Dead Man Shake

So, like all of Paul Westerberg's loyal fans, you've been dreaming of the day that the great cranky genius of slop-rock would record a blues album, right? OK, probably not, but Westerberg went and did it anyway (under the guise of his alter ego, Grandpaboy), and Dead Man Shake turns out to be a better album than you might expect under the circumstances. Like the previous Grandpaboy long-player, Mono, Dead Man Shake was recorded in Westerberg's basement studio, with "Winthrope Marion Purcival V" once again handling all the instruments, and though one can't help but wish the guy would find a decent drummer, the shabby but emphatic sound of these tracks at once honors the blues-leaning material on deck and suits Westerberg's musical instincts quite well. (The thick echo and chunky guitar textures also recall the sound of the late-'50s/early-'60s Chess Records sessions, though one doubts the similarity was at all intentional.) Dead Man Shake was released around the same time as the sound