Old 97’s – Satellite Rides

With each new album, the Old 97’s inject less and less twang into their rambling Texas rock. Or do they?

On their fifth full-length (and third for major-label Elektra), this sly quartet catapults into full-on pop territory, tossing out hooks and flaunting their harmonies, and seemingly edging further from their alt-country foundation. But Rhett Miller is a deceiving songwriter fronting a crafty band, just one of the reasons the Old 97’s have managed to capture mainstream attention while dragging longtime fans along for the ride.

Satellite Rides begins with a rampaging rave-up, “King Of All The World”, which finds Miller revisiting the familiar ground of lovelorn hopefulness and singing giddily about romance. Of course, he’s not a faithful romantic; tracks such as the down-home shuffle “Bird In A Cage” and the pulsing “Rollerskate Skinny” turn a more skeptical eye to love’s mystical powers. It takes Miller a while to sort out his feelings, but when he does, the Old 97’s hammer out a song that’ll fit nicely into their legacy. “Designs On You” settles into a midtempo honky-tonk gait as Miller rhapsodizes over a woman who’s about to marry another man.

With so much pop music and passion bandied about, it takes Miller’s songwriting foil, bassist Murry Hammond, to widen the perspective. On “Up The Devil’s Pay”, Hammond heads straight for the roadhouse, conjuring a heady stomp and crooning about struggling with demons. Hammond’s other contribution, “Can’t Get A Line”, is one of the album’s catchiest tunes, a surging, hypermelodic paean to bad phone connections.

Not to be outdone, Miller counters with a barrage of rootsy numbers, all toward the end of the disc, that glide effortlessly from waltzy ballad (“Weightless”) to guitar workout (“Book Of Poems”, with lead guitarist Ken Bethea summoning licks only available to those possessing a valid Texas driver’s license) to literary love song (“Nervous Guy” the closing track and a clear standout). In short, the 97’s cover all the country bases while adding a bunch more favorites to their growing catalog of could-be hits.