Inside the cover of Grandpaboy's newest album, Mono (Vagrant), there is a list of obvious pseudonyms for the uncredited musicians and the statement that "who played what is irrelevant."

Although this may be the case according to the musicians, as soon as the opening lyrics to the first track "High Time" come blaring out it's clear who's singing, Paul Westerberg.

And though the album doesn't even list the artists' names, Westerberg's voice is unmistakable as he swaggers through 11 rock n roll gems.

Grandpaboy is Westerberg's side project from his more acoustic singer/songwriter oriented solo albums.

The difference between his solo work and this album is clear very quickly. The songs have a bouncy, rocking feel. The lyrics are delivered with Westerberg's classic rasp and cockiness. In fact, the sound and feel of the whole album has the distinct feel of a Replacements' record. In fact Westerberg is not the only former Replacement on this album. Bassist Tommy Stinson lends his help to Westerberg's effort at recreating their old sound. This work would seem to fit in perfectly with Westerberg's old band's work circa 1985's Tim and 1987's Pleased to Meet Me.

Mono would have been a perfect follow-up to these albums instead of the slower less rock albums with which the Replacements ended their career. Instead, the album arrives 15 years later and for Replacements fans it was well worth the wait.

The hard rocking "Anything But That" provides an early highlight to the album. Westerberg's vocals sound pained as always as he plaintively cries again and again that he'll "do anything but that."

The pain keeps coming with the next track, "Let's Not Belong Together" which contains more melodic vocals as Westerberg croons about "belonging to different worlds."

Just like with all of his work, the highlights always seem to come from when Westerberg opens up his tattered heart and lets his listener wallow along with him.

The quick two and a half-minute "Eyes Like Sparks" finds Westerberg describing his lover's "eyes like sparks" while his heart is "like gasoline." The song lacks the bounce and energy of the other tracks, but at the same time gives the listener a taste of how versatile the talents of this band are.

"Footsteps" is probably the best song here. The song is just classic Replacements.

That's all there is to it. There's a loose guitar intro and more of Westerberg's bouncy vocals as he sings "with a leap of faith or a jump of stupid, either way I don't know what I'm doing."

It's clear though that he does know what he's doing.

He's recreating what may have been the most overlooked and underrated band in rock history.

As he writes on the inside cover "It feels right. This is my blood."

It's obvious that this does feel right for him. It sounds better than anything he's done in 15 years and will leave all Replacements fans awash in the afterglow of brilliant rock 'n' roll.