Old 97's - Drag It Up
MusicMash Rating: not rated yet
Rolling Stone Rating: 2
In the three years since old 97's' outstanding Satellite Rides, frontman Rhett Miller put out a slick but lackluster solo album. Now he's back with his cow-punk compadres to muss things up a bit. But Drag It Up is . . . well, kind of a drag. Rather than build on the charging guitars, harmonies and Brit-rock backbeats of Satellite, the band delivers a muddle of average country rock ("Won't Be Home"), early-R.E.M.-style whine ("Smokers") and wobbly, droning sadcore ("Valium Waltz"). It takes half an album for the band to get to the sharp power pop of "The New Kid" and "Bloomington." Miller can still pull off a good caustic one-liner ("You're a bottle cap away from pushing me...
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