Paul Westerberg Completes His 49 Minutes

A few weeks ago, Paul Westerberg released a set of basement recordings dubbed 49:00.  Much of the emphasis was on the format of this “album” – Westerberg released the whole thing exclusively as a single track MP3 for $0.89 at the Amazon MP3 store (which, if you buy a lot of MP3s, is an excellent retailer for DRM-free music with plenty of rotating sales).

While a relatively established rocker practically giving away music for less than a dollar warrants notoriety (granted, Westerberg hasn’t achieved Reznor-like levels of recorded philanthropy), the music itself deserves much of the spotlight.  Westerberg crammed this recording with his raw basement recordings of his trademark tunefully raw compositions (It reminded me aesthetically of the Stereo/Mono album from a few years ago).  Songs overlap, bleed into each other, and end abruptly almost like a bizarre pirate radio broadcast.

So when the actual album clocked in at 43:55, I didn’t think too much about it; some speculated that it was actually forty nine minutes of music overlapped over each other while others attributed the title to Westerberg’s wry sense of humor.  Regardless, I was simply happy to purchase almost three quarters of an hour of wonderful songs from one of my favorite singer/songwriters for less than a dollar (seriously, I spend more on coffee on a regular basis – if it came caffeinated I’d buy it every day).

I was content enough to enjoy the music until I read this morning (via I Am Fuel, You Are Friends) that the “missing” music surfaced for sale.  I haven’t bought it yet, but I’m amused by the two purchase options – you can buy the final five minutes for $0.99 (which, it should be noted, is 111% of the price of the first fourty four minutes!) or you can pay $5.05 (ha!) for what I assume is just the missing MP3.  However, since the original is no longer for sale, perhaps the $5.05 price gets you the entire 49:00?

Regardless, it’s worth checking out – the songs are raw, unpolished, and wonderful.  If you end up buying the final 5:05 through the link below (especially if you pay the higher ammount), please let me know in the comments.  I’ll update this post when I get it myself.

TuneCore: Paul Westerberg – 5:05. (Download link)