Old 97's Live
Old 97's Liveunderscores how one of the premier alt-country, No Depression bands of the 1990s has become a truly eclectic, power pop quartet with a gritty folk heart and penchant for lyrical mischief. ("You're a bottle cap away / From pushing me too far.") Drawing from each of their six albums, Old 97's brought the crowd at Santa Monica's Troubadour club to visible delirium at a March 2004 show; that concert appears here. Sounding very much like hard-charging heirs to vast legacies of the Kinks, Hank Williams, the Replacements, Johnny Cash, REM, and evenWhite Album-era Beatles, singer-songwriter-guitarist Rhett Miller, drummer Philip Peeples, lead guitarist Ken Bethea, and bassist Murry Hammond paint loss with rootsy-poetic authenticity while blowing gloom apart with punky exhilaration. The many highlights include the agreeable pop plaint "Rollerskate Skinny" ("I believe in love / But it don't believe in me"), the anthemic anti-anthem "Friends Forever," and Hammond's moving, acoustic solo on "Valentine."--Tom Keogh