Salt in the Wound

On Post's end the bitterness coloring the music following the breakup works just as well as the blue-skied optimism and teamwork of the old days. Several of Resolver's tracks openly address the split, among them "I Used To Know Her," which throbs with palpable anger. "When I wrote that song," Post explains, "our friendship was already failing. I was already feeling like I lost her. One of the sad things about growing up is learning that things come to an end; I had to learn to go on without her."

In the same vein is the alternately anguished and pretty "Only You Know," on which Post tosses barbs such as "I've given you too much thought/Don't blame me for sinking the ship/You're a hopeless liar and a hypocrite.... You should have thought it through before you blew it." The album concludes with the acidic "Hellraiser," complete with crunching axe-work, an extended wail from Post, and the promise, "you will pay for your mistakes."

Mary Jane Rosen

A revised Veruca Salt lineup brings a new album with two versions -- one dirty, one cleaned up for Wal-Mart

Details

Call 305-534-6300 for more information.

Performs at 9:00 p.m. at the Raleigh Hotel, 1775 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, on Sunday, May 28.

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More About

• Veruca Salt (Band)
• Nina Gordon
• Louise Post
• Seether
• The Breeders (Band)

Interestingly Beyond is issuing Resolver in two versions: a standard package and a "clean" version, which edits out Post's four-letter frolicking (and a good amount of punch). For example: After the false security of a minutelong solo piano piece opening the album, Post busts out the screaming fire-pole-slide intro to "Born Entertainer" and shouts, "This couldn't get any better/She didn't get it, so FUCK HER!"

"It's kind of a sensitive issue because I don't really ascribe to the idea of censorship," Post says. "But I was coerced into doing a version of the album that was clean, because I swear a lot on the record, or enough, anyway, for them to try to get me to do this. There are a lot of small towns where the only place kids can buy albums is Wal-Mart, and Wal-Mart's not going to carry an album with explicit lyrics. So I basically caved and allowed them to do a clean version."

Combined with the shriek of Veruca Salt's guitars, the lyrics offer a cathartic, cleansing burn. And Post makes it clear she's happy to have the heat of the spotlight to herself. "It's just me and my vision," she adds. "I'm not trying to keep a balancing act going with another songwriter. That conflict disappeared when Nina left the band."

Reluctantly Post acknowledges that Veruca Salt's comeback can't begin with a completely clean slate: She's performing a few Gordon-penned tunes on the band's current tour. "I had a lot of pressure to play 'Seether,'" she admits, "and I just flat-out said no. I said that for some time. [But] people still want to hear the songs that they know, and once again I kind of caved to some pressure from my label. Otherwise I'm playing songs from the past records that I wrote and songs from this album. Beyond that her songs are going to disappear. But this is such an audacious move to make on my end, and it is a transitional time right now where people are still wanting to hear those songs. And they may always want to hear them, but I'm not always going to want to play them."