The Wake CMFT review

[torethatbridgeout]

The Wake is an independent monthly student magazine (on newsprint) at the University of Minnesota. Do not ask me why it is called the Wake. I only wonder why Westerberg hasn't written a song about a wake. Also, it's different from The Rake, another monthly Minneapolis magazine that Paul's sis writes a column for. But with no further ado, except to let you know that you're in for the first CFMT review to mention both leiderhosen and Mike Tyson, here it is:

Paul Westerberg
Come Feel Me Tremble
[Vagrant]
 
By Frederic Hanson
  
Finally, Paul Westerberg gets it right. After spending the nineties churning out puke-tastic ballads, the Minneapolis born 'n' bred icon has rediscovered his roots with Come Feel Me Tremble. No, Tremble does not sound like a Replacements album, and no, it’s not without its’ droopy balladry. But that doesn’t matter. After all, it’s been more than a decade since the demise of The Mats, and Westerberg is no longer a picture of carefree, youthful ignorance.
Rather, he appears to be a comfortably retrospective aging rock star. From the spastic rave-up of “My Daydream,” to the haunting sadness of “Never Felt like This Before,” Tremble exudes the dualism that has come to define Westerberg’s career. A constant battle between young and old, the album encapsulates Westerberg’s middle-aged reality. “Knockin’ Em Back” sounds like gramps’ favorite lederhosen-shakin’ polka after an assault by The Sex Pistols, and epitomizes Westerberg’s aging take on youthful tendencies. “Dirty Diesel and “Making Me Go” churn with a bite that Mike Tyson would envy, while the tortured delivery in “Meet Me Down The Alley” recalls gut-wrenching emotion only Westerberg can strum up. Fittingly, this contrasting portrait of young and old is rounded out with Jackson Browne’s own take on aging, “These Days.” As for Paul Westerberg, it seems that these days he’s not bothered by the shadows of his prolific past as he reinvents himself for the future.

wakenews.org/snv/PaulWesterberg/index.html

[ClamsCasino]

So if he likes "Never Felt Like This Before" and "Meet Me Down the Alley", then where exactly is the "droopy balladry" that he's talking about?

[torethatbridgeout]

Maybe they're so droopy they're puke-tastic

I don't know, Meet Me Down the Alley is pretty much the definition of droopy balladry. Only part I really get into is when he knocks the suburbs.

[ClamsCasino]

Hm, I think "Meet Me Down The Alley" is easily the strongest ballad he's written in years. On the other hand, I think that "Never Felt Like This" is as droopy as they come and should have definitely been left off the album.

[torethatbridgeout]

To each his or her own.

But I like NFLTB for not trying any harder than it does, for pouring heavyweight emotion that at least half the listeners will wretch at, into the tiniest most meager sonic container possible.

Whereas MMDTA has the bellowing voice and the resounding strumming and it's all fitted out for meeting the fans, and yet feels a little hollower for it.

[A Regular]

NFLTB sounds to me like its only an intro to the full song, and somewhere down the line a reprise will pop up. But I also felt the sameway about Eyes Like Sparks... where is the rest of the song?