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Rhett Miller - Rhett Miller
| Popmatters |
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I better just fess up right from the start, so here goes: There is no way that anything I’m about to write regarding Rhett Miller’s self-titled solo album will adequately convey the way harmony and heartache meet with sharp wit, sweet woe and sly wordplay over a magnificent mixture of power pop hooks, harder rock riffs and tender folk ballads to perform the musical alchemy currently streaming from my speakers. But I can tell you that this record is wreckin’ me like a high speed chase on a hairpin turn! Now in the interests of converting casual gawkers, comforting concerned supporters, assuring Miller’s admirers and generally pausing passers-by—and because it’s my job as your reviewer—I will attempt to explain why my soul skidded out on these sounds and how, now, my heart is a heap of hot metal on the side of the highway....full text |
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| Pastemagazine |
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On Rhett Miller’s fourth solo album, the former Old 97’s frontman once again remembers bitter valentines, exposing his battered heart in a collection of ambiguous love songs that replays the age-old war of the sexes with new language and a new outcome. The difference: The female always comes out the victor. "I’ll take a beating, and you’ll take a bath,” he complains on lead track “Nobody Says I Love You Anymore,” while the heroine in “Caroline” has a “hot blood heart made of stone.” “Take my hand darling / Don’t squeeze my fingers so hard / We’re off to a curious start,” he wryly observes in this rather confusing song of longing and self-castigation that eloquently restates the famous Pogo quote: “We have met the enemy and he is us.” This is a stance Miller has long occupied over the arc of his career—despite his stunning good looks, model wife and one-time scholarship to Sarah Lawrence. While it might be an uncomfortable state of mind for the musician, it makes for some compelling tunes here....full text |
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| Slantmagazine |
| Rhett Miller is an extraordinarily talented slacker. Since 2000's Satellite Rides, the best of his pop output with the Old 97s, Miller's band has issued three good-but-not-great attempts at striking a balance between power-pop and the more raucous brand of roadhouse punk that they perfected on 1997's Too Far to Care. In the same amount of time, Miller has released three solo albums mining essentially the same territory. It might seem unfair to accuse such a prolific songwriter of underachieving, but Miller's ability to write a better than average album without breaking a sweat becomes disconcerting when one acknowledges that the man can turn out classics when he actually applies himself. On his self-titled solo album, Miller plays by the numbers, with consistent results, but one wishes he'd aim for the high standards set by his own best efforts....full text |
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