|
|
Post by deebee76 on Apr 21, 2005 10:22:31 GMT -5
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The title of this nearly-hits set is so awful it couldn't be better suited to the ex-Replacements front man who earned it. Since striking out solo with a pair of prophetically glossed-up songs on the Singles: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2002), Paul Westerberg has alternately struggled to shake-off and reclaim the punk urgency of his former band. He has failed at every turn. Whether by destiny or design is an entirely different matter. This collection focuses primarily on his major label output - before he headed for the basement and started making scratchy blues records - meaning it primarily focuses on Paul Westerberg: The Rod Stewart Years. It's not a good sign that among the rarities here, one song appeared on bargain-bin filler Melrose Place: The Music ("A Star Is Bored") and another on Friends: Music From The TV Series ("Stain Yer Blood"). Fortunately, there are just enough traces of that whiskey-soaked heartbreak in tracks like "World Class Fad" and "It's A Wonderful Lie" to remind us why Paul mattered in the first place. --Aidin Vaziri
|
|
|
|
Post by ElegantMule on Apr 21, 2005 10:25:16 GMT -5
I am going to go break something.  |
|
|
|
Post by deebee76 on Apr 21, 2005 10:35:09 GMT -5
Seems a lot of writers really get into the whole 'trying to recapture the 'mats spirit, failing at every turn' kind of thing. I often wonder how much post-Replacements Westerberg material they've even heard. It wouldn't be a stretch to assume that most of these writers are simply 'towing the company line', in that they haven't really bothered to check any of the records out, but they know they can get away with saying he's awful "just because". It's a lacklustre effort on these writers' behalf in most cases. People in the know will tell you how good the solo records have been, especially the recent spurt from 2002 onward, but many of the writers haven't bothered to get past the first couple of so-called 'glossed over' albums. Their loss... As far as the "Rod Stewart years" comment goes, the writer should have clarified what he really intended to say there. He could've been refering to Stewart's Mercury Records years, which were classic rock recordings. If he'd said "the Rod Stewart post-1976 years" it would've been more instantly understandable to the general record buying public... "This collection focuses primarily on his major label output - before he headed for the basement and started making scratchy blues records...." Yup, that's exactly what has happened. He took off for the basement 10 years ago and now makes all kinds of scratchy blues records.  Okay, glad to get this stuff off my chest, that's my rant for today!  |
|
|
|
Post by cellarfullofnoise on Apr 21, 2005 10:35:54 GMT -5
Man, that sounds like an awful record. Maybe I won't be buying it after all ... certainly not on Amazon.com anyhoo
Actually I kind of like that review. I don't agree with more than two or three words of it, but I like it.
|
|
Brad
Star Scout
Posts: 364
|
Post by Brad on Apr 21, 2005 13:20:57 GMT -5
If Aidin Vaziri hates the solo stuff soo much why the f*ck did he review this? He had to take a swipe at the title as well as the songs too. What a douche.
I don't know I trust anyone whose last name sounds like a male enhancement drug.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kathy on Apr 21, 2005 13:34:04 GMT -5
Once again, it's just a bad review -- not in the sense of being a negative review, but in the sense of being a poorly executed review.
For example, what does it matter if "Stain Yer Blood" appeared on a "Dynasty" soundtrack if it's a good song? That's not a valid criticism.
And assigning someone to review a best of cd by an artist they believe has "failed at every turn" for the last 14 years...well, there really wasn't much doubt as to what the review would be like, was there? It would be like asking me to review Britney's Spears Greatest Hits CD - I didn't like any of the songs the first time around, so just putting a select few on another CD isn't going to change my mind.
And there's the obligatory mention of booze ("whiskey-soaked heartbreak") with the usual implication that it's the booze that fuels Paul's best songs.
I don't normally say when I have stuff ahead of time but I finally popped Bersterberg into the CD player in the car this morning and I liked it alot. I got a new appreciation for some songs hearing them in that context -- I'm always gonna FF thru "A Star is Bored" though.
The alt version of "Once Around The Weekend" is the standout of the 3 'new' tracks IMO. Slow and twangy, I really like it.
"C'mon Little Bitch" aka "C'mon C'mon C'mon" is a rocker as you would expect, "All That I Had" is a wistful ballad.
|
|
Monkey
Beagle Scout
Ninja Republican
Everybody dance like there's ass in your pants
Posts: 2,438
|
Post by Monkey on Apr 21, 2005 14:15:03 GMT -5
The alt version of "Once Around The Weekend" is the standout of the 3 'new' tracks IMO. Slow and twangy, I really like it. "C'mon Little Bitch" aka "C'mon C'mon C'mon" is a rocker as you would expect Oh man I can't wait to hear these. |
|
angela
Beagle Scout
smoochies to you.
