|
Post by wiser's deluxe on Jul 27, 2008 21:27:13 GMT -5
i find it remarkable that nearly one week since 49:00 came out: -- we've managed to put out some three dozen topics on this release. -- we're on our ninth 10th page (and some 180 replies on this topic alone). the re-issues didn't attract this much attention. -- we've added what seems to be dozens upon dozens of new members. -- we've watched Paul stay on top of the charts (OK, it's Amazon, but it's still a chart). -- we've pored over every lyric and i still don't think we've got all of them right (never mind the titles: it's still "Kentucky Riser" for me). -- we've all but buried the post about Alex Chilton making guitar hero. and we still don't seem to tire of it (49:00). and i like that very much, and i think it's a testament to this strange, pure and unexpected release. by the way, i finally got a colleague of mine to download it yesterday. he's a self-acknowledged "indie snob" (his words) and, guess what, he loves it. as weird as it may sound, and after all these years, is Paul Westerberg finally starting to get his public due? and whatever will happen to our cozy-angst-giddy-smart-ass-ridden little club should Paul ever become, dare i say, popular? oh, wait, this is a Replacement, right?
|
|
|
Post by FreeRider on Jul 27, 2008 21:57:01 GMT -5
....and we still don't seem to tire of it (49:00). and i like that very much, and i think it's a testament to this strange, pure and unexpected release. by the way, i finally got a colleague of mine to download it yesterday. he's a self-acknowledged "indie snob" (his words) and, guess what, he loves it. That's great. it still baffles me that there are a lot of people out there who just don't get it. but that's funny that an indie snob digs it--especially when Paul reveals his really telling us about his 60's-70's pop/rock influences with that collage at the end and includes a long bit of "I Think I Love You". I'd like to see him get greater recognition and more acknowledgement from his peers and to reap some financial reward that has been long over due. Maybe Paul will get the night club jitters should he get too popular?
|
|
|
Post by wecantgetanybetter on Jul 28, 2008 0:19:32 GMT -5
In the covers sequence, I notice this lyric flow which I doubt is coincidence:
I'm 18 and I -- I am a Rock -- Rocketman ...
I'm 18 and I am a Rock Et man
|
|
|
Post by pm on Jul 28, 2008 2:06:22 GMT -5
i've always been in and out with PW. like everyone here, i'm a lifelong fan, but at times i've almost given up. i bought suicane about a month after it came out because i was drifting away from pw afer the first solo albums didn't hook me enough. then, when stereo/mono came out, i waited like a year. of course when i bought it i fell hard again and have bought everything since, up to 49 on release day. glad i did, because i was disapointed with folker and dead man shake, but especially folker and was considering not buying again. but i always come back to pw, always.
he's the coolest there is, i'm thinking. i'm a musician, and when i'm looking for possible bandmates on craigslist, i always do a search for replacements, mats, and pw. people that dig that stuff know where i'm coming from and where i want to go.
this is a cool crowd here, so i'm saying this. when i mentioned these things to others they just don't get it. i've posted like 8 or 9 post on this site since joining, but everyone here is great, really. i was a "member" on skyway when i first was connected to the internet back in the mid 1990's but, like i said, i drift in and out of PW. but i always come back.
i've got to say that after all these years and hundreds of listens to everything he's written, i'm still thinking this is the best ever. i haven't been this excited about an album since my formative years.
