This is my first contact with the Old 97's so I can't compare to other releases which I gather leaned harder to the alt-country sound than this one. The frequently chiming guitars and singalong choruses on many of the songs here make me think of it as more "power pop" than alt-country, though there's enough twang still in evidence to see their roots. "Designs on you" is about a 50/50 synthesis of twang and pop.

HIGHLIGHTS:
"Rollerskate Skinny" lodges its hook in your brain within a few plays. "Question" is little more than Rhett Miller's voice and a guitar and as such it's perfect to capture that moment when you ask someone to share their life with you ("Someday somebody's gonna ask you/A question that you should say yes today/Once in your life/Maybe tonight I've got a question for you"). "Am I Too Late?" appears to be a throwback to the old alt-country song, an uptempo stomper celebrating Rhett's late grandmother. "Can't Get a Line" is the 97's at their most Beatlesque.

LOWS:
Despite the beautiful "ghostly" vocals on the intro and scattered throughout, in the end "Up the Devil's Pay" doesn't have enough lyrical oomph to stick with you. "What I Wouldn't Do" is a pretty good pop song but it feels half-baked. Where are the harmonies on the hook? What should have been Beatlesque just ends up ho-hum.

BOTTOM LINE:
In power pop, you live and die by the choruses. In the end, the number of "can't help but sing along" songs doesn't place this among the upper echelon of power pop, but there's enough to recommend it for power pop fiends. Those who aren't as genre minded will probably find this album to be good but not great.

This album can't hold a candle to thier earlier releases WRECK YOUR LIFE, TOO FAR TO CARE, or HITCHHIKE TO RHOME! This is alt/country/pop. Or poop as I like to call it. Sold the album on ebay! What happened to the real stuff fellas??

Rock-a-billy/blue grass twang rock with an alt pop sensibility.

If you have a rock fan who thinks they could never like country music, this is the disc to prove them wrong. Great songs from the 1st cut to the last.

Sure, hard core Old 97s fans think this is too commercial -- but if it turns you on to their great music (Too Far to Care, Wreck Your Life, Hitchhike To Rhome) then who cares?   

Old 97s vocalist Rhett Miller's also released a solo effort (The Instigator); The single -- Come Around -- was on an episode of Scrubs.

Rhett Miller throws himself into a song and that counts for a lot. Whether trying to convince a girl to "mess around" in Buick City Complex, unable to accept the end of the affair in the CD highlight Bird in a Cage, or eulogizing the life of a grandmother (?) with wonderful pop joy in Am I Too Late, Miller always sounds to me like he has one foot on the verge of ecstasy and the other equally on the verge of desperation. He, or the other members of the band since they share all writing credits, is a quick, intelligent lyricist, who if sometimes allowing himself a soupcon of self-pity always does so with an accompanying wryness. The musicianship on Satellite Rides resembles the rowdy spontaneity of the late Whiskeytown. Which also leads to the aside that Miller is the talent Ryan Adams thinks he is.

CD highlights: Rollerskate Skinny ("ain't nobody gonna see eye to eye/with a girl who's only gonna stand collarbone high"), the aforementioned Bird, Question, Am I Too Late, Weightless and Designs on You. But everything else except Up the Devil's Pay worked for me as well. This is a very strong work and a definite buy.

Those not willing to look outside whatever box they know will never be pleased. On the other hand, music lovers who recognize the axiom that a great song is a great song will have no trouble adjusting here. Govern yourself accordingly.