PAUL WESTERBERG

'49:00'

WTF?! Not only did Westy unexpectedly drop his first full album in 4 years w/out ANY warning while I was on vacation, but he did it as a single long home-recorded track with no song titles...selling it as an online only release at a price of $0.49...and, finally, at a length of 43 minutes rather than the expected 49 the title would lead you to believe. If that wasn't crazy enough, the plot thickens relative to it's availability...but more on that later.

This decade has served as a beautifully weird chapter in the book that is Paul Westerberg's post-Replacements career. The return to form in the bi-polar (but stellar) double album that was 'Stereo/Mono' in 2002...the follow up w/ the the equally as cool self-recorded/directed album/documentary 'Come Feel Me Tremble' AND a 'blues' album from alter-ego Grandpaboy via 'Dead Man Shake' in 2003...the more cohesive, polished (and, maybe, a little less interesting) 'Folker' in 2004...the wonderfully lush pop genius set forth on the 'Open Season' soundtrack and, finally, a mini-Mats reunion on the Rhino 'Best Of' in 2006. Whew!

Since then, a near career-threatening hand injury and a big batch of Twin Tone-era Mats reissues were all we had to go by and then, somewhere during the week of 21-July, he lobbed another curveball w/ '49:00'. The tapestry of partial tunes, melodic snippets and complete songs (some w/ legit segues and some roughly spliced together) was like a musical slap to the face after 'Open Season'...albeit one that makes me say 'thank you Paul, may I have another'.

Make no mistake though, this isn't just a cast-off collection of home demos...'49:00' is rife w/ enough excellent full-blown songs to anchor this album. At times, that makes the decision to glue them together, oft haphazardly, w/ some stranger sonic snippets, a little frustrating. That said, Westy has shown to be at his best when delivering music from the fringe and I feel just as excited about his music since 'Stereo/Mono'. I've seen comparisons in this album to Bob Pollard/Guided by Voices and while there is significant parity there...it's done w/ a pop rock sensibility Uncle Bob could only dream about. I highly recommend picking it up...if you can find it.

'Find it?!' you say? Well, if the irony of a computer illiterate old-schooler releasing such a rough-hewn, sometimes lo-fi album via such a hi-tech method wasn't delicious enough...as of this posting, Amazon is no longer making the album available via it's online store and has no info on it's further availability. I'm hard-pressed to think it won't see light of day somewhere else, but the other part of me hopes it's gone away mysteriously as it came...like the Great Pumpkin. Reality is, it's floating around already and will likely float around even more now that you don't even have the legal means to obtain it.

Worth tracking down though. In lieu of posting a sample that would actually be the full album, enjoy one of my favorite tracks from 'Stereo/Mono' to get you in the mood. Also...WELCOME BACK, PAUL!