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R O S E N B E R G
a critic's view
Rosenberg delivers top-notch songwriting that would make Paul Westerberg proud. Equally hillarious and depressing, just as it should be. Even better, it’s all wrapped up in an infectiously twangy, power-popping package. You would have to completely suck to dislike this stuff.
--Michelle Korn, http://nashvilleforfree.com, August 2009
The resilience of the American psyche is just one of the reasons to take joy in his latest album, an impressive affirmation of life and the music that’s often helped Americans deal with traffic, break-ups, or just plain livin’...The real breath-stealer is the sublime “No, Seriously, Thank You” which could be a song by Matthew Sweet at his best. It so convincingly evokes the heartbreak in a love affair gone away that, if I’ve forgotten how that feels, this song takes me there and, more remarkably, makes me want to go back again.
If, after hearing Rosenberg, you, too, crave more, it’s in the works: he’s in the studio with Eric McConnell, who recorded Loretta Lynn’s Van Lear Rose, which was produced by Jack White.
--Mary Leary, San Diego Entertainer Magazine, July 2009
By Brett Rosenberg’s second number, “Taken,” I’m intoxicated with some kinda honey sweet/whiskey kick. With Bobby D.’s celestial curls, the harp in the rack, and that ultra sleek baby blue Danelectro, Rosenberg lures me to the stage like a speedball Orpheus. All this stylistic perfection—and he’s got substance, too: witty, intelligent songwriting ignited by whiplash guitar that makes me invite spontaneous combustion. The self-effacing humor of “Illegal Alien Girlfriend” is brilliant, alluding to the fact that DOING HIM is “doing the job American girls won’t do.” “My Good Gal” is darker, about losing his pregnant girlfriend to his aunt who murders his kid before chowing down at the Shoney’s breakfast buffet. Backed by Nashville’s righteous Joiners, Rosenberg delivers a killer “What Goes On,” reducing me to a scarf-tossing teenybopper. --Nancy Neon, The Noise, July 2009
Mix Bob Dylan's folk roots and Hebrew countenance with Randy Newman's dark wit (and, come to think of it, Hebrew countenance), and you get singer-songwriter Brett Rosenberg, who migrated from Boston to Nashville last year. An in-demand sideman for his spirited guitar work, Rosenberg's no slouch as a lyricist or frontman either, as evidenced by his new release Born Twice. Case in point: the politically topical ode to low self-esteem "Illegal Alien Girlfriend," which begins with the lines "I saw her face / At the check-cashing place" and builds to the self-deprecating chorus punch line, "She's my illegal alien girlfriend / Doing the job American girls won't do." His inner Zimmerman bursts to the forefront on Keep in Touch, which sounds like an outtake from Before the Flood, complete with tasty Robbie Robertson-esque chicken-pickin'.
--Jack Silverman, Nashville Scene, October 2008
One of the most talented and most prolific young songwriters of the early 21st century...Rosenberg is at least destined for artistic greatness if not commercial success.
The fifth--and best--album by this sometime member of Graham Parker's backup band is a flawless collection of exacting hooks and memorable melodies. A star in the offing, he offers the ultimate slacker anthem, "I Got Lost," which gets our nod as required listening for teens, 20-somethings and like-minded individuals of all ages.
--CBS Watch! Magazine, December 2007
Brett Rosenberg plays poppy Paul Westerberg-style rock songs that are fairly impossible to dislike.
--Time Out New York, June 2005
Rosenberg's guitar-playing has a distinct lyrical quality that makes him stand out in the crowd.
--Mayer, Twangville.com, December 2006
Brett's another songwriter who's much better than he gets credit for. He's made a better Elvis Costello record here than Elvis has made in at least a decade.
--Amanda Nichols, Chunklet Magazine, December 2006
Mildly likable late-Squeeze-via-Ben-Folds-style purity-poppers from Boston, notable for the goofy album title Speed Metal From Montreal and a CD cover where their one girl member flirts with a gorilla hosting a TV talk show.
--Chuck Eddy, the Village Voice, July 2005
The headliner this evening is The Brett Rosenberg Problem and I've spent a good portion of the night trying to pick Brett Rosenberg himself out in the crowd. My money has been on a baby-faced boy with an impressive mop of curly hair. To my delight, this denim-clad teen dream takes the stage and proceeds to rip the place apart with some no-nonsense shredding. He has this sort of Yardbirds-esque arrogance that makes me really want to believe him. Thankfully, he also has the skills to back it up. I'm put in mind of a New England version of Ryan Adams, which makes the whiskey I'm drinking seem even more appropriate.
--Danielle Cotter, The Noise, October 2006
It's as raw and dirty as pop gets. Speed Metal from Montreal has the same jangly BRP melodies that the ladies love to make out with you to; but on top of that, Brett piles on loads of loud, hi-fi rock--high points all around. --Paul McMorrow, Weekly Dig, reviewing 2005's Speed Metal From Montreal
With an embarrassment of switchblade-sharp hooks, rock-star swagger, wise-guy wit, outsider attitude and even a furtive love song or two packed into a tidy 30-minute package, SMFM is a freewheeling summation and extension of everything Rosenberg and the Problem do best.
--Jonathan Perry, Boston Phoenix, Reviewing 2005's Speed Metal From Montreal
The new Brett Rosenberg album may not fit your expectations. Sure, tracks like "See Ya Tonight" would fit his high-octane live shows with the Brett Rosenberg Problem. But they alternate with hollow-sounding, lo-fi songs of sex and love frustrated, disappointed, or raging. "Sloppy seconds are all that I can get," he claims. Rosenberg reportedly recorded Shocktwins on a four-track (hence the frequent percussive metallic quality) and played most of the instruments himself. Vocally, he sounds either echoey or doubled. The jangly opener "Missing the Best Part" has the romantic, hopeful lyrics, "All this time I've been waiting to want you and it feels for real like it's starting to happen." It even throws in some quiet horns and ba-ba-ba. Rosenberg mixes up his style in other ways. "Falling in Love" sounds like Billy Joel; "Saron Gas Attack" channels the mildest touch of dreamy falsetto psychedelia. "Kittens," the drum-machine-laden backdrop to a late-70s exercise video, brings in Bleu on what could be a toy piano; Rosenberg's voice is sweet as candy. This album gets good when it's messy. "Retire to Stud" is a sloppy romantic slow-dancer. "Sloppy Seconds" shares the late-night drunk confession atmosphere, and "Seems So Long" unwinds into distortion. A few tracks seem like fragments. Rosenberg's bravado, bluster, and shouts are convincing at times but can also provoke listener embarrassment when the cracks show. "Low Life" especially teeters on the balance, though the heartbeat bass and wheeze on "No Heat" drive pretty seductive. And he hasn't avoided the occasional clunker, say, "I might have got my freak on but I've lost my appetite" ("Put Your Clothes On") or "You're such a dirty lover/Are you on the Pill?" ("Midnight Man," though its Queens-style crashing culmination works). Like the worst kind of man to approach you in a bar, Shocktwins is winning-- and knows it. He's been waiting to dance with you all night long. --Danielle Dreilinger, Northeast Performer, Reviewing 2004's Shocktwins
Maybe one of the reasons there are so many talentless hacks lurking around the planet is that people like Brett Rosenberg got more than their fair share of talent, and just didn't leave enough for everyone else. The lyrics are clever without being smug, the hooks dig themselves deep into your brain and don't let go, and the songs all manage somehow to sound simultaneously brand new and familiar---after a few listens, you'll be singing right along, whether you like it or not. It seems that local critics love this guy, and I can see why. A good bet to go national, so catch him now.
--Tim Emswiler, The Noise, Reviewing 2004's Shocktwins
Something exciting began to happen to music in 2002, as bands like the Strokes, the White Stripes, and B.R.M.C. became bona fide rock stars. Of course, all of the aforementioned took most of their cues from vintage "punk" (using the term loosely to apply to everyone from the Velvet Underground to Siouxsie & the Banshees), and updated the sound accordingly to fit the post-millennium mainstream. What makes the Brett Rosenberg Problem so entertaining, then, is that Rosenberg -- who was a mere 23 at the time of the album's release -- takes cues from more pop-oriented acts of that same period, like Nick Lowe, Graham Parker, Elvis Costello, and occasionally Marshall Crenshaw. But while Rosenberg sounds a lot like these acts, he delivers the dozen songs on Destroyer with youthful panache, bashing through them in just over a half hour. His youthful adoration of acts whose peak periods were a few years before he was born is refreshing; Rosenberg has done his homework, and while he knows his stuff, he never tries to blatantly imitate his idols. Sure, most of Destroyer recalls the heyday of post-punk power pop, but it always sounds endlessly current. And, as further evidence of Rosenberg's talent, he manages to strike an emotional chord on several spots here. He plays earnest characters -- from a guy mentioned in two songs who is into someone named Kelly or an obsessed fan to a guy who forms a meaningful relationship with his girlfriend's daughter. The end result is that Rosenberg, a short, red-headed kid from Boston, has crafted one memorable jewel of a sophomore record that easily connects on both a musical and emotional level.
--Jason Damas, All Music Guide, Reviewing 2002's Destroyer
The 2004 Boston Freedom Rally was officially rained out due to a Hurricane Ivan battering New England. There was still an impromptu gathering of some diehard fans and bands in the name of the Freedom Rally, however. An all-star band featuring Robby Roadsteam, Jason Halogen, and Bret[sic] Rosenberg performed under a smoky tent.
-- bostonfreedomrally.com