cfmt most overlooked

[torethatbridgeout]

The Pulse, an alternative to the alternative free weekly in the Twin Cities, listed PW in its Most Overlooked Music of 2003 feature.

it's not online yet; maybe in a day or two

the print version calls him paul westberg and the cd "cft" but still, it's got an original quote from pw and some spot on paul love

[torethatbridgeout]

www.pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=862

OK, they got it up, and they even changed "Paul Westberg" to "Paul Westerberg" althought it's still "CFT" in the review.

Paul Westerberg – Come Feel Me Tremble (Vagrant)

I’m not going to pretend that Come Feel Me Tremble is even half as good as the double-shot Stereo/Mono career defining effort Westerberg unleashed after coming out of hibernation in 2002—but it doesn’t have to be to still rank among one of his finest records (and therefore one of the best the Twin Cities has to offer).

Masquerading as the soundtrack to Westerberg’s documentary DVD, CFT is in reality an entirely new home studio effort, as Paul explained to me, “I kind of used the whole move thing as an excuse to put out another record without having to get off my ass and tour again.”

Fair enough Paul, no tours will be required if you continue to drop platters like this once a year or so. I’m still confounded by people who claim Westerberg’s best days are behind him and can’t let go of the Replacements legacy. Outside of the seminal Let it Be and Tim, Westerberg’s last three album have been the best he’s ever made—devoid of the ill-fated slick production that marred so much of his late 80s/early 90s production.

The home basement recorded sketches that comprise Come Feel Me Tremble follow in the same first-take-fly-by-the-seat- of-his-cigar-stenched-pants recording aesthetic as Stereo. Westerberg’s disheveled train wreck voice is perfect for the material from the early stompin’ numbers (“Dirty Diesel,” “Making Me Go”) to the later folk-ballad material (“Crackle & Drag,” “Meet Me Down the Alley”).

It’s rather obvious that the lyrics weren’t exactly picked over with a fine toothed comb on the rockin’ numbers (they rarely have any meaning and tend to be repetitive)—but it hardly matters when the songs are this much fun (“My Daydream” may represent Westerberg’s first stab at approximating the Monkees by way of the Clash—and one of the best rockers of his career). Although Paul may not be breaking out all of the big guns for this effort (allegedly saving those for his follow-up this spring, Folker, which Paul describes as “a whole album made up of the songs that people usually like by me”) at least one all time classic snuck its way into the mix—“What a Day for a Night.”

Comprised of all the elements that typically make up a Westerberg winner—a great play on words, a nice bridge and awkward lead guitar heroics—the acoustic 12-string jangle of “What a Day For a Night” will undoubtedly wind up on whatever “best of” sums up Westerberg’s career when Grandpa Boy finally gives up the music making ghost. Forget garage rock—Paul proves the basement is where the magic really happens.

[Billypogo]

I just picked up CFMT. Wow! What a great CD! i just love "knockin' Em Back!