PAUL WESTERBERG: 'SUICAINE GRATIFACTION'
Capitol, CD, 724385900426.
Like the MC5 and Husker Du, the Replacements are one of rock's most fabled failures. Fronted by the poet Paul Westerberg, the Replacements, the critic Robert Christgau once wrote, "sound both funny and fun, which is always the idea." And the band's leader? "No songwriter in memory," Mr. Christgau added, paying the ultimate punk-rock compliment, "matches Paul Westerberg's artful artlessness."
Indeed, the Replacements served as an icon to countless young bands in the 1980's that appropriated their amplifier-crunching sound and nihilistic teen-age attitude. While some copycats signed with major labels and sold millions, the Replacements imploded in anarchic, alcoholic mayhem.
Mr. Westerberg, meanwhile, kept writing, releasing "14 Songs" on Sire Records in 1993. His first solo effort, it sounded like a good Replacements album, minus the Replacements, and sold poorly. Few people even remember "Eventually," his 1996 follow-up. Though he never sold out, Mr. Westerberg appeared on soundtrack albums ranging from "Friends" to "Singles," which seemed like the equivalent of Joey Ramone perched next to Soupy Sales on "The Hollywood Squares."
But weep no more, Westerberg fans. For on his new record, "Suicaine Gratifaction," produced by Mr. Westerberg with the well-known career resuscitator Don Was, he has found not only a fresh label (Capitol) but also lyrics and licks that combine the manic energy of youthful angst with the thoughtfulness born of adult responsibility. (He is 39 and a new father.)
While not as influential as the Replacements' "Let it Be" (1984) or "Pleased to Meet Me" (1987), the album is an excellent portrait of a songwriter nearing middle age, an especially hard trick when one's mythology is built on adolescent rage. While the music blares much less often than in the old days, it is now possible to even relax to Paul Westerberg songs.
Yet his lyrics bite harder than ever. "A Wonderful Lie" is the best cut. It is a dark-night-of-the-soul ballad in which Mr. Westerberg asks, "What am I doing/ I ain't in my youth/ I'm past my prime/ Or was that just a pose?" Yet he never whines; humor, not regret over what might have been, beams through two songs later when he declares, "I'm the best thing/ that never happened."
However, lest anyone doubt that this is a Paul Westerberg album, he also offers a few cranked-up rockers like "Final Hurrah" and "Lookin' Out Forever." Alternately mellow and shrill, "Suicaine Gratifaction" will please those who had long ago given up on Mr. Westerberg. His latest effort isn't old-timer's day at the ball park, but the next step up for one of rock's most talented survivors.