Barely into the second track of Fight Songs the Old 97"s, who"ve made cantankerous sore-heartedness a virtue, sound harmonically mellow and sweet. "Lonely Holiday," on first pass, is edgeless, but then you get "19" and yet more polished eschewal of this old band"s incisive penchant. Does it bring Fight Songs down? A bit, but clean production aside, the Old 97"s show tremendous growth from the scrappy twang of Wreck Your Life and even Too Far to Care. These are pop tunes, no doubt, and the twang might be somewhat eclipsed in spots. Guitarist and singer Rhett Miller"s hardly budged an inch on his confessional pissing and moaning, still keeping it clear that he"s bent out of shape. And the band"s decided to trim its instrumental colors in the production process, which leads to a vaguely compressed feel in the guitars and an even more up-front occasion for Miller to sound off. --Andrew Bartlett