Album: The Instigator
Year: 2002
. . .
Since the turn of the century, Stuart Ransom Miller has been supplementing his main gig of being the front-person of the still-mighty Old 97’s with a series of solo albums that — with one exception — are entitled “The ________.”
For the most part, these albums let Miller explore song styles — quieter or poppier — that wouldn’t quite fit with the more meat-and-potatoes rock that the Old 97’s specialize in. And because Miller is such a great songwriter in any vernacular, twenty years into the 2000’s, Miller has produced one of the greatest and most rewarding discographies in the century.
The first of the solo albums was a big, splashy affair called The Instigator, produced by Jon Brion, who at the time had made a name producing folks like Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple and Robyn Hitchcock as well as shittons of session and film soundtrack work.
The best of the tracks on The Instigator was the multi-hooked break-up songs “Things That Disappear” which opens with a glorious “uh-uhhhhhh-uh-uhhhhhhhhhhhhh” vocal hook that’s doubled by an electric guitar, and chorus that quotes a future Certain Song by Van Halen.
She don’t wonder anymore cause she knows what love is for
I know it might sound weird but all of these things here
Are things that disappear
I know it might sound weird but all of these things here
Are things that disappear
Alternating between Miller singing over an acoustic guitar and a big widescreen production — Brion adding occasional strings, backing vocals and guitar licks — and builds by drummer ringer Josh Freese, “Things That Disappear” takes on an almost quiet grandeur, peaking when they stick the “uh-uhhhhhhhh-uh-uhhhhhh” hook into the chorus, just like you hoped they would.
“Things That Disappear”
“Things That Disappear” live in 2002 (w/ Jon Brion)
“Things That Disappear” Rhett Acoustic during COVID quarantine, 2020
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