Posts: 1,110
|
Post by angela on Apr 21, 2005 14:32:09 GMT -5
Okay, the Rod Stewart line made my laugh. But otherwise I just let out a string of expletives while reading that.
|
|
PWIG
First Class Scout
Chasing middle age, I'm pacing in my cage tonight
Posts: 101
|
Post by PWIG on Apr 21, 2005 16:42:19 GMT -5
Vaziri, pictured below, has written for many fine journalistic institutions besides Amazon.com. These include San Francisco Chronicle, Rolling Stone, Spare Change Newspaper, Vibe, Crackwhore's Weekly, Guitar Player, The Living On the Street Journal, Playboy, E! Online, etc.  |
|
|
|
Post by cellarfullofnoise on Apr 21, 2005 17:10:41 GMT -5
That photo was taken just after Paul stepped over him into a club on the Eventually tour. Hence the review ...
|
|
Jay
Dances With Posts
Posts: 49
|
Post by Jay on Apr 25, 2005 20:39:45 GMT -5
Yet another Peter Pan complex-burdened idiot who is neither willing to forgive Paul for the fact that the 'Mats broke up a decade and a half ago, nor capable of accepting the fact that Paul hasn't remade Tim for the past 21 years.
Well, f*ck you, Aidin Vaziri. You and the horse you rode underneath.
|
|
|
|
Post by paulie on Apr 29, 2005 13:41:38 GMT -5
some people just don't get it.
and this clown probaly never gets it.
|
|
|
|
Post by paulie on Apr 30, 2005 11:30:06 GMT -5
what kind of writer has so little substance he has to take a swipe at the Title?
|
|
Smoo
Beagle Scout
Posts: 2,394
|
Post by Smoo on May 2, 2005 11:41:33 GMT -5
I looked up some of his other reviews just to get a feel for what Vaziri likes and dislikes. I found six reviews that he did. Five were positive Marianne Faithful, Beck, Oasis, Kylie Minogue, and Jack Johnson. The other was neither positive or negative and that was for Seal.
Clearly he has the intelligence of a pure-bred Irish Setter after a horrible garage door accident involving most of the cranium.
|
|
|
|
Post by scoOter on May 3, 2005 16:15:51 GMT -5
*hatred rising*
|
|
|
|
Post by snickers on May 3, 2005 17:03:47 GMT -5
vaziri writes a weekly interview segment for the s.f. chronicle called "pop quiz"....
he gets tons of mail, some good but mostly bad, for the questions he asks and the irreverent attitude he has towared the interviewees.
i think he was even hired as a reviewer for about two weeks, until people began complaining that he failed to actually write a meaningful review that was based on the merits (or lack of) of the actual recording he was reviewing.
i am pretty sure he did a "pop quiz" segment with paul around the time of stereo/mono that was interesting, and more revealing than many things i've read about him.
here is a link to that:
[ftp]http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/04/28/PK161036.DTL[/ftp]
|
|
|
|
Post by landshark on May 5, 2005 10:43:23 GMT -5
Interesting link, easyheart.
Vaziri is a show-off with an axe to grind. This kind of thing wouldn't matter much if it appeared in the pages of SF Chronicle, but it's too bad it's on Amazon. Maybe we all should post more thoughtful reviews at Amazon after the thing comes out.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kathy on May 5, 2005 11:02:32 GMT -5
I remember that for the Winona quote but this was a good one too:
"And now I see the trees as I'm about to hit them and then I hit them anyway."
|
|
jlsgli
First Class Scout
I'm the dog who's broken from my leash
Posts: 269
|
Post by jlsgli on May 5, 2005 20:14:01 GMT -5
i know this thread is a little old ,but just browsing i came upon it read it ,and thought who does this guy think he is! critic's thats why i never listen to them ,i'll be my own critic. thank you .if i listened to critic's i would have never bought sucaine grat.probably some of pauls best work! and what is amazon's stock worth now? i wonder why!
|
|
|
|
Post by brianlux on May 7, 2005 16:25:58 GMT -5
The iconoclastic writer, Edward Abbey, once said "I've never read a review of one of my books I couldn't have written better." Paul's response to this review, if any, would probably be to write yet another great song!
|
|
