Defend the Indefensible: Paul Westerberg

I only heard Stereo and Mono each about once or twice and though I dug hearing his voice, the songs themselves did little for me.

YES!

also, "AAA", offa last year's _Mono_ is the best track he's written in 16+ years. Shit like this pisses me off, since you know he still has good/great songs in him, but somehow chooses not to write them.

Same thing with Bob Mould, too. Talent is still there, but not chosen to be exercised.

I mean, come on people: the 'Mats made only two fantastic records, the rest were half filler anyway.

lamest excuse for fanboyism past the point of no return EVAH

eh, solo westerberg isn't *that* far from the more middling replacements tracks of which there are many ("the ledge" etc). i don't really think it's risible, although i wouldn't pretend it's great. granted i haven't hear "grandpaboy" or whatever the recent stuff is, perhaps that really is risible.

my favorite replacements lp is the last one so i might not be an authority on this subject.

The Star Spangles have their debut album out next week.

depends where you live !

BAZOOKA!!!, The Star Spangles' first full-length album was released in Japan on June 13th (EMI). It will arrive July 14th in the UK (Parlophone), and August 19th for the US (Capitol).

EMI [Japan] Parlophone [UK] Capitol Records [UK]

Why do Brits get albums by some US bands before the yanks? cross reference also with The Rapture.

The album only sounds Replacements-ish in parts, not as a whole. In general, it's a got a early 80s Minneapolis-via-Boston-via-NYC kind of thing going on.

Those na-na's always sounded really forced to me.

paul westeberg invents the 49-cent album.

So anyway, I never bothered to listen much to his solo stuff, but I just learned that he did this. I can't really express how many bonus points he gets for preserving the Ophelias' legacy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=409DBKlLsLo

Weren't they a CVB adjunct? Or maybe just where they got ... Immergluck?

i think "fugitive kind" from suicaine gratifaction is the best solo westerberg song

xpost. Immergluck goes Ophelias>CVB>fame and fortune.

"Dyslexic Heart" was my introduction to Westerberg and I have never gotten past it.

I never got past the title.

Suicaine is flawed but it's about the last time I think of Westerberg as a mature solo artist who just happened to be in the Replacements, rather than someone IMO who, more often than not, wants to conjure up the old sound and songwriting without really pulling it off

The intential lo-fi stuff doesn't interest me at all

I have no interest in this guy but 'Dyslexic Heart' is so so beautiful I don't think there's another song that I understand so fully♥️♥️👋

I LOVE Dyslexic Heart and I assume most Replacements fans are not as fond of it.

It's kinda (fittingly) bubblegum, but I've always liked that one, too. And unlike (iirc) Alfred, I like its clever conceit. "My heart could use some glasses," "Do I read you correctly?" that kind of stuff is cute, sweet and funny, imo.

Now, liking this song but saying you otherwise "have no interest in this guy," that I can't understand...

I do think it's out of place on the "Singles" soundtrack, it and the Smashing Pumpkins. Should have kept it 100% Seattle, or had Westerberg cover the Sonics or something. Maybe there just weren't enough grunge or proto-grunge ballads or romantic bops at the time?

lol yeah as a hardcore Mats fan I've never particularly liked Dyslexic Heart. Not because it's poppy or anything, he has other poppy songs, it just comes across as facile to me. But happy for people to dig whatever Westerberg they dig. I honestly respect him for seemingly hanging up the solo career, better than continuing to grind out stuff he's not really interested in (which is how a sizable chunk of his '90s-'00s output feels to me). I can imagine he'll resurface with something at some point, but I'm guessing he somehow made/makes enough off the back catalog to not need to do things he doesn't care about.

blegh

Cameron Crowe had already used "Within Your Reach" in Say Anything, safe to say he was a huge fan.

But Crowe’s biggest coup may have been getting Paul Westerberg to score the film. “I think there is like a soul connection between Westerberg and a lot of the music that was coming out of Seattle,” says Crowe of everyone’s favorite Replacement turned film scorer, who, like most of the Seattle bands, was weaned on Seventies rock and pop. Westerberg contributed instrumental cues as well as original numbers. “It’s not as reckless as some of the stuff you’re used to hearing from him, but it’s totally unpretentious, clear-eyed and soulful and it’s what you want him to be doing. He’s not replaying his past hits. His stuff runs deep.”

Crowe is particularly excited about a song called “Dyslexic Heart,” which ended up saving the film’s ending. “It’s about the rituals of going out and it’s like pure Westerberg,” says Crowe. “The end of the movie used to be this shot over the city, which was all these people, basically hundreds of people, all obsessing about love and different aspects of it. I wanted all their voices to just be a din. And as of those things that came off so much better on the page than it did when we actually started trying to do it, you know? Because we got all these people who were just a little too good at their voice-overs and it just sounded like a bad radio ad. And then Westerberg played us this song called ‘Dyslexic Heart’ and it said everything that I wanted to say.”

Westerberg’s involvement was a particular thrill for the film’s star, Matt Dillon. “Matt Dillon is huge replacements fan,” says Crowe, “and Westerberg is so shy, he would never meet Matt. I think Matt kept showing up at Replacements shows trying to meet him, and he never would. So it was Matt’s greatest day on earth when we called him up and said, ‘Hey, we got this guy who’s gonna help us out scoring the movie…'”

Dillon also wound hitting it off with Westerberg’s Seattle soulmates, but only after he underwent certain attitude adjustments. “Pearl Jam, who play Matt Dillon’s band Citizen Dick, ended up kind of schooling Matt in the whole Seattle thang. Because when Matt first came on the project, he said, ‘Oh man, I’m into jaaaaazz,” laughs Crowe. “I like jazz, and I like Westerberg, you know, but mostly I like jaaaaazzzz.’ And so then he makes friends with these guys in Pearl Jam and he just got it, you know? I think a lot of those musicians accepted him because he showed an interest and really kind of dressed correctly and cared about the music. Now, I mean, there’s no turning back for Matt. I think his jazz days are over. We heard from him the other day, he’s like, “Dinosaur Jr! They should be in the movie, don’t you think? It’s like, ‘No, Matt, I think we raided Sire enough for this movie.'”

“Although, come to think of it, Dinosaur Jr would be really good in this movie…”

Courtesy of the Creem – Bill Forman – June-July, 1992

Musician ran a lovely article at the time by Cameron Crowe explaining his efforts to recruit Westerburg, Chris Cornell, Eddie Vedder, etc for Singles.

Ah, here; it's in the October issue.

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Musican.htm

lol in what universe is Paul Westerberg “shy”??!!

Ah, here; it's in the October issue.

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Musican.htm

― boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, May 23, 2026 11:10 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

thanks for this. What year? I checked 92 and 93 and didn't see it in the table of contents, but I may have just missed it

xp Well, he has become very private, and I don't think that was a sudden change so much as a shift towards already-present inclinations.

Re: "Dyslexic Heart," it's not a favorite, but despite any perceived shortcomings, I enjoy it enough that I wish it has been included on 14 Songs as the opener (as well as "Waiting for Somebody").

"Waiting For Somebody" > "Dyslexic Heart"

@PPonzi:

go to 1992 column
click Oct clink
scroll to page 82 (page 70 in the pdf viewer)

and yes, thank you Alfred for the link, bookmarked it.

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera) at 10:21 23 May 26

lol in what universe is Paul Westerberg “shy”??!!

that's what all the drinking was for

xp Thanks, Steve!

I still don’t buy it. The man is not “shy”