Comments on: Decade :: Paul Westerberg, Stereo/Mono (2002)

By: sling

sling — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:07:55 +0000

real deal. didn’t even know it was him…grandpaboy + awesome cover = sold. then i was like, wow this is great and it’s westerberg…so great i purchased stereo afterwards. eyes like sparks…

By: Mat H

Mat H — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:13:33 +0000

Come Feel Me Tremble was the highlight of Paul Westerberg’s decade for me, taking the best parts of albums like 14 Songs and Suicane but also with songs like ‘My Daydream’ that could easily slip into a mix alongside Mat’s cuts like ’16blue’, ‘Hold My Life’ or ‘Nevermind’ quite comfortably.

Sometimes I don’t get the criticism surrounding PW’s solo career though. Seems some fans just don’t like an artist to move on or evolve from their respective heydays. Making comparisons to an artist’s golden era is always a recipe for a letdown so I don’t know why the Press imparticular seem so completely uncapable of judging an album on it’s own merits.

PW made the template for Ryan Adams and legions of Americana acts with ‘Suicane’, stayed true to the spirit of the Replacements in records like ‘Stereo/Mono’ and also made a unique and underated debut album in ’14 Songs’ that sounds better now in hindsight without the clouds of expectation buzzing overhead.

In my view PW has matched some of the great Replacements albums in his solo work, if not the very best. Even if you don’t believe so I reccomend taking a few tracks from each of his solo albums and giving them a fresh re-evaluation with an open mind. I did so recently and was surprised myself how many gems I found.

By: johnny b

johnny b — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:55:13 +0000

Really, this Decade business is the best thing to come from a blog in ’09. The writing is superb, and the choices are fascinating and wonderful. Way to highlight a bunch of fantastic records that for the sad most part I had forgotten about.

I love, too, how it’s not a list, so you’re not caught up on some arbitrary ranking. You guys actually sound like fans, like people who love music finally getting to gush about their favorites. It’s a joy to read, every time. Thanks.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:27:03 +0000

Complete agreement across the board on this one. I still play Mono at least weekly, if not monthly. It’s Pure Paul. I even find myself listening to it more than some of my treasured Mats albums. Good call on this one.

By: Steveo

Steveo — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:36:21 +0000

Decade “series”? More like decade Web site.
I guess I’ll have to go elsewhere to find out about relevant LA music news.
Cuz it ain’t been on here for awhile.

By: Hanly

Hanly — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:10:07 +0000

You are so right to cover this. I got into this album the summer going into my senior year of high school and it kind of changed everything – provided me with a soundtrack for which to stew in the futility of being seventeen. You don’t hear that rich, bodily guitar sound from Westerberg on any other album than Mono, and Stereo just feels like wisdom in quietude.

By: jade leonard

jade leonard — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:14:11 +0000

i think its good

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:42:00 +0000

I only started listening to the Replacements in early 1999. Of course that music hit my soul like a million lightning bolts and provided the soundtrack to many personal loser-with-a-heart-of-gold moments. This infatuation led to the inevitable exploration of Westerberg’s solo catalog. But those wilderness years following the release of Suicaine Gratification proved to be the worst time to worship at the Westerberg altar. I remember talking with an Tower Records coworker about going on a road trip to Minneapolis to find the man himself, who was probably holed up in his basement. How true that image would be!

When I moved to California in 2001, I hadn’t expected to ever hear from Westerberg again, except in the bootlegs and outtakes I would track down on occasion. So when word came to the second Tower Records I worked at that Westerberg had two new albums in the pipeline, my heart stood still and skipped a beat. And there would be an incredible flurry of Paulness in aftermath of that announcement. Albums! Concerts! Even that incredible in-store at Amoeba Hollywood (followed a few hours later by a Rocket From the Crypt show at Spaceland)! Talk about shifting from absence to abundance.

I prefer Mono over Stereo and found Folker to also be lacking. (Perhaps that record was done in by too much hype by the man himself.) 49:00 was an unexpected return, but the album that gets me from start to finish is Come Feel Me Tremble. That record just has the best mix of Replacements (“Making Me Go,” “Wild & Lethal,” “Knockin’ Em Back”) and solo (“What a Day (for a Night),” “Meet Me Down the Alley”) sounds Westerberg has recorded to date. “Pine Box” even has one of the toughest riffs in his catalog. This smorsgasbord assembly hits hard on every play. And for that, I say this is Westerberg’s finest solo moment.

Although I wouldn’t slag off the Open Season soundtrack. There are some gems to be found there, too.

By: j. neas

j. neas — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:25:41 +0000

@ Chris - I can certainly identify to some extent. While I definitely came to this album with the serious baggage of being a 'Mats fan, I had actually really enjoyed Suicaine Gratifaction, and was disappointed when he disappeared into the ether for awhile. This record completely rejuvenated my enthusiasm for his work - he wore that down with the good-but-not-anywhere-near-as-great Folker, but then won me back again with 49:00 and the internet-only releases he's had over the last year or two. I'm with you - a lot of fans I talked with back in 2002 went head over heels for Mono, but for me, it was always more about Stereo. It still gives me delightful tremors during listening.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:28:38 +0000

Yesss! I’m so glad these albums were mentioned in your “Decade” series. It was the summer before my senior year of high school when I saw Paul on Conan performing “We May Be The Ones” I immediately went out and bought the record, having no idea that this guy used to front a somewhat legendary rock band.

I soon fell in love with Stereo in particular and wore out that CD all summer long. I soon worked my way back to all The Replacements stuff too, but this was the first of Paul’s work that I connected with, or ever listened to.

This probably puts me in a unique position; I’m sure most other people who listened to this record that summer did so with the baggage of their fandom. Well I can’t say for sure that if there were never were The Replacements, this record would still have had the power to simultaneously break the heart and lift the spirits of an overly sensitive 17 year old kid who loved music.