The Gobblers Knob

I posted some thoughts on Slobberbone’s Everything You Thought Was Right Was Wrong Today album a couple of weeks back, and it got me to thinking about other CD’s that were released earlier in the decade that aren’t getting as much “Best of” love as I think they should receive. This isn’t a formal poll or rankings, but I might have one or two more albums to mention in this realm before the years up. The record that popped up into my brain earlier today is another album from a band that has ties to the Dallas area, 2001′s Satellite Rides from The Old 97′s.

While last year’s Blame It On Gravity saw Rhett Miller and gang make a sort of return to their alt-country roots, Satellite Rides showcased their ability to craft catchy rocks songs that featured little twang and still possessed a good amount of swagger. While many folks will point to the acoustic sing-along of “Question” as the album’s showcase track, I will suggest that the album is best summed up with the opening number, “King of All the World”. Miller’s trademark smooth vocals, Ken Bethea’s blistering guitar and Phillip Peeples propulsive time-keeping are all mightily present and accounted for, before you even get to tracks#2, the equally catchy “Rollerskate Skinny”.

Many fans bemoaned the further departure from the band’s sonic origin at the time, even though many of the tracks from this disc have become live-show staples and are greeted with a level of applause that matches the favorites from Too far To Care and other earlier albums. I didn’t have a problem then and have grown to appreciate what this record provides even more almost 10 years later. At the time, The 97′s were signed to the big-time Elektra label, and were able to expand their sound and grow as a band while perhaps trying to enlarge a fan-base that would possibly elevate them into the household-name status that seemed to be just at their fingertips while they were with Elektra. Contemporaries such as Son Volt, Whiskeytown, The Jayhawks, Bottle Rockets and other like-minded acts from the mid to late-nineties continued to either put out similar sounding, if not quality, albums or broke-up altogether. The Old 97′s switched things up and indeed struck while the major-label iron was hot for the sake of giving their fans something they didn’t know they wanted at the time, but are most likely glad the band knew what they were doing.

LISTEN: The Old 97′s – “King of All the World” (via Last.fm)

LISTEN: The Old 97′s - “Rollerskate Skinny” (via Last.fm)

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