39. Old 97's--Fight Songs

 #39: Old 97's--Fight Songs (1999)

Top-Notch Tracks: "Murder (Or a Heart Attack)" (HJ200 #176), "Oppenheimer," "Crash On the Barrelhead," "Let the Idiot Speak"

Album Depth: "Nineteen," "Lonely Holiday," "Indefinitely," "Busted Afternoon," "Valentine," "Jagged"

Weak Links: "Alone So Far," "What We Talk About"

Stand-Out Lyrics: "And the whole, damn, complicated situation could have been avoided if I'd only shut the window."--"Murder (Or a Heart Attack)"

"And the day's gonna be today. And the time is gonna be right now. No, I'm never gonna fall for anyone else but her."--"Oppenheimer"

"We got busted by your mother--though you're 29 years old."--"Indefintely"

"If you don't love me, would you please pretend?"--"Lonely Holiday"

"You're gonna wake up in your shoes, no one you love watching you."--"Crash On the Barrelhead"

Old 97's--Fight Songs

Album Cover: 6 out of 10. Not bad, not great. It's like they went for an extreme close-up of the name of the band, which I guess is better than extreme close-ups of the faces of the band members. (That's what lead singer Rhett Miller goes for on his solo albums, so it could have been much worse.)

Comments: Apparently, alt-country was a thing once. I never really noticed. Me, I prefer pop music and rock music. In fact, the only time I really cared at all about alt-country acts was when they made albums that their alt-country core fans deemed too pop-ish. (Aside from this album, checkout "Smile" by the Jayhawks.)

"Fight Songs" definitely sounds to me like a pop or alternative album, with a few songs with a country edge. "Murder (Or a Heart Attack)" is the band's biggest hit, and hearing it on the radio is what got me to buy the album. (If it had been a few years later, I would have just bought the song and never would have heard the other great songs on the album. Take, for example, the band OK Go. I really, really like several of their songs, but I have never purchased any of their albums. If OK Go had come along a few years earlier, one (or more) of their albums might be on this list.)

"Oppenheimer" is one of my favorite workout songs. If I'm on the elliptical and just not feeling it, I can put on "Oppenheimer" and soon I'll be a sweaty, smiling, exercising fool.

I like the cleverness of the title of "Crash On the Barrelhead." And it wouldn't take much to reimagine "Let the Idiot Speak" into a parody of a certain cretin titled "Let the Idiot Tweet."

Old 97's have released several albums since this one. I bought the next two, ("Satellite Rides" and "Drag It Up,") liking the one, but not the other. (They put out their twelfth album, "Twelfth," in 2020.) Lead singer Rhett Miller also put out several solo albums. I bought the first two ("The Instigator," and "The Believer,") and liked both of them. But, I haven't bought or heard anything new they've done since 2006. That's probably too bad, because there's most likely some really good music in all of the ten or so albums they've released since. I guess that makes me a bit of a hypocrite. I get mad at Billy Joel for not putting out any new music, but when other acts that I like do, I don't pay any attention to it.


Up next: I don't have a middle name. (Not everyone does.)

Comments

  1. darenolsonJuly 5, 2021 at 4:25 PM

    Having never heard an Old 97's album before, I must say that I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the songs. The song quality was consistently high, and the guitar work was just plain fun to listen to. I don't know if I'd call Old 97's "alt-country" or not. I'd say it's more like rockabilly with an hard emphasis on the ROCK. I don't know why, but I found myself imagining that it was the kind of band I'd hear at the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks while sitting next to the Log Lady and, of course, the Log.

    https://youtu.be/Xt4ua_ZNoD0

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

15. Ben Folds--Rockin' the Suburbs

Image
  #15: Ben Folds--Rockin' the Suburbs  (2001) Top-Notch Tracks:  "The Luckiest," [ HJ200  #1,], "Zak and Sara," "Annie Waits," "Still Fighting It," "Fred Jones, Part 2," "Gone," "Rockin' the Suburbs," "Not the Same," "Fired," "The Ascent of Stan" Album Depth:  "Carrying Cathy," "Losing Lisa" Weak Links:  Massive amounts of profanity. Stand-Out Lyrics:  "I don't get many things right the first time. In fact, I've been told that a lot."--"The Luckiest" "Zak called his dad about layaway plans. And Sara told the friendly salesmen that: 'You'll all die in your car. And why's it gotta be dark? And you're all working in a submarine.'"--"Zak and Sara" "Annie waits for the last time. Just the same as the last time."--"Annie Waits" "You want a Coke? Maybe some fries? The roast b...
Read more

42. Daryl Hall & John Oates--Private Eyes

Image
  #42: Daryl Hall & John Oates--Private Eyes  (1981) Top-Notch Tracks:  "Did It In a Minute," "Head Above Water," "Friday Let Me Down," "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)," "Private Eyes" Album Depth:  "Your Imagination," "Tell Me What You Want," "Mano a Mano," "Looking For a Good Sign" Weak Links:  "Unguarded Minute," "Some Men" Stand-Out Lyrics:  "If two can be one, who is the one two becomes?"--"Did It In a Minute" "You've got the body, now you want my soul. Don't even think about it, say no go."--"I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)" "Dial your number. Tape reply. 'I'm not at home right now but leave your name and I will call you Friday night.'"--"Friday Let Me Down" "You're caring too much about what I say. You're wondering too much about what I do."--"Your Imaginat...
Read more

56. L.E.O.--Alpacas Orgling

Image
  #56. L.E.O.--Alpacas Orgling  (2006) Top-Notch Tracks:  "Distracted," "Goodbye Innocence," "You Had Me Going," "The Old College Try" Album Depth:  "Nothing Will Ever Change," "Make Me," "Don't Let It Go," "Sukaz Are Born Every Minute" Weak Links:  "Private Line" Stand-Out Lyrics:  "I can hear the cellos singing, don't know what tomorrow's bringing, I don't mind at all."--"Distracted" "It's a bummer I discovered that my lover has another above her. Did I forget to mention he's a drummer? A drummer!"--"Don't Let It Go" "Another day, another penny--who'd have thought we'd have so many?"--"Make Me" "Alex introduced me to the brother of his roommate Sue, whose friend Marie was kind of sweet on me."--"The Old College Try" "Maybe you're just the fizz in his cheap champagne."...
Read more