Dean Wareham That's The Price Of Loving Me
Dean Wareham's That's the Price of Loving Me arrives as a reflective reunion that trades grand gestures for small, precise songs about time and memory. Across professional reviews critics largely single out “You Were the Ones I Had to Betray” and the title track “That's the Price of Loving Me” as the record's clearest pleasures, while other moments such as “Mystery Guest” and “The Cloud Is Coming” deepen the album's elegiac mood.
The critical consensus is nuanced: the collection earned a 59/100 consensus score across three professional reviews, with reviewers praising Wareham's songwriting craft, intimate vocals, and inventive arrangements but noting uneven pacing. PopMatters and Tinnitist emphasize vivid storytelling and the melancholic wit of cello and vintage Moog touches on “You Were the Ones I Had to Betray” and the title cut, crediting collaborators for subtle production flourishes. Far Out Magazine highlights mournful intimacy and understated guitar work but finds the first half prone to repetition, illustrating why critics agree on strong standout tracks even as opinions diverge on overall momentum.
Taken together the reviews frame That's the Price of Loving Me as a modest, carefully wrought entry in Wareham's catalog that rewards close listening: the best songs emerge through their emotional clarity and sonic detail, making the record worth exploring for fans of songwriting, reunion narratives, and quiet, reflective pop-rock. Below, professional reviews unpack where the album succeeds and where it treads familiar ground.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
The Cloud Is Coming (duplicate mention)
1 mention
"After listing off conspiracy theories about UFOs, parachuting German shepherds, and surgical experiments—” They put a human brain into a chimp, they say the simian tried to speak”"— PopMatters
The Cloud Is Coming (lyrical line)
1 mention
"“There’s no difference between the blue and the red, the cloud is coming for us all.”"— PopMatters
You Were the Ones I Had to Betray
3 mentions
"The lead single, “You Were the Ones I Had to Betray”, is autobiographical."— PopMatters
After listing off conspiracy theories about UFOs, parachuting German shepherds, and surgical experiments—” They put a human brain into a chimp, they say the simian tried to speak”
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
You Were the Ones I Had to Betray
Dear Betty Baby
Mystery Guest
New World Julie
We’re Not Finished Yet
Bourgeois Manqué
Yesterday’s Hero
That’s the Price of Loving Me
Reich der Träume
The Cloud Is Coming
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 4 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Dean Wareham's That's the Price of Loving Me feels like a warm reunion, and the best songs - notably “You Were the Ones I Had to Betray” and “The Cloud Is Coming” - show why. Brandon Miller's prose frames the record as both autobiographical and political, praising the vivid songwriting and the subtle contrasts that make tracks like “You Were the Ones I Had to Betray” grab hold. The review highlights the inventive arrangements and storytelling that lift “The Cloud Is Coming” and “We’re Not Finished Yet” into standout moments, while noting the record's sophisticated influences and emotional depth. It reads as an appreciation of craft and reunion rather than nostalgia for its own sake, arguing these best tracks underscore Wareham's continued surprises as a songwriter.
Key Points
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The opening single “You Were the Ones I Had to Betray” is the best track for its autobiographical punch and inventive arrangement.
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The album’s core strengths are Wareham and Kramer’s chemistry, sophisticated arrangements, and mature, reflective songwriting.
Themes
Fa
Critic's Take
In his quietly observant voice Ben Forrest finds the best songs on That's The Price of Loving Me to be intimate, mournful highlights like “You Were the Ones I Had to Betray” and the cinematic title track “That’s the Price of Loving Me”. He privileges understated guitar and gently lilting vocals, noting how moments such as “Bourgeois Manqué” break the album’s placid flow with brooding intrigue. The review frames these tracks as the record’s clearest pleasures, where Wareham’s twang, wry lyricism and a lightness of touch coalesce into the best songs on the album. Overall the critic treats the record as a modern continuation of Wareham’s Galaxie 500 legacy, praising select standouts while conceding that the first half risks repetition.
Key Points
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The title track and opener are best because they showcase Wareham's understated guitars, mournful atmosphere and cinematic melodic sweep.
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The album's core strengths are its restrained instrumentation, wistful lyricism and moments of stylistic variation amid a nostalgic dream-pop framework.
Critic's Take
Dean Wareham's That's The Price Of Loving Me reads like a quiet, elegiac homecoming, with the best songs savoring memory and small, precise musical gestures. The review highlights “You Were The Ones I Had To Betray” as a cello-driven single and the title track “That's the Price of Loving Me” for its conga rhythms and vintage Moog solo, both of which crystallize the album's melancholic wit. A tender cover, “Reich der Träume”, shows Wareham's lower, intimate voice reaching still for high notes, and “Mystery Guest”, an acrostic mourning a friend, proves the record's emotional core. The result is a short, carefully wrought set that nods to Galaxie 500 while insisting on the passage of time.
Key Points
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The lead single “You Were The Ones I Had To Betray” is the emotional centerpiece, propelled by cello and themes of friendship and betrayal.
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The album's core strengths are intimate vocals, melancholic yet witty lyrics, and tasteful, concise production that nods to Galaxie 500 while exploring memory and time.