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I know that normally I wait until at least the following March or April to post my “Best Music of 20XX” mixes, but last year I managed to finish it by the end of January! However, in my “rush” to get it published, I inadvertantly left out one of my favorite albums of 2008, and so I figured I’d just go ahead and devote a whole post to it now, by way of apology. Another reason that I wanted to take the time to tell you about this album individually is that it was originally released in a really confusing & somewhat unfortunate way, which is unsurprising, considering the guy responsible, but a shame nonetheless, because it’s amazing!

The album in question is called (I think) 49:00 and it’s by former Replacements leader, Paul Westerberg. You’ve heard “Dyslexic Heart” maybe? Can’t Hardly Wait? Left of the Dial? Anyway, I’m not going to sit here and explain the Replacements to you, other than to say if you haven’t heard the following songs:

1. Kiss Me on the Bus
2. Swingin’ Party
3. Waitress in the Sky
4. Skyway
5. Androgynous
6. Left of the Dial
7. Unsatisfied

Then you should. But back to the matter at hand: 49:00. Even if all the songs on this album weren’t awesome in their own right (they are!) then this album would still be pretty marvelous, just from a structural/conceptual standpoint, although this also has a lot to do with why it’s release was so confusing. Here’s the deal:

1. Paul Westerberg turned 50 this year
2. The album is titled 49:00
3. It was initially released as a single-track MP3, that was 43:55 long
4. It cost 49 cents to download
5. All the songs kind of smoosh into each other, and occasionaly 2 songs will be playing at the same time. This seems to be done wilfully & often happens right in the middle of the most emotionally gripping songs on the record.
6. The album was pulled from all sites where it was available, about a week afer its release. (Possibly due to royalty issues with a covers medley at the end of the album? Or the inclusion of tracks that Westerberg wrote for a film soundtrack?)
7. Subsequently, a single track MP3 download was made available, which was called 5:05, and which was 5:05 long.
8. This song featured lyrics such as “Wanna sue me. Can’t see through me. They got a lawsuit. I got a swimsuit.” and concludes with Westerberg shouting “Fuck you!” repeatedly, while the chorus vocals repeat “five-oh-five-oh-five-oh-five” over and over again.

Got it? Anyway, the album is just totally amazing, and as clever as all the craziness surrounding its release may have been, I have a feeling that it didn’t really help the album find an audience, which is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE! For people who are familiar with the Replacements, and who know the level of extreme fanboy-ism associated with tracks such as the ones on my “you must hear this!” list above, let me just make a bold statement. This album is as good as, if not better than, many of the classic records that the Replacements are famous for. I can’t necessarily explain why, but there’s just something about the shambolic, mixed-up, home-recorded rawness of the songs on 49:00 that works perfectly, and as much as I love Replacements records like “Tim” & “Let It Be” sometimes I just have a hard time getting past the “hey-it’s-a-big-dumb-80s-rock-song!” production values of many of the songs on these records.

But 49:00…? 49:00 is just perfect. I love this record so much that I actually went to the trouble of downloading a special piece of software that let me split apart the big, annoying 43:55 single-MP3 track into individual MP3s *without* recompressing them, just so that I can post them here & let you in on some of the awesomeness that lurks in the 2nd half of the album. Personally, I just burned the whole thing to a CD & left it on repeat in my car for about 2 months, but I certainly don’t expect *everyone* to do the same. So here you go:

Visitor’s Day – This is a song about how even if you can’t hitch a ride to visit me in prison, it’s OK. We’re still cool. But you should know that it sucks.

Everyone’s Stupid – Westerberg may be 50, but if anyone’s ever written a better song about teenage angst, then I’d like to hear it.

Out Of My System – I feel like this song relates to the apocryphal Steve Jobs quote, “Real Artists Ship.”

Squeaky Obscene – My soul is gold, my heart is silver / Please don’t ask me about my liver.

5:05 – Again, I have no idea to what extent the weirdness surrounding the release of this album was staged or conceptually intentional, but the way I read it, it seems like Westerberg realized that there’s no such thing as an album going “out of print” these days, so it doesn’t really matter if it’s on sale for 2 days or 2 years, because the nature of online distribution will ensure that it’s accessible to anyone who cares to look for it.

So anyway, now I’ve done my part. All you have to do is listen to the damn thing! Feel free to use this embedded player, or better yet download the whole thing as ZIPped individual tracks (so you can hear it without dumb gaps between tracks!) And tell yo’ friends!

David Byrne reviews a new book on the past, present and future of urban bike riding and agrees with the author that “when more women begin riding, that will signal a big change in attitude, which will prompt further changes in the direction of safety and elegance. I can ride till my legs are sore and it won’t make riding any cooler, but when attractive women are seen sitting upright going about their city business on bikes day and night, the crowds will surely follow.”

Anyway, I don’t know how things are in NYC, but based on my observations here in SF I’d say that it’s already a fait accompli!

Beachwood Sparks did a really awesome cover of “By Your Side” by Sade several years ago, but does anybody even listen to Sade in the first place? Anyway, here’s your chance to hear both versions!

Sade:

Beachwood Sparks: