October 30, 1998
The Last Hurrah Review from Texas Platters
Andy Langer, Austin Chronicle

4 STARS

For nearly a decade, no one but the major label weasels who kept commissioning and rejecting Beaver Nelson's demos knew how the local musician's reckless barroom rock translated onto tape. Now, with the release of this long-delayed debut, Austinites will discover that the suits were right: Nelson's isn't major-label material, he's too good. His songwriting is too straightforward, too disquieting. His delivery is too direct, too tormented. And with only a few notably rockin' exceptions, this isn't the raw rawk album the suits expected, anyway. Make no mistake, Nelson's got the rock star phrasing and attitude down, it's just that this debut is obviously too gritty and soulful for a major label's expectations of cheery daytime radioplay or casual in-store spins. Instead, The Last Hurrah is an album for long drives and attentive at-home play, where the full effect of Nelson's clever lyrics and Scrappy Jud Newcomb's conscientious production can seep in. With hardly an underwritten song or lazy performance in the lot, Nelson's Last Hurrah sports a now-or-never vitality that perhaps only Jon Dee Graham's Escape From Monster Island or Lucinda William's Car Wheels on a Gravel Road have evinced of late. It's simply that strong of an album. And with any luck, it won't be Nelson's last hurrah after all.