Can't Hardly Wait - Paul

Can't Hardly Wait - Paul Westerberg's writers' block is over.

The City Pages devotes a couple of stories to the former Replacements star in today's issue.

I liked this part:

It's not surprising that Westerberg has turned exclusively to laying down tracks as a one-man band. He's a self-described misanthrope, though to judge from his rather tender interactions with fans in Tremble, that self-appraisal is an exaggeration. What's a bit strange is that he's making music--blues and various strains of the Chuck Berry tradition--that's rarely played in this solitary manner. Not that there's anything unusual about making organic-sounding rock one overdub at a time, and John Fogerty, a better drummer, set a precedent for playing this brand of boozy roots music all by his lonesome. Still, there's something funny about a presumably sober guy holed up in his basement looking for ways to make a song called "Hillbilly Junk" sound like it's being played by a pack of hillbillies strung out on junk.

That, of course, is the way I write and record music - alone, in my basement. Partly because I have no time to cultivate relationships with other musicians, partly because at the end of a day of job-hunting and chasing kids around, the music I write just isn't fit for human consumption.

I'm glad to hear him back. Along with Springsteen, Richard Thompson and Joe Grushecky, Westerberg was the songwriter I most consciously aped when I was writing music. While many of the old-time Replacements fans have fallen away as Westerberg's style diversified (some would say softened), it's fascinated me; Westerberg has gotten into his forties with a lot more style than his contemporaries (heard Grant Hart or Larry Sahagian lately?), and even with the ebb and flow of the muse, continues to write fascinating music that's as emotionally crisp as it is technically sloppy.

The autumn just got a little nicer.

Posted by Mitch at October 15, 2003 06:02 AM