How does an indie rock guy who found his biggest success in the 1980s release a solo CD and have it hit #1 on the Amazon charts the first week that it’s out? If you’re Paul Westerberg (ex- of The Replacements), you record the thing at home, leave it raggedy, encode all the songs as one long MP3 track, eschew a formal CD release…and sell the thing for 49 cents, practically eliminating the temptation for piracy.
That’s how you hit Number One.
Billboard describes the album, 49:00, thusly:
Westerberg played all the instruments on the decidedly lo-fi recordings, which often feature two songs playing at once for a few seconds and short snippets that abruptly cut off. “It’s almost like you’re scanning a radio dial,” Hill says. “You’re getting a glimpse inside of Paul’s head here.”
“49″ concludes with a strange mash-up of partial covers such as the Partridge Family’s “I Think I Love You,” the Beatles’ “Hello, Goodbye,” Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild,” Simon & Garfunkel’s “I Am a Rock” and Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” and a rave-up apparently sung by Westerberg’s pre-teen son Johnny.
Is it good? Is it weird? Is it a gimmick, or something you’d listen to more than once, or both? That’s up to you, but the reviewers at Amazon are raving about it and it’s half the cost of a 99-cent burger. If you’ve got a couple of quarters to spare, make up your own mind.
Okay, not really. The Saints held practice today as usual. Or at least, I assume that they did. Unfortunately, for a myriad of reasons I will not get into here, I’ve been forced to leave the team and my media comrades in Jackson to return to New Orleans. No worries, I’ll continue to post as much as I can and will be on top of any late-breaking developments. I’ll be back in Jackson on Wednesday with more stories about mohawks, the weather and mysterious roof spies.