|
|
|
Post by Seven Years on Jul 28, 2008 11:04:07 GMT -5
I posted this review after the release on Amazon and I still stand by it. I like the record and a fan of home recording myself but some of these songs deserve a better approach. Some good moments throughout but I just can't help but wonder if this record is meant as an advertisement for a few official releases coming soon? 1) Grandpaboy record, 2) Paul Westerberg originals record 3) covers record? (listen to the last 4:08 minutes) A great Replacements type rocker shows up arourd 14:27 "Devil Raised a Good Boy" It appears to be a tribute to Johnny Thunders. Some other good potential rockers show up around 33:00. Worth .49 or .89 for sure. 34:34 sounds like a good outtake from the first grandpa record. I am a huge Westerberg/Replacements fan but I am ready for him to work with a producer and a drummer again. I think little Johnny shows his pipes at 41:44. I swear I hear him sing "That's My Dad" Basically a free record which is pretty cool but can he either do an album of very good acoustic ballads or leave the drumming to a drummer? Is it to early to cry out for Rick Rubin ha ha! (That part is sorta a joke) www.myspace.com/randallgreg
|
|
cford
Star Scout
Posts: 803
|
Post by cford on Jul 28, 2008 12:11:23 GMT -5
I posted this review after the release on Amazon and I still stand by it. I like the record and a fan of home recording myself but some of these songs deserve a better approach. Some good moments throughout but I just can't help but wonder if this record is meant as an advertisement for a few official releases coming soon? 1) Grandpaboy record, 2) Paul Westerberg originals record 3) covers record? Several people have speculated that 49:00 is just a teaser and part of some grand scheme to rollout a major breakthrough release. I doubt if thats the case.. I am guessing that it is just an experiment to see if this sort of format can work...and to give the fans something after a dry spell.. As an experiment it would seem to me to be wildly successful..But, I bet the next one will not be 49 cents.. CF
|
|
|
Post by TomT on Jul 28, 2008 19:08:32 GMT -5
I wonder how much of each 49 cents goes to Paul. There is virtually no one for him to pay except maybe his manager.
I might be crazy but I think he should be able to generate 1 or 2 million downloads over the next year. Especially if he decides to promote it ie: interviews, radio spots and a tour.
I've heard touring is very tough because of the gas prices. Well, I would pay an adjusted price for this to see Paul crank these tunes out. Hell yeah I would.
|
|
|
Post by Philip Garcia on Jul 28, 2008 19:28:15 GMT -5
I wonder how much of each 49 cents goes to Paul. There is virtually no one for him to pay except maybe his manager. I might be crazy but I think he should be able to generate 1 or 2 million downloads over the next year. Especially if he decides to promote it ie: interviews, radio spots and a tour. I've heard touring is very tough because of the gas prices. Well, I would pay an adjusted price for this to see Paul crank these tunes out. Hell yeah I would. I'm no expert, but I think 1 or 2 million is way more than what would be likely to happen. Even at this cheap of a price point. I have no idea how his last few albums have sold, but I imagine selling 100,000 to 200,000 over a couple year time period (when promoting it) would be a more reasonable (and likely high) number. I wonder if he's set any amazon records so far. I doubt too many albums have sold that many digital copies on amazon. You have to figure that the vast majority of music sales are still in CD form, and as most albums are predominantly sold on itunes, I wonder if any digital album on amazon has even sold 100,000 copies. Of course Paul's album is different as amazon is it's primary distributor. I'd love to see him set some records with this album, I wonder how long he'll manage to keep the #1 spot. I bet it will have at least another week up there, but who knows. Phil
|
|
|
Post by wiser's deluxe on Jul 28, 2008 20:05:28 GMT -5
I've heard touring is very tough because of the gas prices. Well, I would pay an adjusted price for this to see Paul crank these tunes out. Hell yeah I would. i'm in for $100.
|
|
|
Post by kgp on Jul 28, 2008 20:28:02 GMT -5
I'm no expert, but I think 1 or 2 million is way more than what would be likely to happen. Even at this cheap of a price point. I have no idea how his last few albums have sold, but I imagine selling 100,000 to 200,000 over a couple year time period (when promoting it) would be a more reasonable (and likely high) number. I think his other records sold somewhere between 50,000-75,000. 100,000 for 49:00 doesn't seem unreasonable considering the buzz. (I'm sure more than a few people downloaded it out of curiosity.)
|
|
|
Post by TomT on Jul 28, 2008 22:03:18 GMT -5
I think you guys are shooting low and here's why. It's an instant global market now. I'm no expert but with a quality product (excellent reviews so far) at THIS price I see a lot of people checking it out. The people just need to know and that will take some work from Paul to promote it. Don't underestimate the power of word of mouth. I think Yoda said something to that effect.
|
|
|
Post by scoOter on Jul 29, 2008 11:54:27 GMT -5
i hope you're right, tom, but there needs to be a lot more msm coverage for non-fan dl's to happen en masse. there needs to be a story on the nightly news, paul needs to appear on the daily show/letterman/leno. pitchfork & paste, god bless 'em every one, are not enough to make people just go out & curiosity dl the album. the masses know nothing about 49:00 at this point. it needs to be talked about on e! before the masses start dl-ing it. basically, when my mom brings it up to me, i will know the masses are informed. and she DOES occasionally does bring up paul to me
|
|
|
Post by GtrPlyr on Jul 29, 2008 13:46:03 GMT -5
When I see the PW download on the same chart as Nina Simone I have to wonder how many people actually download stuff from Amazon. I have a feeling that the numbers are really low when compared with iTunes.
