Additional personnel: Mike Campbell (guitar, cello); Benmont Tench (organ, piano); Davey Faragher (bass, bckground vocals); Tommy Stinson (bass); Eddie Bayers, Charlie Drayton, Steve Jordan, Phil Jones, Brian McLeod (percussion);

Kristin Asbury, LP (background vocals).

Engineers: John Morand, Rich Hasal, Mike Snyder.

Recorded at Sound Of Music, Richmond, Virginia; Bearsville Studio, Woodstock, New York; Woodland Studios, Nashville, Tennessee.

Cracker's third album, The Golden Age, was uneven, but it also suffered from bad timing: when it was released in the spring of 1996, the bottom had just fallen out of alternative guitar rock, and Cracker was left without the large audience that made their first two albums hits. Realizing this conundrum, and approaching middle age, frontman David Lowery decided to stop trying to score modern rock hits and simply play for Cracker's fourth album, Gentleman's Blues. Picking up musical cues from Kerosene Hat and the quieter moments of The Golden Age, Lowery and his partner, Johnny Hickman, fall back to their beloved '70s album rock, mixing up blues-rock, hard rock, Southern rock, and Dead-like jams. Apart from Lowery's characteristically quirky, absurdist lyrics, Gentleman's Blues sounds as if it could have been recorded in the early '70s. It does sound as if they no longer care about being contemporary, but their easy charm and shambling delivery are so appealing, it doesn't matter if the album is indeed a retreat. Beneath the surface, however, there's a certain weariness unheard of in earlier Cracker albums. Many of Lowery's songs, such as "Seven Days," have a bitterness that's barely masked by his irony and songcraft. It may be a shock to discover those sentiments lurking behind these appealing songs, but that's what makes Gentleman's Blues worth repeated listens. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Having spent most of the '90s just flying below the radar of what's deemed hip, Cracker blissfully continues down the path of solid songwriting and excellent musicianship on GENTLEMAN'S BLUES. Once again, the band's inspiration comes from all points of the music map. "Seven Days" is a rollicking, road song punctuated by Johnny Hickman's country licks and David Lowery's raspy yelp, while the calliope in "I Want Out Of The Circus" gives it an endearing quirkiness. The weariness reverberating from "Been Around The World" screams Crazy Horse, and "The World Is Mine" has a runaway tempo reminiscent of "Teen Angst," showing these old punks still have some life left in them.

Lowery and Hickman also incorporate the rustic sounds of Appalachian folk and gospel. "James River" walks the same dark path as Nick Cave, whereas the lo-fi-ish "Trials & Tribulations" features fancy fingerpicking and minimal timekeeping. Most impressive is the soulful singing of Kristin Asbury (September 67) and LP (Lionfish). Their spine-tingling contributions on the shimmering redemptive aura of "Hallelujah" just beat out the welcome hidden track "Cinderella," where Cracker backs LP doing her best Janis Joplin.