By Paul Iiams
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thursday September 26, 2002
The Instigator
Rhett Miller, front man of alt-country favorites Old 97s, makes a solid, if not spectacular, foray into solo waters with his debut album The Instigator.
Where Miller is successful in the album is when he stays close to those alt-country roots that have made the 97s so popular. Songs such as "Our Love" and "Terrible Vision" show Miller's ability to take a stale genre such as country and freshen it up. Miller's vocals and acoustic guitar playing gives the twist needed to make somebody want to go out and buy a cowboy hat.
Unfortunately, The Instigator fails to stick to these roots throughout the entire album. Intermittently there are songs that can best be described as "pop-lite," which only serves as a detriment to the rest of the album.
The featured song, "Come Around," is the first of such songs. Absent are the ever-so-slight twangs from Miller's guitar that make his other songs unique. "Come Around" could have been sung by nearly anybody, and that isn't a compliment.
It is understandable that during a first solo effort, you would want to try something different ö something to establish yourself as an individual entity. But for Miller, sticking to his roots would probably be the best idea, because his "unique" sound isn't anything special.
