I love the Old 97 s! - You can t beat this CD. If you like rockabilly and the Old 97 s this is a great collection of some of their best work, in my opinion.
I agree - more of a sampler than a best of - I agree with Ryan, any one of the 97 s albums could be a best of on its own. These guys continue to produce consistently moving and fun albums. But if you are starting out, or if you want some of the songs you can t get anywhere else, buy this album. You will be glad you did.
I m sick of the old 97 s - Bought this for my husband and he absolutely loves it. I m sick of hearing this everytime we get into the car but he enjoys it so.Highly recommend.
This is the Best of the Old 97 s - If you have ever heard an Old 97 s song, and have liked that Alt/Country/Rock sound. This CD is a good choice. My personal favorite song is,TimeBomb. The songs are well written and performed. Its a different kind of music to listen to. But it is something to check out if you ve never tried it. I don t know how anyone can listen to Top 40, other than 12 year old girls! So if you appreciate good solid music, this is something to check out.
More of a Great Sampler than a Greatest Hits Collection - I ve been a fan of Old 97 s for a while now, so it s easy for me to recommend Hit By a Train: The Best of Old 97 s. The only problem I m having is trying to figure out exactly why this is considered a best of. Quite frankly, each of their albums stand quite well on their own, and in many ways equals the overall quality of this collection. There are a few songs here that I personally would not have included, (their rendition of El Paso, for instance), while there are plenty of songs from each studio album whose inclusion would have been easily justified (Wreck Your Life s W-I-F-E and The Other Shoe, and Too Far to Care s Streets Where I m From, for instance). Nevertheless, Hit By a Train is an entertaining listen from start to finish. In that sense, this is more of a sampler than a collection of their best hits.Miller has a tendency toward song-title puns that don t do justice to the songs themselves (Cryin Drunk, Crash on the Barrelhead - not included here), but this only points out his self-consciously clever way with a phrase. The band has obviously mastered the two-step `train beat (3 tracks here) and the hard-bouncing Texas shuffle (which accounts for eight of the CD s eighteen tracks), but it s Miller s lyrics that keep you coming back for more, even after repeated listens. Miller s albums as a solo artist certainly hold up well, but it s his work with Old 97 s that is most effective, which is why this collection works as well as it does. How can you not love an album containing Barrier Reef, Lonely Holiday, Jagged and Victoria, all on the same disk? Hit By a Train encapsulates some of the band s best moments, and hardcore fans of the band will want this if only for the non-album tracks (the above-mentioned El Paso and Cryin Drunk), but casual fans would do well to continue exploring their catalog further. A- Tom Ryan