Besterberg: The Best Of Paul Westerberg

Happy with the service & CD, apart from . . . . the last 2 tracks will not play properly, CD surface looks OK, just faulty I suppose.

I've spent a large part of my adult life in awe of the songwriting ability of Ryan Adams, who it turns out, on evidence of this album, has spent most of his life wanting to be Paul Westerberg. Better late than never then, for me to stumble across the genius of Paul Westerberg. At the same time i've been turned on to his old band The Replacements, and the genius comment can be applied to them also. As a best of, it does a grand job of introducing just what he is capable of, which seems to be a continuation of Springsteen and the like, with a very distinctive American rock, which in the mid 90's surprisingly failed to set the commercial world alight, only to see the likes of Ryan Adams and Jesse Malin etc, pick up the torch and achieve a far greater level of success. It's the quality of songs and high standard of songwriting that makes this an essential compilation, and i guess if you need somewhere to start, like i did, then this is it.

Besterberg as the name suggests is a best-of from Minneapolis based former Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg and as such is worthy of your time and attention.Besterberg gathers together tracks from over a decade of solo releases from a great performer that has the happy knack of penning brilliant songs. The music is often rough and ready blue-collar rock with occasional moments of acoustic respite but has a huge emotional punch, a great sarcastic sense of humour and some real vulnerability to it. The tunes are memorable and always played with a rare crossbreed of tasteful restraint and spikiness. The lyrics are amongst the finest you'll ever hear, addressing the minutiae of everyday life and the "big" themes of love and depth with equal aplomb, perfectly capturing things you have though or felt in a snappy phrase. His songwriting can illicit a wry smile and a broken heart sometimes in the same tune.Highlights include the classic "Dyslexic Heart" which may be familiar to some from the soundtrack of Cameron Crowe's early 90's Grunge Romantic Comedy "Singles", "World Class Fad", the melancholic "Love Untold" and the anthem for the single man "Man Without Ties" but you'd be hard pushed to find a track on here that after a few listens doesn't offer up something special. Even an acoustic cover of The Beatles "Nowhere Man" acquires a completely different feel with Westerberg's emotive voice at the helm.Buy this and if you like it, as well as checking out his solo CD back catalogue consider buying the DVD "Come Feel Me Tremble" to see some great live performances and studio footage of the master at work and if you don't already have any Replacements records buy "Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?" -their Best Of CD which contains more examples of his songwriting brilliance in a more conventional alternative rock/punk/grunge style.

This is a great CD, even with so many omissions.It isn't really the "best of Paul Westerberg" as it states on the cover. It's 50% an attempt at a "Best of" and 50% rarities.Having said that, it's still a great CD.The re-mastered sound particuarly benefits the "Basement Years" tracks; High Time, Let the Bad Times Roll & What a Day for a Night. In fact it's great to hear his material being produced properly again.I can't quite understand how First Glimmer, These are the Days and The Best Thing That Never Happened, didn't make the cut.But it's still a great CD!

This 20 song set works best as an introduction to the solo works of Paul Westerberg rather than an actual best of. As the man's had no actual hit records you've got a selection of album tracks, soundtrack efforts and unreleased material here that may well be phenomenal but isn't comprehensive. You see Paul Westerberg is arguably the world's greatest, living songwriter and while Dylan can paint pictures in a verse and Springsteen can cast a cinematic spell in a line or two, Westerberg can shatter your heart with a word or phrase. A true "Besterberg would be a double cd with his essential moments on the first disc and the second filled with the rare gems and outtakes. But hey, you probably have to be an artist with mass appeal to get that kind of treatment. For most mortals being the singer/songwriter with The Replacements would be enough for one lifetime, but not for Paul. Although his solo stuff is more restrained than the his previous bands output, it is often just as rich and rewarding. He crams his tunes with feelings of frustration, loss, hope, humour and love. After all these years Westerberg remains wild & lethal, so start here and then go and buy the albums.