Paul K - Clippings - Austin American Statesman

AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN MARCH 13, 1997

PAUL K AND THE WEATHERMEN (SATURDAY, 10 P.M. ATOMIC CAFE NIGHTCLUB)






Through the inconsistencies of earlier albums, Paul K sounded more like a guy with great influences and instincts (someone who had read all the right books, loved all the right records, taken all the wrong drugs) than an artist of great vision. With "Love Is a Gas," however, he has gone to the head of the class, leaving the likes of Richard Hell, Jim Carroll and other self-consciously literary Velvets acolytes in the dust. Produced by former Velvet Undergrounder Maureen Tucker, the album succeeds on a grand scale by getting all the little details right: the flamenco-tinged guitar filigree on "Apple in My Eye," the majestic organ of "Another Night on This Earth," the handclaps of "Slow It Down," the cover of Stevie Wonder's "Jesus Children of America" that swipes from the Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" (thus hedging its theological bets).




	Such touches enhance the songs, as each song enhances the others, through pacing and contrast that make the album a conceptual triumph as well as a musical one. This song cycle of romantic roulette also serves as a renewal of faith in the rock 'n' roll verities, performed with a conviction that disdains callow angst or easy ironies. After previous albums explored darker thematic terrain, his liner notes explain how "years of listening to radio broadcasts in which19-year-olds positively ache over the unfairness and venality of the world have made me just angry enough to put aside anger and embrace those few things in life which are universally	considered 'good.' Life is neutral. Money is neutral. Love is always good." Within the realm of hard-bitten love songs, it's hard to imagine a more rapturously delirious affirmation than "Deep Freeze," the album's anthemic centerpiece, or a more straightforward and sincere rendition of Queen's "You're My Best Friend" (the unlisted track that serves as the album's coda). Kentucky's Paul Kopasz and his current group of Weathermen have released the best rock album thus far this year; now we'll see if they can deliver the goods live.