After last month's incredible release from The Promise Ring, and now the Get Up Kids On A Wire, we have all the evidence we need to declare Emo a completely obsolete and meaningless musical classification. The only people who ever needed the stupid "genre-term" were journalists and record store employees, and no one hates the term more than the bands that pigeon-holed into the Emo file. Though Matt Pryor of the Kids doesn't mind it as much as some, he always considered his band to be a Midwestern rock and roll band. He's right, On A Wire sounds like the natural successor to Tom Petty or The Replacements, with the song-oriented pop-smarts of Wilco or Fountains of Wayne. In fact it has more in common with the Old 97's 2001 Alt/Country masterpiece Satellite Rides.

Three years in the making, On a Wire was produced by Scott Litt (R.E.M. Nirvana) who has stripped down their sound and put the emphasis on the strong songwriting. The songs are mostly spare, and acoustic with the occasional jangle, and definitely a step beyond their former guitar-driven outings. The Kids are alright and just about as good as it gets.