Look at what we've done to Paul Westerberg

[plug1]

When this whole .mp3 download thing started, I smiled. Finally, the fucking music industry would get what it deserved, I thouhgt. Take my ability away to buy singles when I want them? Well fuck you, I thought.

And besides, the artists that I like never made money off of record sales anyway. Elvis Costello once said that he never made a dime off of record sales (only publishing rights), so how would John Wesley Harding ever make a penny? My assumption was that artists just made money from touring, which was o.k. by me. However, in a recent Paul Westerberg interview, Paul noted that he is only making money from concerts now that he is touring solo. Considering that The Replacements are the only band to my knowledge to being charged to have their vomit removed from a ceiling, they were probably not the most careful band financially...but still!

My point here is that the music industry is fucked and I don't know how to fix it. After doing the big producer thing with Suicane Gratification in 1999 (the year of Britney, Ricky Martin, and Will Smith's "Wild Wild West") Westerberg fled to his basement in solitude and gave us his near perfect lightning-in-a-bottle Mono/Stereo collection.

Unfortunately, lightning did not strike twice for Westerberg on his new "Come and Feel Me Tremble" CD. (Note: I am not even going near the new Grandpa Boy collection. It is simply sloppy.) Not that "CAFMT" is bad by any means. It is just that this is one disc that actually needs the polish of a real producer. With it, it is "Let It Be Part II." Without it, I just have to let it be and dream of what it could have been.

"Crackle and Drag" could be one of the most beautful songs you ever heard if not for the "Majical Mystery Tour" drum barrage that come into the song half-way through. "Making Me Go" is the catchiest thing I have heard all year except for the unmixed backgound vocals that end the song. "What A Day For A Night" and "My Daydream" hold up well, but still are missing the expertise to get them on that "Dawsons Creek" soundtrack (where the big money is).

So, how do we fix this? Westerberg (and other heroes) will not face the pressure of big sales if they write/play/produce their albums in their basements for $860, which is good for them, but bad for the final product. I know that Westerberg is an extreme, but the trend is still worth discussing.

[adamapple]

i dont wanna hear paul on dawson creek, i dont watch dawsons creek, i think he's doing his thing and it's fine...why do we have to assume to make money you have to sell your songs as "product"...there are bands that make a living writing their music, playing it, preforming it.....elvis is flat out lying if he says he never made a dime on his stuff....and as far as the mats financial expertise, there was none, paul has talked candidly about the fact that they never actually signed a contract, which turned out to be about as bad as you could imagine, thats why he was so pissed when reckless records began to re-release all the "remastered" early twin tone records

[scoOter]

screw production values.

a song is good or it ain't. bless ya, paul!

[Chesterfieldking13]

So yeah, Paul could go out and blow a bunch of money to sound just like everything else on the radio... (ie. Look what hapen to Liz Phair when she rolled over for the major production...horse shit). The thing about Paul and or the Mats that we have all come to love is his attitude, the way he can go out and make something so incredibly horrible yet so incredibly amazing. I think that CFMT is something very charming, romantic, and hilarious how it sounds. That's Paul Westerbergs wit in all it's glory. Production at times is just filter to be commercially viable... Paul plays music he isn't tring to play people.

[Nickel]

I would hazard a bet that Paul is doing better financially now than any time in his career. How do you make money?

1. You make a product that costs money to produce.
2. You sell that product for more than it costs you to produce it.
3. If you sell enough to cover your costs, you make a profit.

I think the key here is that no, PW or GPB are not flying off the shelves. But S/M sold at least 100,000-150,000 copies. Paul has a small but loyal following. I'd bet Vagrant's marketing has sales projections down to a tee on how much revenue CFMT cd and DVD will bring in.

Paul records for next to nothing in his basement. Paul gives tapes to vagrant. Vagrant makes up basic artwork for the cd, sends cd and artwok to printer, they distribute. They sell x number of copies, they make a profit, paul makes a profit.

Their costs are so low it is ridiculous. Paul was given $150,000 up front for S/M, plus he said he would get a bonus if it sold over x number of copies. I don't know if he hit that mark, but the fact that vagrant is releasing more of his stuff, and Paul is sticking with them, that this is a good arrangement on both sides.

The more I listen to My Daydream and WADFAN, the more I believe it works almost better with the low production value and the slightly off beat drumming.

With some, Paul can't win. People criticize his first 3 solo disks as being over produced. Now they complain that these are underproduced.

Wonder why Paul doesn't give a damn?

[torethatbridgeout]

In his compilation CD/book of favorite songs, Nick Hornby fell all over himself complimenting Paul on the piano solo in "Born for Me." He said a better piano player would have ruined it by doing a more professional but less musical solo. I think he said you listen to that solo and it's just perfect for the song, and you know you're listening to a guy who lives and breaths songs.

So Paul gets reinforcement for this approach from more than just profits and sales.

