Search - Weakerthans :: Reconstruction Site

One great band

RKR in FLA | Gainesville, FL, USA | 12/14/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"They're my favorite band and I'm 50. They're my daughter's favorite band and she's 14. I'm not sure what that means but I'll bet it means something. Every Saturday we have to drive to another city ninety minutes away, and we listen to The Weakerthans both going and coming. Like just about every other reviewer here, I'm amazed by the wit and beauty of the lyrics. Many songwriters who are particularly gifted lyricists - Springsteen comes to mind - give the impression of writing the lyrics first and then jamming them into a melody as best they can. But in these songs everything fits; the words and music carry each other along perfectly, no matter how long or complex the sentences may be (e.g., "I don't want a second chance to turn my stuttering reluctance into romance, with these documents and kindergarten anthems, with my drunken liturgies"). There's lots about this album I have yet to understand, like why three of the songs, the ones in parentheses, share the same melody. Obviously they're connected, but how? I guess I'll have to keep listening to find out. Not the worst fate I can imagine."

Join the Weakerthans Revolution; All Hail Winnipeg!

M. Swinney | Flower Mound, TX | 04/25/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Hey fellow Amazonian, have you heard this band The Weakerthans? Have you been scared off by ghosts of past Canadian bands past thinking wishing Canadian Bare Naked Ladies was merely a strip club in Toronto? Well, if you don't try the Weakerthans, you just may be missing out on the next Canadian musical revolution. How would one describe the tune-age on The Weakerthans' "Reconstruction Site?" Highbrowed literate power-pop-alt Country-ish, comes close. When I think of like bands with like sounds, Centro-matic, Old 97's, and Limbeck all come to mind but The Weakerthans seems to give us the best of all worlds in a nice package that can still make you feel a little punk while feeling a little creative writing college at the same time. Perhaps you'll see what I mean here.



"A Plea from a Cat Named Virtue," finds lead singer John K. Sampson's cat the narrator and it is pure classic witticism. I know what you are saying, this doesn't sound like the power punk pop I'm used to down here in the good 'ole U S of freakin' A...well these are Canadians, stay with me here. Sampson sings, "So, we should open up the house. / Invite the tabby two doors down. / You could ask your sister, if / she doesn't bring her Basset Hound. / Ask of things you shouldn't miss: / tape-hiss and the Modern Man, / The Cold War and Card Catalogues, / to come and join us if they can." Hmmm...doesn't sound like Offspring or Weezer you very well may agree. Well that's the point dear punk-ish listener. Give the Weakerthans a chance and you'll be converted to the Northern revolution and if you are a listener of the lyrics you just might learn something and want to take action and rebel for some worthy cause...what's more punk than that? The Sex Pistols?



There are a few other album highlights here but let me say on the whole each song has some quality listenable material. If any detractor should be mentioned there is a little bit of too much the sameness, the same sound threaded throughout the songs but that's a minor one mind you. Let me now talk about the aptly titled, "Our Retired Explorer (Dines with Michele Foucault in Paris, 1961)," which really isn't so much a punk song title as it is a art nuveau literary piece appearing in your favorite Canadian creative quarterly. Sampson again pens, "Just one more drink and then I should be on my way home / I'm not enterely sure what your talking about / I've had a really nice time but my dogs need to be fed / I must say that in the right light you look like Shackleton / Comment allez-vous ce soir? Je suis comme ci comme ça / Yes, a penguin taught me French back in Antarctica / Oh, I could show you the way shadows colonize snow." Are you lost yet? Well believe it or not the lyrics do make some hyper-literate sense moreso than the sometimes inane worldplay of Michael Stipe.



Get this CD. Listen to it. Love it. You won't regret it. ...mmw"