There are some beautiful moments of melancholia where the 97's come close to sounding like the band they were before they went pop. "Valium Waltz" is a glorious, spacious Texas waltz, and that leads into the sleepy and tight "In The Satellite Rides A Star." "Adelaide" is pretty, but it seems too by-the-numbers; "Bloomington" feels gimmicky when it shouldn't.
The Old 97's have struggled with Rhett Miller's surprising stardom (a la Phil Collins with Genesis, only without the bald head), and their record company at one point suggested they only wanted to keep Miller on contract and jettison the rest of the band. After three years of turmoil, they come together like a married couple dealing with infidelity. It seems like they tried hard to congeal as a band, but with a batch of reject songs and three years of seething, the best they can do is a bipolar set that shows that they still have potential but need to use it. Maybe the warning to Miller is buried in "The New Kid": Don't get carried away/You will be replaced/You will be replaced....
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Article comments
1 - Bill_mink
Very good review but I must take issue with your 1st sentence. Wilco definitly was moving away from its alt-country roots with each album but they were not moving towards being a standard rock band. The exact opposite is true. With each album Wilco was transforming into an experimental/art-rock/country band. They were dropped by Reprise Records because they were not a standard rock band anymore.
2 - dw
Bill -- good point. I was going to say "towards being Sonic Youth" but chickened out.