Old 97's
Blame It On Gravity
Release Date: May 13, 2008
Genre(s): Rock, Alternative, Country
Record label: New West
Music Critic Score
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Album Review: Blame It On Gravity by Old 97's
Excellent, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 4/5
For 15 years, Dallas’s Old 97’s have been blasting out the alt-country tunes, triumphing all over North America. They’ve had a remarkably successful career – at least critically – and their winning streak won’t end with their eighth record. The follow-up to 2004’s Drag It Up is a lively rock and roll affair, to say the least. The disc has plenty of amped-up, distortion-filled moments (Ride, The Easy Way), but the band throws in more than few twangy, laid-back tracks (She Loves The Sunset, The Beautiful Thing).
Opinion: Average
Apparently the Old 97's have found a musical formula that works and won't deviate from it in this lifetime. Why fix what ain't broken? Empirically, there's not much broken here. Blame It on Gravity is a perfectly listenable album, pleasant and upbeat and likely to help sustain the Dallas-bred quartet's reputation as a scorching live band. "The Fool" twists and turns its way from Phoenix, never looking back, while "Early Morning" is a boot-stomping rockabilly romp.