So the new Old 97s record has a lot of hooks, pop or otherwise. I'll
confess that's what hooked me in the first place, on Wreck Your Life and
Hitchhike to Rhome. Rhett's got a knack for writing these infectious
tunes, with smart, witty, generally good-humored wordplay, and then
singing them using the same assets. And while there were some very good
tunes on the third record, to me at least, his writing lost some of its
sunny cleverness. I know "sunnyness" and "good-natured" aren't generally
positive things to say about a band, but, somehow, with "early" Old 97s,
it was refreshing, endearing and just different. The frequently
unhappy or dark topics just add to the creative dissonance. Anyhow, I'm hoping
"Fight Songs" has some of that fresh innocence fueling its pop hooks,
because I like this band a lot.
Yeah, yeah, some of you with large memories will be remembering when I
criticized Chet Atkins' production of Bobby Bare's 60s stuff, because of
the dissonance between the "smooth" production and the grittier vocals and
subject matter. Um, that's different. -- Terry Smith
