Review Summary: With better sequencing and a couple of tracks axed from the list, 14 Songs could easily stand up to Please To Meet Me or Tim.
Quite why critics and listeners in general have never taken to Paul Westerberg’s solo career has never really been clear to me. There’s the obvious criticism that it’s “just not the Replacements,” which is understandable, and then there’s the claim that his solo work just isn’t that good. Obviously related concepts but, in the case of the latter, patentely false. Westerberg’s solo career has been patchy and inconsistent both in terms of individual albums and his collection as a whole, and some releases have been downright awful- but then again, who really cherishes their copy of
Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash? No, the only sustainable argument against P. Westerberg’s solo career is the fact that he hasn’t made an album as brilliant as
Let It Be, and even 1999’s
Suicaine Gratification throws that one into doubt.
14 Songs, while officially Paul’s first album as a solo artist, is sometimes looked upon as either his second or third, depending on who’s talking- after Bob Stinson’s departure, control of The Replacements reverted by default to Paul. It was released in 1993, the same year as Tommy Stinson’s first post-Replacements project Bash & Pop’s one-and-only release. While Tommy chased his power pop dreams, all eyes remained fixed on Westerberg and
14 Songs, and judging by his lyrics, and to an extent the music, the weight of expectations seems to have gotten to him: musically, it almost feels like a compromise between Faces-style hard rock and punk and the folky singer-songwriter material he perfected with
Tim and allowed become progressively glossier as the quality regressed on subsequent albums. Predictably, it doesn’t sound all that cohesive.
As always, Paul has plenty to talk about, plenty to ponder, and plenty to bitch about and, inevitably, he’s at his best when he’s put something or someone down. Demonstrating a flair for the obvious that’s summed up in the album’s title, ‘Knockin On Mine’ sees Paul angered by intellectuals and people who prey on him for nuggets of wisdom, instructing them to do their own work; at his most cynical, he sings “knowledge is power, you got your books go read ‘em; wisdom is ignorance, stupidity- ha!- I call it freedom!” while the line “he who laughs first didn’t get the joke” is clearly aimed at the same crowd. ‘Knockin On Mine,’ a laid-back Stones-y rocker, was the album’s lead single in US, while ‘World Class Fad’ represented the album abroad, a more abrasive
Let It Be throwback. An angry critique of sell-outs and glory-seekers, there’s more than a hint of self-criticism thrown in as he laughs “you look fantastic in your cast-off casket” and groans “you wax poetic about things pathetic, as long as you look so cute.”
The majority of the album is more restrained, however, a mix of introspective love songs and nonchalant strum-alongs. ‘First Glimmer’ offers a glimpse of the simple but highly melodic material which would follow with
Suicaine Gratification, ‘Runaway Wind’ is a mid-tempo love song with the tagline “you don’t blow like the breeze, you were born to be” While ‘Silver Naked Ladies,’ and ‘Mannequin Shop’ are bluesy rockers that echo the Stones and the Faces, the former featuring ex-Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan. With better sequencing (‘Down Love’ and ‘Something Is Me,’ two straightforward punk tracks are awkwardly placed before and after ‘Mannequin Shop,’ to offer but one example) and a couple of songs axed from the list,
14 Songs could easily stand up to
Pleased To Meet Me or
Tim; as it stands, it doesn’t fall too far short.
