Search - Todd Newman :: Temporary Setback

"God love the Beach Boys, but the cars and the beach are way outta my reach," are the first words that the landlocked Kansas native Todd Newman sings on Temporary Setback, and it's indicative of the breezy melodicism he brings to the well-worn Replacements feel that pervades his music. It could be the Posies lightening up Westerberg's solo work but for the lack of all those harmony vocals. It's appropriate that Newman's Replacements influence is so comfortable; after all, an uncredited Westerberg played on and produced a few tracks on Topeka Oratorio from Newman's last band, the Leatherwoods. The 10 songs are built as much around Newman's sing-along lyrics as they are the guitars (unimposing electric hooks and hummable acoustic strumming): "27-Year-Old Actress (Majoring in English)" is a gentle, affecting tale of Christmas loneliness between two found souls; "Exposed Wiring" is the tale of someone who is blissfully ignorant of the fact that they're about to make all of the same mistakes that the narrator did ("You know what it's like/when you take the pitch/and it's another strike"); and "I'm Coming Back to Life" is Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane" after the heartache. --Randy Silver