Here's the review that ran with the article from the Dallas Morning News
Fight Songs' takes a different
track
04/29/99
Fight Songs is the sound of the Old 97's
learning
new tricks while keeping their dignity
intact ... most
of it, anyway.
When they temper their twang with shiny
pop-rock, they score mixed results:
"Murder (or
Heart Attack)," the CD's first single,
is generic
radio filler, but "19" is a wonderful
chunk of ear
candy straight out of A Hard Day's Night.
But most of the group's other
experiments are right
on target. "What We Talk About," a
Latin-tinged
shuffle in the mode of Fastball's "The
Way," is the
perfect showcase for Ken Bethea's soulful
Tex-Mex guitar fireworks. The autoharp-laced
"Busted Afternoon" is the best song Ray
Davies
never wrote, and Murry Hammond's CD-closing
"Valentine" is an uncut folk gem.
Producer Andrew Williams applies a
high-gloss
finish to most of the CD, but don't be
put off by the
sheen. The Old 97's still throw plenty of
bare-knuckle punches on Fight Songs.
- Thor Christensen
