Blame It on Gravity [LP]

Performer: Old 97's
Distributor: RED Distribution

Notes: Coming nearly four years after 2004's rough-edged DRAG IT UP, BLAME IT ON GRAVITY is slightly smoother-sounding, but still nowhere near slick. Rhett Miller and company, as always, are blending country twang and a rock-&-roll heart on their seventh album, but overall these 13 tracks lean a bit more towards the latter. The straightforward pop of "Rise" sits comfortably alongside the Latin-tinged shuffles of "She Loves the Sunset" and "Dance With Me," and the rollicking gallop of "Early Morning" is a nice balance to the winsome jangle pop of "This Beautiful Thing." Other highlights include the lengthy pure -country ballad "The Color of a Lonely Heart Is Blue" and the sparkling pop of the anthemic "My Two Feet."

Rolling Stone (p.72) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "It's a perfect mission statement form four Texans raised on the Beatles and Johnny Cash in equal measures, whose shiny melodies, and fatalistic character studies, do their forefathers proud." Spin (Vol. 116, No. 2008-06-01) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Their seventh studio album bucks and chugs, balancing the quartet's original alt-country impetus with Rhett Miller's love of power pop." Uncut (p.98) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "The tracks explode with immediacy, as Rhett Miller's detail-rich narratives mesh with the knowingness of his singing. The players' tight grip on the material reveals a first-rate band in peak form." CMJ - "Here, budget-poor anthems are buried in analog-studio crud, dusty mixing board fuzz and desert-oasis echo. They've never sounded more Texas." Paste (magazine) (p.69) - "Miller, wit firmly intact, contributes 11 of his smartass, lovelorn pop nuggets on this record, and bass player Murry Hammond piles on with a letter-perfect Buddy Holly tribute."

Old '97s are one of the key bands from the second (post-Uncle Tupelo) wave of alt-country. The Dallas natives made several albums' worth of fine, twang-filled rock music before abruptly switching gears for 1999's FIGHT SONGS and 2001's SATELLITE RIDES, albums that owe more to Matthew Sweet than to Merle Haggard. The band returned to a rootsier sound on subsequent albums, although front man Rhett Miller's solo work, particularly 2005's THE BELIEVER, remained steeped in pop tradition.

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