Old 97's: Blame It On Gravity

fungusyoung

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Disclaimer: I've loved this band for about a dozen years now so I'm heavily biased, and I often endlessly ramble on about them.

This new disc is the best thing they've done in years. I'm so psyched to see them in Philly at the end of July- their shows are always great in Philly & NYC, with very nice fan bases in both towns. For those unfamiliar with them, they started out in the early/mid 90's as an alt-country sounding band, but their range has expanded to take on more of a pop rock vibe (they owe a lot to 60's Britpop). Part of this evolution was their frontman, Rhett Miller, becoming an underground pop icon of sorts... he's had a successful solo career on the side for years, but most recently there's been sometimes too much polish & commercial push for my liking. Rhett's one of those male model looking frontmen that would drive me nuts if there was no substance, but I've seen him with Old 97's, solo and a combo of the 2 at least a couple dozen times... and he's the real deal and the 97's are a unique cast of characters.

The new disc is the first to conquer combining their older/more traditional vibe with Rhett's foray into pop. His lyrics were always smart, and that's still the case... the twin Teles on much of this record are fantastic. Plenty of acoustic too.

One of the best 97's shows I ever saw was in Indianapolis back in late '99. They were on a dream alt-country bill with (at the time) a very different sounding Wilco. Old 97's opened, but had a full hour set. They started off with about 25 people in the place, but took no prisoners. I was standing front row/center... and it was incredible to see the place fill up and the crowd being won over with each song they played. By the last 3 or 4 songs, they had almost a thousand people in the place standing up and going nuts... but they brought the goods from song 1 and never let up. Wilco played an amazing show too, but I'll never forget the 97's earning each new person and each new cheer to start things off.

In case this is useless without a photo, this pretty much says it all:

64909346_a6eec51ea1.jpg
 

fungusyoung

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Guildmark said:
Thanks for sharing this, fungie. Geezerness prevents finding newer or lesser-known bands sometimes. Is this one representative?


Yup, bad sound quality aside that's a good example. Can't believe that one is 11 years old now! Their newer stuff is in a similar vain.
 

hideglue

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Is it Old 97's, The Old 97's, or Old 97s? ....or as my better half calls them; Rhett
 

fronobulax

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You might want to go over here and check out Rhett Miller's answer to Question 12.

12. The best thing you ever bought, stole, or borrowed?
My $300 mid-80s Alvarez acoustic six-string guitar. Made in Japan. It sounds better than my Martin, my Gibson, and my Guild. How can that be?

I was doing a little surfing to see if I could figure out what the bass player in the photo at the top of this thread was playing. The binding is too wide for Starfire, the body might be too thin for a Starfire and I've never seen a maple fingerboard on a Starfire but it is interesting, in that one picture anyway.
 

jp

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Hey frono,
It's a Guild. From the wider headstock, I'd guess it's a newer one. Westerly? Corona?
hammond-sfii.jpg
 

fronobulax

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Thanks. The pictured Starfire II could be anytime after 1971. I have not seen enough of the reissues to know what to look for to tell the difference. Interesting that the "original" photo washes out the neck so that it looks like a maple fingerboard. I should have listened to my "It's a Guild" intuition.
 

gilded

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frono,

Murray's bass is a 2nd generation model (newer tuners, newer bridge pieces) from what, the '90's/early 2000s?

A friend of mine has one and it's killer! Great feeling neck, weight, the pickups don't even sound that bad. He put Thomastiks on it - they work really well! I'd get one, but then my '66 SF bass would be mad at me and start sulking........
 
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