#carpark

That’s the Price of Loving Me is Wareham’s third solo album, a ruminative set of songs that once again taps long-time Galaxie 500 associate Kramer for production duties. It’s clearly a look back. Wareham takes a wry swipe at former Galaxie bandmates in “You Were the Ones,” (“Together we made a somnolent sound, echoes and trails from all that we found, you were the ones I had to betray”) and covers Mayo Thompson and Nico. His voice is untouched by time, still murmur-y, still unforced, a half portion of tune-ful-ness braided into spoke-sung poetry, and his guitar playing still shimmers. A clean line of electric carves through jangle in the Mayo Thompson cut “Dear Betty Baby,” just as it did in “Tugboat” some 37 years ago.

Wareham leans into a lifetime of technique in these songs. “Mystery Guest,” is built on an acrostic poem, each letter of the title another characteristic of a lost friend. And yet, while the format is somewhat fraught, the song itself is not. It sways and glistens, a bit of plucked cello lodged in translucent layers of guitar tone, the beat swirling in slow, nostalgic waltz time. Later, he pays tribute to his first love, a guitar, in “We’re Not Finished Yet,” another waltz. The details are almost sexual as Wareham enumerates all the things he’s done for his instrument. “I sanded your saddle, I polished your frets, I reamed you, I cleaned you, I have no regrets, play for me darling, and do not forget, we’re not finished now, we’re not finished yet.” Steamy, yes?

Lyrically, I like the final track best, a post-apocalyptic reverie called “The Cloud Is Coming.”  It’s serene and untroubled musically, full of gentle sway, but the words are unsettling. “German shepherds from New Mexico, coming down by parachute, see the man in the mylar suit, coming here to burn and loot,” Wareham croons, and we suppress a shiver.

Musically, though, “Yesterday’s Heroes” is the best of the bunch, starting in a pensive mode but building to tidal wave crescendo of guitar sound. Wareham is, indeed, one of yesterday’s heroes, but he’s not done and by no means yesterday’s ghost.