I’m In Love/With His Songs
I stayed up to watch former Replacement Paul Westerberg on Letterman last night (I taped it, too, just in case). Westerberg looks pretty good. A lot less ravaged than you would think for someone who partied so hard. He wore a weird outfit: tight, tight leather pants and mittens hanging off his sleeves. Also some kind of pointy winter hat that looked like a tribute to Minnesota.
The new song was kind of cool. A little garage-y and lo-fi, perhaps a side effect of being on an indie label now. Or maybe it’s just a reaction to bands like the Goo Goo Dolls stealing his sound and having huge mainstream success with smooth, polished versions of his songs. Either way, as ragged as Westerberg was, you knew it was him by the chorus. His voice has gotten a lot better since the Place Mats, too. The only weird thing is that his music really hasn’t changed since the Replacements. In fact, I think it’s regressed since “Tim.” It’s almost like he’s going backwards. I always expected his music to get grander as he got older, since the defining characteristic of Westerberg songs is the fact that they’re so pretty in spite of themselves. I think the Goo Goo Dolls took away that option, even though he could do it a hell of a lot better. It’s like the market can only support one commercial version of the Replacements, and the Goo Goo Dolls are entrenched.
Also, his band has the heaviest drummer I’ve ever seen. He’s gigantic. He looks like he’s maybe 300 lbs!