Pros: Better than many albums made by women these days.
Cons: No Nina.
The Bottom Line: If you like whiny, screechy breakup music, buy it. It's really quite cathartic. However, once you get over it, you should move on- as should Louise Post.
cherryla's Full Review: Resolver [PA] by Veruca Salt
As I write this review, I feel like I am about to dive headlong into the shallow end of the Resolver reviews that I've read both here and elsewhere, which all say some variation of "The album doesn't really suck but it seems to suck because Nina is gone and we all know how good Veruca Salt used to be." This is an assessment that I more or less agree with, although there are some things I'd like to add.
Over all, Resolver doesn't suck. Compared to the typical musical fare of the time, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and innumerable bland boy bands, Veruca' Salt's most recent album was far superior. Unfortunately, when you look at their other albums, especially American Thighs, it sucks. Hard.
The whole "I hate my loser ex boyfriend and loser former band mate" routine is annoying by the second song, obnoxious by the fourth, and unbearable by the seventh, so tracks like Used to Know Her and Only You Know could easily make one suicidal. The whole album is one long bile-filled slam-fest directed at Dave Grohl and Nina Gordon. Listening to the album, you feel really bad that they didn't have a chance to defend themselves and marvel at the fact that in their subsequent albums they were both mature enough to avoid such obvious personal attacks.
The whole album reeks of high school melodrama. "Oh, my boyfriend left me. Screw him. My best friend left. Screw her too. Now I'm going to write poorly written, unfair, mean songs about them." I don't think Post realizes she's embarassed herself a lot more than she ever could have embarassed them.
It really doesn't stack up to previous albums, and I will credit the differences to the lack of Nina Gordon. While Louise Post is a superior guitar player, Nina always had a better voice and was the better songwriter of the two, although in the first 2 1/2 albums, the songs were overwhelmingly good regardless of who wrote them. However, when examining the lyrical trash that is Resolver when compared to Tonight and the Rest of My Life, Nina's solo album, it almost caused me to wonder if Nina didn't really write all the songs. When she left, all the vocal and songwriting talent seemed to leave with her.
It just isn't the same without her. It's a totally different band, and a shockingly mediocre one at that. All we can hope for is a reunion tour, I suppose.
So, what is Resolver good for? Well, during my junior year of high school I loved it. That mostly had to do with the fact that my boyfriend was a jerk who cheated on me constantly and I was always lashing out at him and the girls he cheated on me with. Looking back, I see how immature I was being over the issue, and I give Louise the same advice I give my past self. "Move on already."
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