Here is what I know about Paul Westerberg. He was the lead singer of the ground-breaking 80s-era indie band, The Replacements, and, though a self-proclaimed music connoisseur, I know almost nothing about The Replacements. Westerberg was also a mainstay in most grunge bands' "influenced by" columns, and he drank (drinks?) a lot. He also boasts a couple of songs on Cameron Crowe's "Singles" soundtrack -- and one of those songs, "Dyslexic Heart," sucks -- kind of a cross between "Shiny Happy People" and the J. Geils Band's "Centerfold" if you can imagine that.
So, if you are as familiar with Paul Westerberg as I am, you are probably also as surprised as I am that he's still making records.
Nevertheless, we have "Folker," the Minneapolis native's sixth solo album, ninth if you count the brief side-project Grandpaboy. And the new album is a bit of a pleasant surprise.
One of the first things you notice about "Folker" is that it is as rough-around-the-edges as Westerberg himself. Little effort is made at precision or musical cleanliness. The production is intentionally loose. There's no air-brushing here.
The record begins with the classic Ramones-esque "one-two-three" count, but you can only hear about half of the croaked "three" before Westerberg launches into the sarcastic, anti-pop culture consumerism "Jingle." "Buy it now / Buy it now / Buy it now. / This is my single, / This is my jingle" he croons over and over, sounding a bit like you would expect The Monkees to sound after a night of chain smoking and whiskey shots.
Having given the finger to post-modern capitalism, Westerberg gets down to the real work of the record: examining the past and the future and answering a few questions about each. "Now I Wonder" has Westerberg musing about everything from the power of religion to the hereditary nature of vice to what path he should take tomorrow. By the end of the song, he reaches his conclusion with soaring vocals: "We're damned if we do, / And we're damned if we don't. / And one thing is true: / If I'm wrong I'm not alone."
"Lookin' Up in Heaven" gives God another look and seems to come up empty: "I went lookin' up in heaven / but you wasn't anywhere in sight." A similar spiritual and emotional void haunts even some of the record's more up-beat tracks. In "As Far as I Know," Westerberg admits that, although he looks for love everywhere he goes, he's "in love with someone that doesn't exist."
Uncertain and more than a little nervous about the future, Westerberg turns his acoustic guitar to days gone by. "Well we made a mad dash / For the good life in the past" he sings in "Breathe Some New Life."
However, the past, too, has its ghosts. "23 Years Ago," one of the most successful songs on the record, begins perfectly with the aging rocker audibly taking a long drag on his beer. You hear the bottle hit the floor as Westerberg gives out a wistful sigh and hits the first chord. "23 years ago a boy wrecked his life. / 23 years ago on a long Texas night" he sings as though the beer just finished was not his first of the night. I found myself waiting for the lap steel to kick up and visualizing the bartender sweeping up the empty saloon as Westerberg confided his final song in the last drunk cowboy. Not bad for a city man.
With past and future bleak, Westerberg ends the record in the present and shows that he hasn't lost his sense of humor in spite of it all. "You don't wear no leathers, / Don't care whether or not you arrive on the red carpet," he tells the folk singer in "Folk Star." We all know he's talking to himself.
"Folker" may be a bit of a departure for Westerberg considering his past, but the record doesn't chart any new ground. A bit more pessimism aside, the record sounds a lot like 90s Tom Petty to me. If Neil Young was an urbanite, he might make a better, yet comparable, record. Still, just to be compared, though from a distance, to these two is a compliment to Westerberg and his new album. And one thing is for sure: "Folker" is a heck of a lot better than "Dyslexic Heart."
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