Customer Reviews

PW & The Ghost Gloves Cat Wing Joy Boys (Amazon.com Exclusive)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'll give it four stars on the strength of "Dangerous Boys" alone. The other songs I would not rate that high. It's clearly another homemade recording with Westerberg's drumming being the weak link. The piano driven "Love on the Wing" is another standout in this five song collection. In general it's good enough to keep the fans happy until the 'real' release comes along (whenever that will be).

CF

As with most of his releases over the last few years, these songs are all said to have been recorded solely by Westerberg in his basement- the writing, the singing, the instrumentation, the recording--and because of this, these songs sound, at times, a little rough around the edges. It has been argued elsewhere that Westerberg would do well to hire himself an ace producer. I would argue that, as home-made recordings, these come across quiet well as they are and that the writing- both melodically and lyrically- is excellent throughout. These songs are infused with a range sincere emotion and are personal in nature without being cloyingly self-disclosing.

This is a fine recording by an artist who continues to follow his muse without succumbing to any urge to compromise his music for the sake of selling mass numbers of units. The music is intimate without sounding overly sentimental. The lyrics convey strong feelings yet allow the listener room for interpretation. And best of all, these songs get better with repeated listening. My only complaint is that this recording is not available on vinyl, but few are these days and personally, I'll take this one in any format available.

This is a very solid EP... Opener is "Ghost on a Canvas" which I can't stop listening to....just classic Paul on that one.. really after a couple of listens there isn't a clunker on this one. "Treat me like the cat" could have been a AM hit in the 70's.. awsome phrasing and change on that one. If you like what Paul has been doing for the last 7yrs this is a must have. As far as the packaging goes...WHO CARES!! I'm in this for the music. And actually I love the photos.. Paul in nature on the front... and I am assuming his son Johnny and some of his friends on the back. Very Cool..I'm sure his son is as proud of his dad and how cool was it for him that he made it on the cd.. One last thing.. I know Paul is tired of hearing this, but I hope he can tour soon.. with or without Tommy either way, but the Tommy addition would be awsome.. Cheers...

This is good stuff, and unlike the past three or four download-only releases, this could easily be played in a Chili's, TGIFs or slightly cooler establishment tex-mex bar and grill and be liked by the masses. 1/6 Suicaine, 1/3 Tim, 1/2 Folker with accessible Paul McCartney overtones. Westerberg fans should love it. Ghost On a Canvas is vintage, the sixth song (which I'm listening to right now and don't know the name of) is real good too. Endorsing. I hope he keeps kicking out the jams this way. I bought the CD.

This isn't on the level of 49:00 or even 3oclokreep from last year, but if you dig Paul, you need this. The first time through, I hated it, but I gave it a couple more listens and decided it's a keeper. Westerberg is real, and there's so little of that left in music these days, even a 3 star effort from PW is better than others' best work. I agree with the person who said download the mp3s. It fits better with the unannounced release a couple of tracks from the basement every few months pattern Paul is on anyway. I ordered the CD and immediately wondered why?

Ghost On The Canvas: Touching, rhythmic and full sound; a very easy listen, and as usual, Paul's phrasing will catch your attention.

Drop Them Gloves: A rocker reminiscent of The Stones "Street Fighting Man". Love the harmonica...a foot stomper!

Good As The Cat: All is good with this one. Lyrics we can all relate to, hummable, sing-along. Try not bobbing your head to the beat!

Love On The Wing: Opens with melancholy piano and vocals, merges into full guitar, drums, etc. Again, I can best describe this as a touching song. Something about it resonates with me. This song will end up on a House M.D. (or similar program) soundtrack.

Gimmie Little Joy: Love it, Love it! *See my comment above for Good As The Cat.

Dangerous Boys: Pure Westerberg, which is what we're looking for, right? Liked everything about it. Probably the "hook" track of the EP.

I purchased the CD instead of just downloading the MP3. Based on another reviewer's comment about the packaging my expectations were low. I wondered if I was wise to pay more just for a jewel case. When it did finally arrive (takes longer than usual because it is a made on demand item) I was very pleased. I would have preferred he include a scrapbook so I could look at him, but that was the only thing that made this different than any other packaging. Paul is not the only artist to exclude the nice little booklets and for the price, it makes sense to me.

This EP fits right in with Paul's post-Replacements "Folker/Grandpaboy" personas.
6 good, fun, sloppy tracks no-doubt mixed in his basement or living room.

Listening to these gems - you can see the genius hiding right under the surface.
The CD liner has no production notes or anything about this disc. He even seems to make up a fake "band" based on the titles of the songs on the record. We can
forgive the obvious attempts to record off-key when the product is so good. If
you are reading this, you are surely a fan.... and if you are not you should be.
This is good stuff and we can only hope it keeps coming. If Westerberg tried
harder, and had a record label and promotion team behind him, he could be as big as
any singer/songwriter out there. But he doesn't, and he won't... and that is just the way we, and he, likes it.

P.S. Hey Paul, release the MP3-only record on CD for the rest of us!

This is good. I'm so glad PW is still making great music. Although this EP may not be regarded as 'Essential PW' it is still pretty good. A nice companion piece to the now unavailable 49:00 CD - which is FANTASTIC!

Grandpaboy mus be takin a nap-
Westerberg is back in his own skin for this one
and it's a sweet lil doozy
makes other sing songwriters sound like mannish boys
all the tracks are stunning
my favorite being Dangerous Boys
buy this
u won't regret it

Cheers!

Each of the 6 songs are strong and can stand alone, together it forms an organic whole. It grows on you, getting better with time. The song writing is honest and intimate without reveling too much. It is not over produced and stays fresh with each listening. Ghost on the Canvas has the sentiment of both "Grow old with me" and "When I'm 64" but in a down to earth, accessible poetic way. The whole thing is pretty amazing, and I have to scratch my head and wonder why I ignored this artist for 20 years. Buy it and you won't be disappointed.