On Disc

Paul Westerberg

49:00

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BY Paul Isaacs   July 30, 2008 15:07

Editorial Rating:

Trust Paul Westerberg to create the internet’s first equivalent of a music store bargain bin. His first record since 2004’s dreary Folker, 49:00 is only available as a digital download from Amazon and Tunecore, for the princely price of 49 cents. Featuring a dozen-or-so tunes mashed up together into a single track — songs stop and start, and cross speaker channels randomly — it’s probably Westerberg’s most lo-fi release since The Replacements’ cassette-only 1985 live album, The Shit Hits the Fans. The quality of the actual songs is pretty questionable — like a lot of the singer’s recent output, every tune sounds like a variation on “Waitress in the Sky” or “Knockin’ On Mine” — but it’s certainly Westerberg’s most fun record in a long while. Sure, it’s impossible to tell whether 49:00 is a gift or a goof-off, a present or a piss-take — but when it’s this enjoyable, why worry?

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