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Dead Man Shake Image
Metascore
67

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: Paul Westerberg's blues-playin' alter ego returns with a second album (following 'Mono,' which was packaged with Westerberg's 'Stereo' release).
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 16
  2. Negative: 1 out of 16
  1. Uncut
    100
    So wild and stripped-down it makes The White Stripes sound like Yes. [Jan 2004, p.102]
  2. Dead Man Shake is a kick in the pants that shouldn't be missed.
  3. More fun than Come Feel Me Tremble.
  4. A shambolic, blues-based record that will repel purists of the 12-bar form but delight anyone who brings a six-pack and a cockeyed sense of humor to the party.
  5. Rolling Stone
    60
    The songs aren't as urgent or as memorable as the cracked gems he used to write, but his voice is wonderfully ragged. [13 Nov 2003, p.99]
  6. Magnet
    50
    The tunes wear thin before the bluesman gimmick does. [#61, p.110]
  7. Q Magazine
    30
    A moribund collection of ragged but never rugged songs. [Jan 2004, p.114]

See all 16 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 2
  2. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. scottb
    Nov 21, 2003
    9
    i got this album as a pre sell from fat possum, not really knowing paul westerberg, just knowing of him. right off the bat it hooked me. i got this album as a pre sell from fat possum, not really knowing paul westerberg, just knowing of him. right off the bat it hooked me. originals were fantastic but his slow burn on im so lonesome i could cry sounds like it is sung by a man on tripping his brains out and having to stay calm while a cop searches his car. uncomfortable in his speech and about to freak out . lastly, i think at times he sounds like the closest thing to mike bloomfield i have heard in forever Expand
  2. BrianM
    Oct 30, 2003
    6
    Dead Man Shake is not as fulfilling as Grandpaboy's last album, Mono. Paul Westerberg has wrote better material recently and this album Dead Man Shake is not as fulfilling as Grandpaboy's last album, Mono. Paul Westerberg has wrote better material recently and this album seems a little disappointing because he has wrote some fine Rock and Roll. Yet the album does have it's moments from time to time and the good outweighs the bad. Collapse