Unlike the vast majority of pop stars, Paul Westerberg isn't ashamed to admit when things aren't going well. The former Replacements singer cheerfully confesses that his new album was more or less thrown together recorded on a shoestring budget in a Minneaplois basement. That's a shame, for while there's no shortage of great songs here, the slipshod production rarely does them justice. It's effectively two albums in one: Stereo is an acoustic set of self-deprecating reflections on life while Mono is a rowdy collection of Replacement-style rock tracks. The air of rough immediacy is certainly exciting but as the album wears on its slipshod charm wears off and the amount of flat notes and fluffed lyrics becomes ulitimately irritating. Westerberg is one of the most unheralded talents of his generation: sadly, on this evidence, he seems set to remain that way.
