CD Review: Old 97’s – Blame it on Gravity - D. Van Skiver

The Old 97’s are back – sort of. In the sense that they released their first
album of new material in four years last month, they’re back. In the sense
that front man Rhett Miller seems to have, at least temporarily, gotten the
solo pretty-boy pop star thing out of his system, they’re back. In the sense that
their last CD left something to be desired, they’re sort of back.

Miller and his band mates spent the 90’s crawling their way up the indie
ladder one solid, amazing record at a time. It didn’t hurt that they quickly
ascended to the top of the alt. country ladder and were often mentioned in
the same breath, and seen on the same stage, as Wilco and Whiskeytown. By
the time of 2001’s Satellite Rides, they’d largely left the country part behind,
and it really looked like they could conceivably be the next big thing. But then
came a three-year hiatus between albums, during which Miller put out a mediocre
solo record, followed by Drag It Up, a collection of three or four stellar songs
amidst a sea of filler. Another Miller solo record followed, along with two
97’s releases – a hits package and a double live CD, neither of which featured a note of new music.

Miller’s songwriting sounds more like the Old 97’s these days and less
like the frosted-haired crooner he’s been impersonating for the last few
years. His lyrics are, as always, witty and clever, and his vocals sound as
good as ever, especially on "Early Morning" and "The Fool”. Speaking of
getting things out of their system, those who scratched their
heads at Drag It Up’s “Coahuila” will be happy to know that guitarist Ken Bethea
isn’t singing lead on Blame it on Gravity.

Bassist Murray Hammond delivers only one lead vocal here, breaking the two-song
tradition they’ve followed for years, and the record suffers a bit for it. Hammond
has a knack for writing songs that sound as though they were written decades ago
without sounding like he’s trying to be hip and retro. His offering here, “This Beautiful Thing”,
isn’t as memorable as “Up the Devil’s Pay” or “West Texas Teardrops”, but it’s still Murray, and
that’s never a bad thing.

Blame it on Gravity finds the band sounding much more like Satellite Rides, with
just enough poppy hooks to rope you in without overdoing it. There are, unfortunately,
no “Time bombs” or “Barrier Reefs” here, but there are 13 solid songs and the band sounds
fresher than they did four years ago. There are even a few, such as “Dance With Me”,
the first single, that call back to their late 90’s sound, and that’s also never a bad thing.