Post by cellarfullofnoise on Jun 23, 2005 2:45:18 GMT -5
I had to register with a godawful Indiana rag for this.
CD Review: Paul Westerberg
www.courierpress.com/ecp/entertainment/article/0,1626,ECP_738_3874384,00.html
By MARK WILSON, Music critic
June 23, 2005
Paul Westerberg
'Besterberg: The Best of Paul Westerberg'
(Rhino)
Introspective singer/songwriter, Voice of a Generation, unrepentant rocker or just a genius gone awry. Since leaving behind his days fronting the Minneapolis punk band The Replacements in the 1980s, Paul Westerberg has been hit with just about every label a music critic might think to throw at him. Westerberg poured so much passion into his songs and his singing during his Replacements years that fans have been reluctant to see him through anything other than the warm glow of yesteryear and such evocative songs as "I Will Dare" and "Here Comes a Regular." If he never writes another pop song as fine as "Alex Chilton" or "Can't Hardly Wait," his light won't be diminished.
So if Westerberg hasn't quite reached those same heights in his solo career, well, he has come close more times than most fans - who would rather see the glass half empty so they can reminisce about The Replacements - are willing to acknowledge. In many ways it's the fans who count, because in recent years Westerberg clearly has stopped worrying about reaching a mass audience, and his music is all the better for it. It's logical then that the Rhino label's "Besterberg" compilation would focus on what the fans want. Although it draws from Westerberg's first five solo albums, nearly half of the 20 songs are hard-to-find non-album tracks, outtakes and even one alternate take.
That makes "Besterberg" an essential purchase for fans but a dicey introduction to a musician whose music is as hard to get a handle on as he is. The CD is heavy on selections from Westerberg's first two albums and includes some fine moments such as "World Class Fad" and "Love Untold," but it's unclear how "Angels Walk" and "Once Around the Weekend" (in an alternate take, no less!) made it on over such essential Westerberg as the poignant "Good Day."
The real revelations for casual CD buyers will likely come with a slim helping of selections from Westerberg's more intriguing later solo albums: "Lookin' Out Forever," "It's a Wonderful Lie," "Let the Bad Times Roll," "What a Day (for a night)" and "High Time" (credited to his thinly veiled alter ego, Grandpaboy).
Recorded with Westerberg playing all the instruments himself and mostly released on the emo/punk label Vagrant, his last few records have succeeded in tapping into a level of feeling that Westerberg hadn't touched with any consistency since his Replacements days. For fans, the real revelation here is how a pair of fantastic unreleased songs ("All That I Had," "C'mon, C'mon, C'mon") from the sessions for his second CD, "Eventually," could have been left off that album in lieu of some of the other more rote material that did make the cut. It would have been a remarkably stronger CD with the inclusion of those two songs.
CD Review: Paul Westerberg
www.courierpress.com/ecp/entertainment/article/0,1626,ECP_738_3874384,00.html
By MARK WILSON, Music critic
June 23, 2005
Paul Westerberg
'Besterberg: The Best of Paul Westerberg'
(Rhino)
Introspective singer/songwriter, Voice of a Generation, unrepentant rocker or just a genius gone awry. Since leaving behind his days fronting the Minneapolis punk band The Replacements in the 1980s, Paul Westerberg has been hit with just about every label a music critic might think to throw at him. Westerberg poured so much passion into his songs and his singing during his Replacements years that fans have been reluctant to see him through anything other than the warm glow of yesteryear and such evocative songs as "I Will Dare" and "Here Comes a Regular." If he never writes another pop song as fine as "Alex Chilton" or "Can't Hardly Wait," his light won't be diminished.
So if Westerberg hasn't quite reached those same heights in his solo career, well, he has come close more times than most fans - who would rather see the glass half empty so they can reminisce about The Replacements - are willing to acknowledge. In many ways it's the fans who count, because in recent years Westerberg clearly has stopped worrying about reaching a mass audience, and his music is all the better for it. It's logical then that the Rhino label's "Besterberg" compilation would focus on what the fans want. Although it draws from Westerberg's first five solo albums, nearly half of the 20 songs are hard-to-find non-album tracks, outtakes and even one alternate take.
That makes "Besterberg" an essential purchase for fans but a dicey introduction to a musician whose music is as hard to get a handle on as he is. The CD is heavy on selections from Westerberg's first two albums and includes some fine moments such as "World Class Fad" and "Love Untold," but it's unclear how "Angels Walk" and "Once Around the Weekend" (in an alternate take, no less!) made it on over such essential Westerberg as the poignant "Good Day."
The real revelations for casual CD buyers will likely come with a slim helping of selections from Westerberg's more intriguing later solo albums: "Lookin' Out Forever," "It's a Wonderful Lie," "Let the Bad Times Roll," "What a Day (for a night)" and "High Time" (credited to his thinly veiled alter ego, Grandpaboy).
Recorded with Westerberg playing all the instruments himself and mostly released on the emo/punk label Vagrant, his last few records have succeeded in tapping into a level of feeling that Westerberg hadn't touched with any consistency since his Replacements days. For fans, the real revelation here is how a pair of fantastic unreleased songs ("All That I Had," "C'mon, C'mon, C'mon") from the sessions for his second CD, "Eventually," could have been left off that album in lieu of some of the other more rote material that did make the cut. It would have been a remarkably stronger CD with the inclusion of those two songs.
