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Classic Rock MagazineDec 17, 2014The songs are deceptive, displaying a rare sense of craft and erudition. [Oct 2014, p.94]
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Jul 21, 2014Sure, the twitchy alienation of their earliest records is long gone, but the Old 97's are still fighting the good fight against respectability.
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Q MagazineJul 11, 2014What makes Most Messed Up stand out is that Miller's self-aware enough to play with those cliches. [Aug 2014, p.112]
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May 30, 2014Past its christening Dylanesque by way of Todd Snider – Miller echoing Tom Petty's hard consonants – it's all lyrically downhill across party anthems ("Wasted"), fuck songs ("Let's Get Drunk & Get It On"), drug shrugs ("The Disconnect") and antidotes ("Intervention"), plus a token "This Is the Ballad."
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May 5, 2014Those who soak up the sex-addled, beer-swilling rockstar lifestyle will find plenty of kinship with Most Messed Up, but don’t for a second call it their best work though, it’s far too narrow to be given that glory.
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May 1, 2014Most Messed Up hardly reinvents the wheel, but it is pure unadulterated joy to listen to.
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May 1, 2014For all of its aggression and bluster, for all of its profane proclamations, and for all of Miller’s possible motivations and hang-ups, the end result is still an Old 97’s record.
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Apr 29, 2014The result is a cathartic, punk-rock stomper of a record, and perhaps the first in the band’s catalog to accurately capture their sweatbox live performances.
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Apr 29, 2014The songwriting is solid, and for those who enjoy a good rehab tune like “Intervention” or the lure of the forthcoming party and catastrophe that “Wheels Off” promises, this record won’t disappoint.
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Apr 29, 2014A rollicking set that nearly two decades in, stands as some of the Old 97’s finest and most exhilarating music.
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Apr 29, 2014On this most Old 97's-ish of Old 97's LPs, the hard-partying twang-punk quartet throw a 20th-birthday bash for themselves.
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Apr 28, 2014Most Messed Up is a full-blown, album-length expression of the Old 97s’ vintage, railroad-beat careen stripped of all embellishments.
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Apr 28, 2014Sometimes a willingness to toss off responsibility once in a while is a sure sign of maturity, and if you want to hear a golden example of this thinking in action, the Old 97's have one for you with Most Messed Up.
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Apr 28, 2014Recorded mostly live off the floor, and full of loose, garage rock accents and playfully shambling flourishes, everything about Most Messed Up feels exquisitely messy.
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UncutApr 28, 2014This study of youthful misadventures gives the 97's ample opportunity to re-immerse themselves in the punk-fuelled exuberance they brought to the alt-country movement two decades ago. [Jun 2014, p.82]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 5 out of 7
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Mixed: 2 out of 7
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Negative: 0 out of 7
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Mar 20, 2015
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May 8, 2014