Old 97's, MOST MESSED UP

Fans of the band Old 97's may feel a little old knowing that the band's been making music for 20 years now, but that hasn't slowed Old 97s down at all.  Most Messed Up is a high-energy blast of their country-rock sound filled with joy, regret, booze, pills, profanity, and wry humor -- and it's their best album since Too Far to Care.

Most Messed Up opens with "Longer Than You've Been Alive," a rambling look at the band's history ("most of our shows have been triumphs of rock/although some night I might have been checking the clock").  From there it's on to the women who got away ("Give It Time," "Guadalahara"), the women who stayed ("Wheels Off") and the mix of women and booze ("Let's Get Drunk and Get It On," "Wasted").  There are songs about our common experiences ("This Is the Ballad") and the title track and album closer, "Most Messed Up," a curse-filled bad-boy track which proudly and drunkenly proclaims "I'm so far gone, I can't ever get down/I am the most messed up motherfucker in this town."

Most Messed Up skips any slow or sentimental songs, going always for volume and bar songs instead.  Rhett Miller's almost-breaking voice fits these tunes perfectly, whether sounding joyful or on the edge of passing about.  The band's twanging guitar and bass all work well together, and the results are a great almost-mess of life in bars and with the wrong women and the right booze.  Most Messed Up is a terrific album, back to the basics of what made Old 97's such a great sound from the start.

Overall grade: A
Reviewed by James Lynch

The Old 97's -- Blame It On Gravity

Ready for some rock-country songs about heartbreak and being unlucky in love? Blame It On Grvaity, the Old 97's first fully new album in four years, has the band doing what they always do, which is also what they do best.

After the too-clever opening track "The Fool," Blame It On Gravity jumps into the losers in love formula that is the bread and butter of the Old 97's. Whether it's a mournful ode to being alone ("The Color of a Lonely Heart Is Blue") or a rough morning after ("yeah I got brains and I got brawn oh but not enough of either one to wanna go on"), these tunes are for someone who missed romance, by design or accident, and wails about it. For this, Rhett Miller's slightly awkward but passionate voice nails the mood perfectly. (The one non-romance song is "Here's to the Halcyon," in which a sea captain with a disreputable past is going down with the ship and bargaining with God. It's a funny piece, finding humor in the contrast between his promises and life: "I'll pore over my Bible and I'll pour out all my gin.")

Blame It On Gravity is an inconsistent album, with some killer tracks and others that fall flat. And while it's not uncommon for a band to tackle the same themes all the time, this album sometimes has music that's extremely similar to older song the Old 97's have done. But there's plenty here that lends itself to multiple listenings, and an average album by the Old 97's is still superior to most music that gets released!

Overall Grade: B

Reviewed by James Lynch