Dallas Observer review of Open Season

[kgp]

link

Despite the howling of the legions of fans still hanging on to their inebriated memories of the Replacements, ex-Mats leader Paul Westerberg hasn't made a good solo record since his debut, 14 Songs, way back in 1993. Content to play the recluse, Westerberg has quietly released a whole catalog of unadulterated shit, from the confessional piano dirges of Suicaine Gratifaction to his overhyped and under-rehearsed deluge of recent product such as Stereo, Come Feel Me Tremble and Folker. Passing off riffs as songs has sadly become the norm for a guy who was once (justifiably) considered one of the best songwriters of his generation.

All of which makes Westerberg's significant contributions to the soundtrack of the animated flick Open Season so surprisingly remarkable. Working outside of his house for the first time in ages, Westerberg utilizes a full band as well as a decent studio and regains a spark that's eluded him for more than a decade. Cuts such as "Right to Arm Bears" and "Love You in the Fall" not only serve the film's narrative, they succeed by employing the same artful twisting of a cliché that recalls classic material from the Replacements such as "Bastards of Young" and "Left of the Dial."

"I'm a knight in a shining armchair," sings Westerberg on "Any Better Than This," displaying the kind of keen self-depreciation that was once his stock-in-trade. Perhaps the relative anonymity of a kid's movie has allowed Westerberg to finally come to grips with his stumbling legacy. Judging by the mostly male, loser-infested juvenilia demonstrated by the Westerberg faithful, Paul has always done his best work for children.

[kgp]

Judging by the mostly male, loser-infested juvenilia demonstrated by the Westerberg faithful

The reviewer left his email addy, ya' know, just in case.

[nowwesayitoutloud]

kgp said:

Judging by the mostly male, loser-infested juvenilia demonstrated by the Westerberg faithful

The reviewer left his email addy, ya' know, just in case.

What does it mean to "demonstrate juvenilia"? To demonstrate is to show; juvenilia is work produced by an artist in his or her youth, before developing a mature style. Do we mostly male Westerberg faithful demonstrate juvenilia by playing old Mats records?

By the way, I think the writer meant to say PW displays self-DEPRECATION, not "self-depreciation" -- unless he's demonstrating fabulously subtle surgical wordplay a la Suicaine Gratifaction.

And not to quibble with the one bone the writer throws PW, but what cliche does he think gets artfully twisted by "Love You in the Fall"? I'd like to know, because I love the song but find it falls short in the lyrics dept. for me.

[kgp]

I'm not one to disparage a critic merely because he's a critic, or cry "Waaaa...he said something bad about my favorite artist. Let's go get him," but that review is awful. I've been there, and I know a certain degree of "faking it" is required (see my 1993 review of the Smashing Pumpkins), but his editor should have at least caught his malapropisms.

Oddly enough, Paul gave an unusually candid interview during the Suicaine era to that same paper (not the same writer). I doubt it's archived there, but I think it may still be posted on the Skyway (where I found it).

[velvetgefiltefish]

A different reviewer -- and a much better writer -- at the same paper was much more positive about Stereo/Mono:

www.dallasobserver.com/Issues/2002-04-18/music/hearthere3.html

Here's a highlight for folks who don't care to read the whole thing:

For the first time since going solo, Westerberg sounds comfortable in his own pale skin; no more d**king around or ducking behind the piano while his guitar taunts him from the corner. He's all plug-and-play now--out to make some noise, have fun, be funny, f*** up, f*** around and kick out the corks he jammed into his *ss around the time Suicaine Gratifaction was released straight into the discount bins three long years ago. It's indicative of everything that he end the Stereo disc--the "serious" record, with its love songs and self-hate songs--with a hidden cover of Flesh for Lulu's "Postcards From Paradise" cut fast and loose, Sh*t Hits the Fans-style. The guitar's been drinking, not him.