Old 97s - They Made A Monster: The Noise Trade EP

Boy did I used to like me some Old 97s. It's been a hot minute since I've indulged in their live show, but I sure saw a gang of them behind the first handful of records. I'm pretty sure Alex and I were at their first NYC show at Brownies, a show notable both for being pretty aces and for first exposing a potential issue that became a much bigger deal down the line: I go up to Rhett and try to buy a copy of their first Hitchhike To Rhome and he tells me to try Tower, yet when the lovely Alex went up and asked, suddenly one appeared. An eyebrow was raised. Subsequent shows and records were consistently amazing, as were the stories and acts of douchery by a certain band member, but the songs and band were so good, you could almost let it slide.

Recent years have seen said same member desperately trying to leave the band behind for a solo career, attempts that have been met with a staggering amount of indifference by the fans and the odd precedent of Rhett opening his own shows with what I can only assume are his solo songs. Solo aspirations aside, at the end of the day, Old 97s butter the bread and as such the gents are reissuing their aces third record Too Far To Care in expanded form with outtakes and an extra disc of unreleased demo delights. This three song EP has three tracks not on the reissue, two of them unreleased, plus the acoustic demo of Salome. It also happens to be free and pretty decent, so step on over to the Old 97s web presence and grab The Noise Trade EP here.

R

Live: Old 97s at South Street Seaport 7.4.10

It's been a long time since I've seen the Old 97s. It's a shame, as I've seen a ton of their shows and they have been known to be one of my favorite bands. Recent years have found the singer desperately trying to reconcile his solo aspirations against the fact that the band that made him what he is more popular. And just plain better, frankly. I'm not exactly sure what makes the Old 97s records so superior (and truth be told, I think it's been downhill for the last couple of records) but that is the truth, and they do have a host of great songs. They are also pretty damn good live (when both singers care) and when you take all the assholes out of the city and make the show for free, you can pretty much guarantee my presence. And so it was. To sweeten the pot, Eric was in attendance, and Steve and Annie were down from Albany, so things looked promising for a good time.

All in all, it was. The company was good, as was the beer. The whole show was sponsored by Texas On Tour. who brought a small village of Texas-ity to the proceedings with a bunch of stands and the music stage that hosted our heroes. A gent by the name of Ryan Harkrider opened the proceedings in a solo acoustic capacity that garnered little to no love from the Johnsons in our midst. Nothing really caught on for me, either, and I (like many others) failed to snap up one of his free cds, so I guess we'll have to call that a loss. The Old 97s were up in short order, knocking out an hour or so of tunes while we put a dent in the adult beverages. Musically, the cards fell where I suspected they would. The good songs were good and the older ones were somewhat less so. The crowd was pretty receptive for what it was, but either the snore factor of the last couple records or the holiday worked against them. I'd say there were probably 200 in attendance, all told. Works out fine for me, and I'm pretty sure no one was working against draw, so I'd say it was a win all around. Saw Alex (who I saw my first Old 97s show with a million years ago) for the first time in forever, as well as the lovely Juliet of the Unified Scene and was home in the A/C by 10:30, independent of the NYC populace at large. Good times. Thanks to Eric, Steven, Annie and Texas On Tour for an awesome free 4th.

R