When I was in high school a little used CD shop called The Beat Goes On opened up in my little hometown of Claremore, Oklahoma. To my knowledge it was the very first shop of its type to ever open its doors in Claremore. I loved it. I used to go by there every week and browse the CDs and tape racks looking for anything interesting. Not having a lot of money in high school being able to buy CDs for $8 and tapes for $3 was a godsend.

I went there so often in fact that I became pretty good friends with the owner and coworkers. The owner was this really cool old guy (well he was old to me then, though he might not have been much older than me now) who used to tell me when he got anything in that he thought I might like. If I didn’t have enough money for all my choices that week, he’d let it slide, knowing I’d be back.

Even though I had a CD player and bought a lot of music on that format from the Beat, I always loved looking at the tape selection. I still had a tape player in my car and was always looking for something new to play on my long drives to and from school every day.

Enter Paul Westerberg’s 14 Songs. At the time I had never heard a Replacements song and didn’t really know who Westerburg was. I had heard his name through Spin magazine, but he was on the other side of my musical spectrum.

I bought the tape anyways. It remained a staple in my car for a long, long time. It moved me into Replacements love and I’m still a fan. I tend to forget about what with the hundreds of other albums I’ve obtained since then. But now and again I remember and give it a spin and remember what a good album it is. Yesterday was one of those days.

“Even Here We Are” is a low-fi number with just Paul and a guitar. He spits off all kind of pseudo-intellectual philosophies that I ate up as a teenager and now find a tad bit silly. It is still a fine song though and fits well on the album.

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