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SATELLITE RIDES
Old 97's
Some catchy cordial country rock from a Texas quartet that's more slacker than outlaw, more cut-off than bootcut, more sneaker than roper, more bachelor apartment than barnyard chicken coop and more of what fans of Jr. Gone Wild, Wilco and National Dust need to set their cosmopolitan prairie hearts on fire.
Satellite Rides is a western-tinged album with unlimited and timeless appeal because, unlike so many artists these days, the Old 97's aren't looking for marks for authenticity. The country influence is just an honest one that manifests itself in some extremely cool rock songs.
It could have been punk, glam, Brit pop, funk, ska, classical or whatever. But it's not. It's country music.
And they're not a notable band because they use that influence, but rather how well they use that influence in some already excellent music.
For example, tracks like Rollerskate Skinny, Am I Too Late and Buick City Complex (a sublime small-town come-on song with the sexy-tender line "Do you wanna mess around/I mean deep down in your bones/In hotel swimming pools/On public telephones), would be memorable even without their twang.
The Old 97's prove once and for all what we already should know: You can take the boy out of the country, but you can't, nor should you, take the country out of the boy. (More on: Old 97's).
Track Listing
1. King Of All The World
2. Rollerskate Skinny
3. Buick City Complex
4. Bird In A Cage
5. Up The Devil's Pay
6. What I Wouldn't Do
7. Question
8. Am I Too Late?
9. Weightless
10. Can't Get A Line
11. Designs On You
12. Book Of Poems
13. Nervous Guy