed any more proof of old bob's senility. Damning with faint praise doesn't even begin to cover this, and yet there's the A-. What a twat......

The Instigator [Elektra, 2002]
With producer Jon Brion overdubbing band parts, these pretty-hooks-all-in-a-row end up too pick-'em-up-and-put-'em-down, and some of the lyrics are reductive, victims rather than bright clear examples of the high focus Miller sets his sights on. "Things That Disappear," for instance, doesn't fuse mortality and splitsville the way it means to. On the other hand, "This Is What I Do" is a statement of artistic purpose straightforward and subtle enough to justify anybody's solo debut. In his minor way, Miller is a major talent. I still miss the Old 97's. A-

Christgau's got another good blurb for the Rhettster in today's Consumer Guide. Can someone explain what he and some others see in this "talent"? I get the fawning over the cuteness (I hope that's not what Xgau sees in him), but his music is about as dull as it gets. B list alt. country dude goes for more conventional pop rock, singer-songwriter sound, and why do we care??? I own one old97 cd, it has one good song, maybe 2-3 other decent tunes, and the rest is snoozeville. Everything else I've heard is milquetoast. They love him at Largo - need I say more???
Seriously, what am I missing? I'm willing to sample any gems that I have overlooked.......

I just noticed the Greatest Hits at Tower yesterday. It doesn't look bad. Two unnecessary live versions instead of album tracks (shockah), one semi-rarity (Marty Robbins' "El Paso", I can't remember what it was on originally - maybe a Ranchero Bros. deal?), dutifully ignores the last album, one too many songs off Satellite Rides.

No "Big Brown Eyes" (criminal) or "Dressing Room Walls" or "Melt Show" or "Streets of Where I'm From," but at least you get "Doreen" and "Victoria."