Paul Newman Review

Paul Newman

Re-issue (My Pal God)

For the Paul Newman fan who has been less than diligent in collecting the former Austin foursome's prodigious and scattered output, My Pal God has assembled various singles, compilation tunes, and selected EP tracks dating back to 1996 into Re-issue, a 10-song collection nearly as powerful and coherent as any of the band's LPs. Opener "Way to Breathe, No-breath" starts out with a drum track, embellished by Tony Nozero's cymbal-flicking, and brought to life by a gorgeous line off Eddie Robert's six-string bass. This is the Newm at their most delicate and melodic, the song unfolding like an empty highway on a warm spring day. Nozero's drums kick in and the energy goes up a notch, the melody driven harder again and again, until it just ends. Perfect. And the rest, from the surprisingly gentle "All Black, All Anal" to the apocalyptic screamer "Beeline to Mamo" and the rolling rhythms of "I Know My Luck Too Well," is (mostly) instrumental rock & roll at its very finest. Far from a marketing re-push or a time-filler in absence of creative output, Re-issue is a brilliant collage, an inspired re-cap of a band that has hit and maintained their stride with true grace.