I think the Amazon top 10 download chart may be the music equivalent of the top 10 Poetry Chart. In other words, very little sales when compared to the marketplace as a whole.
Here's some stats I just found:
Amazon digital has 1/10th the market share of Apple iTunes, and a 2% share of the overall American music market.
2% is pretty small, so I don't expect the actual sales numbers to be that big. Also, without a tour in the works, or any TV appearances scheduled, the buzz for this could die off pretty quickly.
|
|
|
Post by hudson99 on Jul 29, 2008 17:19:04 GMT -5
Yeah, let's not start dreaming here.
As already stated, Amazon's download sales are still a fraction of Itunes. And despite the hype of the music industry moving to the download model, the vast majority of music sales are still the traditional physical product.
It may seem like Paul's getting a lot of notoriety out of this, and he's certainly getting more press than usual, but most of it is not from mainstream publications.
It's doubtful he's going to do any promotion for this, including interviews and public appearances. I imagine at some point he'll have a quote or two for a national publication if they show some interest, but other then that he's going to remain at home (hopefully recording more material). I'd be surprised if after this has run it's course he has more than 25,000 or so sales.
As for what he's making off this, didn't one of the articles linked on this site note that the reason Paul went with Tunecore was because they just require a small fee to get the audio placed on their site? Artists on Itunes generally see only a nickel or so off each download, but after the initial fee all of this cash goes right to Paul.
|
|
|
Post by TomT on Jul 29, 2008 17:54:09 GMT -5
Paul needs publicity. If he's up for it he can make it happen. He might not be up for it though... Sounds simple but he needs to go on tour with a few guitars and hit all the radio stations and TV shows he can along the way. Culminate it with a webcast of a show. Promote promote promote! Too bad it wasn't earlier in the summer and maybe Johnny could join him for the trip. Ok, now I'm dreaming.
|
|
|
Post by A Regular on Jul 30, 2008 16:25:22 GMT -5
something in my life is missing. sweet jesus. Been wondering why he wrote someTHING instead of someONE. Somewhere around here is a brief discussion on who he might be singing about (Tommy, his Dad, himself) but it must be a thing instead of a person. Friendship?
|
|
|
Post by bigbak on Jul 30, 2008 16:43:45 GMT -5
It would be an exceedingly huge slap in the face to the conventional music business if PW's popularity soars due to this release - and a great accolade to the man's convictions!
|
|
|
Post by raccoon on Jul 30, 2008 17:15:57 GMT -5
Does anybody else hear strains of the Stones 'Sister Morphine' bleeding into the beginning of Sweet Prince?? It may be just some old black tar oozing out of my noggin but I am pretty sure I hear a snippet of 'please sister..' and then Paul beginning Sweet Prince with the word 'morphine' to complete the phrase. Somebody confirm or deny!
|
|
|
Post by wecantgetanybetter on Jul 30, 2008 23:40:11 GMT -5
Does anybody else hear strains of the Stones 'Sister Morphine' bleeding into the beginning of Sweet Prince?? It may be just some old black tar oozing out of my noggin but I am pretty sure I hear a snippet of 'please sister..' and then Paul beginning Sweet Prince with the word 'morphine' to complete the phrase. Somebody confirm or deny! I can neither confirm nor deny. But that sounds a lot like the game I think he's playing with the lyrics of the cover songs he smashes together at the end: "I'm 18 and I ... am a Rock ... -Et Man ..."
|
|
|
Post by tommy-gun(s) on Jul 31, 2008 12:18:40 GMT -5
Just wanted to say I absolutley adore this "release" or whatever you want to call it. Easily my second favorite PW album behind Stereo/Mono. No reason to speculate on what his intentions are here because it is way good enough just as is. If he wants to expand on some of these ideas and fully record, great. If he doesn't, great. I have an awesome, eclectic, 43 minutes of music.
|
|