Old 97's Live

Starring:Old 97's
Studio: New West Records
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Old 97's Live underscores how one of the premier alt-country, No Depression bands of the 1990s has become a truly eclectic, power pop quartet with a gritty folk heart and penchant for lyrical mischief. ("You're a bottle cap away / From pushing me too far.") Drawing from each of their six albums, Old 97's brought the crowd at Santa Monica's Troubadour club to visible delirium at a March 2004 show; that concert appears here. Sounding very much like hard-charging heirs to vast legacies of the Kinks, Hank Williams, the Replacements, Johnny Cash, REM, and even White Album-era Beatles, singer-songwriter-guitarist Rhett Miller, drummer Philip Peeples, lead guitarist Ken Bethea, and bassist Murry Hammond paint loss with rootsy-poetic authenticity while blowing gloom apart with punky exhilaration. The many highlights include the agreeable pop plaint "Rollerskate Skinny" ("I believe in love / But it don't believe in me"), the anthemic anti-anthem "Friends Forever," and Hammond's moving, acoustic solo on "Valentine." --Tom Keogh
Description
The first Live DVD from Old 97's. Recorded at The Troubadour in Los Angeles in March 2004.

Amazon.com

Old 97's Live underscores how one of the premier alt-country, No Depression bands of the 1990s has become a truly eclectic, power pop quartet with a gritty folk heart and penchant for lyrical mischief. ("You're a bottle cap away / From pushing me too far.") Drawing from each of their six albums, Old 97's brought the crowd at Santa Monica's Troubadour club to visible delirium at a March 2004 show; that concert appears here. Sounding very much like hard-charging heirs to vast legacies of the Kinks, Hank Williams, the Replacements, Johnny Cash, REM, and even White Album-era Beatles, singer-songwriter-guitarist Rhett Miller, drummer Philip Peeples, lead guitarist Ken Bethea, and bassist Murry Hammond paint loss with rootsy-poetic authenticity while blowing gloom apart with punky exhilaration. The many highlights include the agreeable pop plaint "Rollerskate Skinny" ("I believe in love / But it don't believe in me"), the anthemic anti-anthem "Friends Forever," and Hammond's moving, acoustic solo on "Valentine." --Tom Keogh
Description
The first Live DVD from Old 97's. Recorded at The Troubadour in Los Angeles in March 2004.
Track Listing 1 - Just Like California
2 - King Of The World
3 - Weightless
4 - Rollerskate Skinny
5 - Won't Be Home
6 - Smokers
7 - Melt Snow
8 - Wish The Worst
9 - Lonely Boy
10 - Up The Devil's Pay
11 - Friends Forever
12 - The New Kid
13 - Jagged
14 - Four Leaf Clover
15 - Question
16 - Valentine
17 - Murder ( Or A Heart Attack )
18 - Doreen
19 - Big Brown Eyes
20 - Time Bomb
Customer Reviews:

Great DVD of concert at Los Angeles Troubador Club!!!.......2007-01-04
I love this DVD! The Old 97s are one of my three favorite bands, along with the Beatles, and Big Star. These guys are good; I can't believe that they're not a household name like Britney Speers, or the Rolling Stones.

They've never played close to my hometown, that I've noticed anyway, so this may be as close as I get to seeing them live.

The set is excellent, as the band draws material off of their six albums. They have a lot of good songs to choose from to make a set. For those who haven't heard them yet, the Old 97s play a style of music that falls somewhere between the Beatle's British Invasion style and Country & Western. It may sound like an odd combination, but it works a lot better than you may imagine, if you haven't heard them yet. Their recent single disc "Best of" CD "Hit By A Train" could have been a double disc "Best of" collection, easily. They are the best band going today!
It's still the 97's, but..........2006-06-30
DISCLAIMER: I've been a card-carrying, hometown 97's and Rhett Miller fan since 'Hitchhike to Rhome', and have multiple copies of everything they've ever done, yadda, yadda, yadda. Ahem. But apparently the "Shawn Cassidy" rider in Rhett's contract (the one that gave us the cover photo on 'The Instigator') required the incessant, soft-focus-frontman-glam shots that make this DVD hard to watch, frankly (and something - maybe the lighting - doesn't seem right...we're they filmed in the 'Flashdance' studio and spliced in with footage of the rest of the band later?) I now look for 'The Facts of Life' reruns on cable, and turn the sound down, when I play this DVD. That Tootie is such a card!
Great Music; Horrible DVD!.......2006-03-25
Most people writing reviews for this DVD are focusing on the music and performances which I agree are great BUT unfortunately the DVD which I am reviewing was lousy. The editing was extremely ridiculous. You would be hard-pressed to find an instance of an image that lasted more than a second. It was more like 5 per second (OK that may be a slight--VERY SLIGHT-- exaggeration). This a trend in concert video editing that is evident here in the nth degree. Terrible! The images come at you like a machine gun. Please support this band by buying their CDs but unless you have the attention span of a 3-year old on speed skip this DVD.
Lacks Power (Not my favorite mix).......2005-08-02
I was turned on to these guys recently and love To Far to Care, Fight Songs, and Satellite Rides as well as Rhetts solo album. I also had the great pleasure of seeing them live at the 2005 Bonaroo festival and they ROCKED! I immediately bought this live DVD for my collection. I was mildly dissapointed. The song selection is good, especially the acoustic numbers ("valentine" and "question"). The power of the live performance I saw, however, was missing. The guitars and raw manic energy seemed to be mixed to the back and the vocals pushed forward, which makes the 21 song set run long. Whether it was the broken AC at the venue or merely the sound they were looking for for the live record I do not know. But the Old 97's missed the chance to release an awesome rock performance.
These guys are great........2005-05-08
My older brother turned me on to these guys recently, knowing that I'd be into them. Actually, he bought me Rhett Miller's solo cd awhile back and I never really got around to listening to it for whatever reason. Then I was in Borders and saw they had a live dvd out and I thought, what the hell, I'll pick it up and see what they're all about. Well, I've since watched the dvd a good 10 times or so and am also hooked on the Rhett Miller cd as well. Now I just have to go out and buy all the Old 97s albums....because this is great stuff. Hope to catch 'em in concert sometime soon.
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