Grandpaboy - Mono Limited Edition Package (11 tracks) +Album Reviews

Whoa!

William Ellis | Golden, Colorado United States | 04/03/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love the Replacements, but like most fans, haven't been fully satisfied with Paul Westerberg's solo work. One thing I can say about it, though, is that whenever he puts out an album, there's always at least one or two songs on it that are the best that I've heard in the past couple of years. Anyway, this album is a stunner. I never thought I'd hear anything out of him that was as consistent as the Mono album. It'll definitely be a great summer album. It was warm last weekend, and I was driving around town with the windows down, and Mono cranked up high. Every song rocks, and it's clear that Paul does better when he's got a solid band with him, especially with Tommy Stinson playing bass and singing those gawdawful, but wonderful harmonies that I haven't heard in too long of a time. The music reminds me of the more rockin' songs on PTMM and All Shook Down (which I listen to all the time)."

Back to the Replacements Sound

William Ellis | 09/22/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Paul has turned back more to the Replacement's style on this cd and its noticeable immediately. He skips the drunken, 'howling into the mike' tunes and as a result has put out a more 'grown up' release. The last song, 'AAA' sounds as though it could be a song off one of the mat's later albums, a sound that Paul has admitted to trying to ressurect on this cd. Speaking from a die hard Replacements fan's point of view, this is the first of Paul's solo releases that I'd insist you buy."

GrandaPaBoy: "Mono" (Vagrant Records, 2002)

William Ellis | 08/30/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Maybe, just maybe, I had way too many expectations for this CD? It just
doesn't hold up (in my ears) to the heaps of praise that has been hoisted
upon it since it's release a few months back. Yeah, it's better than that
last god-awful record that Paul made, "Suicaine Gratifaction" (SG), but
really, how could it not be? This CD sounds like Paul wrote a bunch of songs
while he was bored out of his mind & then waited until he felt somewhat like
rocking out a tad & then recorded them. This CD has been called the greatest
thing Paul has done since "Pleased To meet Me"... I don't hear it. In my
opinion that falls on the CD "Eventually". Hell, even the last 2 Replacements
albums were better than this (If you count "All Shook Down" as a Replacements
album - it was meant to be & recorded as Paul's first solo album) & so was
"14 Songs". Are we so afraid to admit that Westerberg ... now that we'll
heap tons of praise upon such a lack luster affair as this? Admittable it's
GOOD but it's just not that damn good! Oh well, he sounds like he's having
some fun & that's more than it sounds like he's having on the "Stereo" CD
which is just "SG" volume 2."

I guess all these reviews show how important Paul is

William Ellis | 04/06/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This CD sure has a lot of reviews for such a limited release. I probably don't have anything to say about it that isn't somewhere in various other reviews here, but since the music of Paul and the 'Mats has meant a lot to me, I'll give it a shot.I disagree with the reviewers who suggest this sounds like a 'Mats album - part of the charm of most of the 'Mats albums was that they were all over the place; for example, Pleased to Meet Me had the world's greatest ballad ("Skyway"), power pop should've-been-hits ("Ledge", "Can't Hardly Wait"), even jazz ("Nightclub Jitters"). This album doesn't deviate much from the 70s rock formula (the Rolling Stones comparisons are on target, I think). That being said, Paul does it better than most could, and it actually sounds pretty fresh to me. Yes, some of the songs here could have appeared on Tim, but they would have been sandwiched by a whole bunch of brilliant, all-over-the-place stuff.All-in-all though, a worthy addition to the CD collection for fans. I guess if it came from someone else for whom I didn't have unreasonably high expectations, I would be ecstatic at finding it. Only suffers in comparison to past brilliance."

Stand back and give him some room...

Dreamin' | Rock City, USA | 03/10/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"[People] before me think that Mr. Westerberg flopped making a Replacements type record. What the [people] who typed before me didn't figure into the equation is what Mr. Westerberg meant when he made that elucidation. This is most like a Replacements record in so far as that Mr. Westerberg wrote and recorded this record like a Replacements record. Quick, no touchups and always bowing to the alter of rock and roll. This is his best rock & roll record in a long time. I'm delighted that Mr. Westerberg didn't go out like some of the musicians that started the same time he did when the Replacements starting making noise. Those who think they have to sound like they always sounded so they can stay in the public eye (U2), drift into pop obscurity (R.E.M.), vanish (Bob Mould) or become an eccentric (Frank Black). This is record shows us Mr. Westerberg playing to his greatest strength, writing rock and roll songs.And yes you call him Mr. Westerberg because he deserves that respect...12,000 stars!"

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