Besterberg: Best of Paul Westerberg
The title of this nearly-hits set is so awful it couldn't be better suited to the ex-Replacementsfront man who earned it. Since striking out solo with a pair of prophetically glossed-up songs on theSingles: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack(2002), Paul Westerberg has alternately struggled to shake-off and reclaim the punk urgency of his former band. He has failed at every turn. Whether by destiny or design is an entirely different matter. This collection focuses primarily on his major label output - before he headed for the basement and started making scratchy blues records - meaning it primarily focuses on Paul Westerberg: TheRod StewartYears. It's not a good sign that among the rarities here, one song appeared on bargain-bin fillerMelrose Place: The Music("A Star Is Bored") and another onFriends: Music From The TV Series("Stain Yer Blood"). Fortunately, there are just enough traces of that whiskey-soaked heartbreak in tracks like "World Class Fad" and "It's A Wonderful Lie" to remind us why Paul mattered in the first place.--Aidin Vaziri