[plug1]

I am not denying that there is charm in Paul's low cost production style.

Damn it...I love Mono/Stereo to death.

I am just saying that there is a compromise here and that Paul should not shy away from getting at least one producer of his choice involved in the future.

[zook]

No. No compromise. Not needed. The songs stand up on their own, perhaps not on corporate rock radio but as solid songs. Warts and all, which is good enough for Paul and is damn sure good enough for me. Producers polish, they push, they add stuff and the good ones even make some things better. But some things get ruined the more you try and "improve" them. There is no fixing needed. Sometimes it is better to think before you speak and with Paul it's better to record before he thinks.

[torethatbridgeout]

If not a producer, does he need an editor?

He left so many good songs off his 90s albums, and there's been a few headscratchers since then too.

[adamapple]

what "good" songs did he leave off records in the 90's...there isnt anything on any of the "soundtracks" that lives up to the albums, there "in between" material...

[Nickel]

The only thing I disagree on is Stain Yer Blood. That song is one of my favorites, I couldn't believe it was pushed off as only having soundtrack potential...Friends soundtrack at that.

[IainMcC]

Stain Yer Blood was included on the UK version of "Eventually"

[scoOter]

um, there is one song that should have made an album: a star is bored. i can't tell you how much i love that song. melrose place soundtrack... please! how about make your own kind of music? i could deal with that being on 14 songs. men without ties?

there are a lot of them, actually. as late as this new batch, paul left of a definite keeper on cfmt: everything goes wrong. i know it's on the dvd, but dammit, i want it on the cd!

[Brad]

I think the lo-pro on Paul's albums makes them all the better. I'm not a musician. I played the trombone in my high school band but not that well and I don't listen with a trained ear when I listen to music. I just go with how it makes me feel. I love all of Paul's cds but when Stereo/Mono came out I was like, "This is what he should be doing!" Songs like "Eyes Like Sparks" or "AAA" could never be radio hits but I love them. Absolutely love them. When I first listened to CFMT I got that same feeling of "this just feels right". I don't give a shit if he isn't a great drummer because he still moves me. It makes me feel something and that is more than most majorly produced albums do. I think Paul sums all this up in "Knockin' on Mine" with the line:
"They teach you to fix what needs to be broke-he who laughs first didn't get the joke."

[curmudgeon]

Completely agree with you Brad. Both albums sound absofuckinglutely perfect to me, warts and all

[Freddy]

plug1 said:

Not that "CAFMT" is bad by any means. It is just that this is one disc that actually needs the polish of a real producer. With it, it is "Let It Be Part II." Without it, I just have to let it be and dream of what it could have been.

"What A Day For A Night" and "My Daydream" hold up well, but still are missing the expertise to get them on that "Dawsons Creek" soundtrack (where the big money is).

.

When I go back now and listen to "14 Songs" or "Eventually", I still consider them good albums...but that just isn't Paul Westerberg to me. He took his shot at radio play, by being produced (fairly heavily on many occassions), and just didn't get the response that the record labels and probably PW himself wanted.

He has gone back to making music the way he wants to make it. He has total control now and can let it be heard his way. There are probably times when any solo artist could use someone there to say, "Hey, this might be better....", but what we are getting IS Paul Westerbergs music on these last few albums.

I like it better like this in many respects. I have stopped hoping he'll become famous so I can tell others "I told you so"....it's not going to happen. PW will make his music and it will make him money, whether he is on "Dawsons Creek" or whatever. It's just my opinion, I could be and probably am wrong. I guess it's just a matter of taste? FREDDY

[ElegantMule]

This is quite an interesting topic, because it is nice to feel like we've gotten beyond the wall of slick into the real heart of the songs, but I too find myself sometimes listening to PW albums thinking "Hmm, coulda used a little help there." So yeah, maybe a part time editor, or collaborator, or producer, but not much. I do not wish the 90's PW records on anyone. It's not that they were bad, it's just that they..sounded so far away. Like Paul was back in there somewhere...I like the new in your face sound.

[torethatbridgeout]

Stain Yer Blood and Seein Her are standouts for me. Waiting for Somebody too.

[Chris]

I really, really disagree with plug1 on this - and with his assessment of the two new albums, too.

Stereo/Mono/CFMT/DMS - all lo-fi DIY classics to me. Hope he never leaves his basement.

[woofagoofa]

So what's so wrong if it sounds like it's from his basement?

If it were over-produced I bet we would all be clamoring for anything that sounded like it was from his basement.

I live in the los angeles area, and I was in Hollywood two weeks ago, and a an indy record producer I met tell me that you can make SERIOUS money selling 100,000 records plus when it is all indy done.

I have also read somewhere that Amy Mann and Paul have both claimed to have made way more money since dropping into the indies than they ever did with the big companies.

So I say..................let's put up with the sound. He seems to be doing better than a few years ago.