Sunday, July 20, 2008
A+E, Music, Reviews
OLD 97’S
“BLAME IT ON GRAVITY”
(NEW WEST)
Lisa Johnson
OLD 97’S
w/Sleepercar
Tuesday, July 22
Variety Playhouse
$20
You can’t really call it a return, since the Old 97’s never left. Still, between solo side projects, record label hopping, problems with alcohol, both founding members living on opposite coasts—and, oh yeah, not selling a ton of albums—the fact that the band has persevered with its original members for 15 years to release one of its finest, most ambitious albums ever is close enough to comeback territory.
Perhaps a return to form is more appropriate. For a band whose name references a historical train wreck, the Old 97’s have been remarkably resilient. Maybe going back to their Dallas roots, both physically and philosophically, for their first recording in four years focused the members’ talents. Regardless, “Blame it on Gravity” sounds like a band on a mission.
Lead singer and songwriter Rhett Miller exorcised his demons and followed his lush influences on two pretty good solo projects, but it’s clear the combination of his songwriting with cofounder Murray Hammond’s classic pop/rock impulses and harmonies, and especially Ken Bethea’s gnarled, reverbed surf guitar, yields a sound bigger than its parts.
Miller’s songs are some of his finest, and the group plays with an energetic determination not heard, at least in the studio, for nearly a decade. When Bethea rips out a twangy lead on the Bo Diddly-ish “Early Morning,” it feels like 1994 all over again. For a band that many wrote off as industry casualties, that’s a huge accomplishment, and a comeback that feels as natural and organic as the Old 97’s’ best music.
3 STARS—Hal Horowitz