Garage rock pumps through 'Stereo'

Paul Westerberg\nStereo\nVagrant Records\nWhile most rock musicians get bashed for succumbing to the temptation of writing softer, slower songs, Paul Westerberg made a career out of following his gut wrenching rock songs with slower acoustic ballads that hit like a sucker-punch. Oddly enough, the double album Stereo, which contains Grandpaboy's (Westerberg's alias) recently released Mono, separates the two styles.\nThe first disc is eleven songs of Keith Richards influenced garage rock in the truest sense of the word. They were recorded at Westerberg's home in fact. The second disc is closer to his later solo music than any of his stuff with the 'Mats. Many of the songs sound as if they were written in a hurry or on the spot and as if only one take was recorded. Thankfully, Westerberg accomplishes something few musicians could by making an album so authentic it almost hurts. His voice only cracks at what sounds like his peak of hopelessness and the solos are sloppy in a way that brings you back to old Kinks and the Who. \nSeveral tracks on the second disc stand out a little more, not just because of the mix of songs, but mainly because of lyrics like "you smoke cigarette butts from your brother's green helmet, he wore in that war where everyone lost/and they taught him to pour coffee and napalm" and "you got drunk after church at thirteen." But not all the songs here are depressing. Someone once pointed out that the beauty of Westerberg's music was the way they made you feel good about how pathetic your situation was and the other way around. After listening to "Postcards from Paradise," "Let's Not Belong Together" and "We May Be the Ones" there won't be any doubt.\nStereo is raw and powerful because of its lyrics more than the music, making Westerberg appear more like a singer-songwriter than the punk pioneer he really started out as. His songs still capture the feelings of alienation and the pride Westerberg takes in not being willing to compromise his loneliness for a place in this world. The only difference is that now he has to look at those issues through the eyes of an aging rock legend with a family, not a punk with nothing to lose. To quote Vince Vaughn from "Swingers" -- "My little baby's all growed up." But don\'t worry he\'s still as restless as before.\n

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