Nowadays if an artist hasn't posted their newest release to Itunes, people assume that they've given up on music and decided to pursue a career in accounting. Despite not having a computer and giving up on Itunes altogether, Paul Westerberg seems to have keen understanding of the power and creative possibilities of the internet.In 2008, Paul released 49:00 on Amazon as a digital download for the total cost of 49 cents. A concept album of sorts, it's one track, clocks in at 43:55 (more on that later), and can be described more or less as Paul Westerberg Radio. Each song crossfades into the next, a completely different song will pop up in the middle of another, and sometimes two songs will play at once in different channels. Kinda like driving down the road, flipping through radios stations as their frequencies fade in and out.
Some might say a clever gimmick to sell your record. An they'd be right, if it sucked. But fortunately for us it doesn't suck, it's kinda great. This is not background music, it's a good listen even if the whole one track thing does require a bit of dedication. With a running time perfectly suited for the morning drive or ride to work you wonder if maybe that was what Paul had in mind from the beginning.
Less than a month after it's release, 49:00 mysteriously was removed from Amazon. Some speculate it was due to copyright issues concerning a covers medley towards the end of the album. A few weeks later a new song 5:05 (the missing amount of time from 49:00) became available on Amazon with two price options for purchasing, 99 cents or $5.05 - either one gets you the same song. A few weeks later, 5:05 was removed from Amazon possibly due to the inclusion of a snippet of The Beatles "Oh, Darling."
So the question is, was it all a setup - Paul's roundabout comment on copyright and $1+ per song downloads or the evil empire of the RIAA stamping out a rebellious artist?
Who knows. Either way 49:00 and 5:05 are yet another document of Westerberg's career long refusal to be put in a box. And we are lucky to be a part of it.
These are hard to come by, check it out:
DOWNLOAD: Paul Westerberg - 49:00 & 5:05
Since 49:00, Paul Westerberg has continued to release new music on the cheap, some to better result than others. They are all still available on Amazon and for what amounts to pocket change these days you can grab some good tunes.
1 comment:
Thanks for putting this up. I listened to it on the way to work and it's soooo good. Don't worry about this being taken down or getting sued. I'm sure Paul wants it this way too. You are doing god's work my man.
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