Personnel: Mark Eitzel (vocals, guitar); Peter Buck (guitar, bass); Mike McCready (guitar); Skerik (vibraphone, organ, baritone saxophone); Scott McCaughey (electric bass, organ, piano, slide guitar); Steve Berlin (bass, piano); Barrett Martin (drums, acoustic bass, bass marimba, vibraphone, tabla, congas, tambourine).

Recorded at Ironwood, Seattle, Washington on December 10, 1996.

Personnel: Mark Eitzel (vocals, guitar); Peter Buck (guitar, bass instrument); Mike McCready (guitar); Scott McCaughey (slide guitar, piano, organ, electric bass); Skerik (baritone saxophone, organ, vibraphone); Steve Berlin (piano, bass instrument); Barrett Martin (vibraphone, bass marimba, acoustic bass, drum, congas, tabla, tambourine).

Mark Eitzel co-wrote 11 of the 12 songs for his second solo album with R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, and enlisted some heavyweight companions from the alt-rock world to play them. Buck, Screaming Trees' Barrett Martin, Critters Buggin's Skerik and Los Lobos' Steve Berlin, who are all involved with the instrumental supergroup Tuatara, back Eitzel on what could easily be his mainstream breakthrough, though it's doubtful that was his intention.

Miles from the desolate, gloomy sonic landscape of 60 WATT SILVER LINING, WEST is full of uptempo, accessible "pop" songs that are as substantive as they are infectious. Though his bleak poeticism finds a perfect foil in Buck's pop sensibilities, all this effervescence doesn't make Eitzel's worldview any cheerier than usual. It's just that he has something to bounce it against. Even when he comes close to a positive statement, he throws in an escape clause, as in "Free Of Harm," in which he declares, "I'll keep you free of harm/I know I'm shallow, but I don't know what else to do with my arms."

Rolling Stone (6/12/97, p.116) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...his wounded sincerity spiked with the darkest, drollest humor of any misanthrope this side of Morrissey....Eitzel has found a perfect foil in R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck..."

Spin (7/97, p.118) - 7 (out of 10) - "...Eitzel's vocals, wounded as ever, wistfully echo Elvis Costello echoing Chet Baker. Even on the jauntiest, Bucked-up tracks, the singer stubbornly refuses to give up his funk, resulting in unhealthy romantic obsession set to organ-drenched '80s teen-beats..."

Entertainment Weekly (5/9/97, p.80) - "...still the life of the funeral. But the guitar jangle and keyboard-and-marimba cascades of Peter Buck's production finally lend Eitzel's dirges the rhythmic dynamics and musical variety they've longed for..." - Rating: A