Old 97s
Fight Songs
(Electra)
The theme is love. The band is competent.
The singer is unremarkable. And the songs are the best bunch start to finish I've heard this
year. The net result is pure pop for pre-millennial romantics, and boy does it sneak up on you.
How did Rhett Miller and his cronies pull off this relative coup after previous attempts at
undistinguished alt-country?
Maybe they decided Wilco knew something that Son Volt didn't, and
that The Notorious Byrd Brothers was Truth itself. Whatever it was that kick-started
their tune muse, I find myself irresistibly attracted to no less than nine of the 12 songs here,
and the
few that don't have me by the throat don't make me pine for the
others when
they're playing. There are some bitter moments here
-- lines like "I've thought so
much about suicide/Parts of me have already died" have more emotional heft than anything
Jeff Tweedy's pumped out -- but the air of doomed relationships never overwhelms the pure joy
of four guys stretching their chops
and ripping through what may well prove their
masterpiece.
Rating: 9
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