POP RECORDS : FALL ALBUM ROUNDUP : GO WESTERBERG

“TIM.” The Replacements. Sire. Followers of the Replacements figured that the rambunctious quartet’s signing with major-label Sire Records would lead to some colossal test of independent vs. corporate wills. Would the Minnesota mavericks sneak into the board room and give hotfoots to the directors? Would the button-down businessmen lobotomize the wild impulses of the underground heroes?

There’s no evidence of any such face-offs on the Replacements’ big-league debut. If the record doesn’t have the over-the-top unpredictability of the band’s live shows, remember that Sire didn’t sign the group for its ability to self-destruct on stage, but for leader Paul Westerberg’s unmistakable potential to become a strong, original voice in rock ‘n’ roll.

Westerberg responds with a bravura performance, displaying both Joe Strummer intensity and John Lennon vulnerability in his vocals while the band kicks in with a ringing, tempestuous guitar-rock attack. With original Ramones drummer and power-hook expert Tommy Erdelyi producing, “Tim” is one of the most sonically dynamic albums in ages. The music charges, bristles, seethes and explodes as it keeps pace with the Westerberg’s mercurial flights.

By turns boy-next-door winsome (“Kiss Me on the Bus”), prematurely world-weary (the aching, bittersweet drinking ballad “Here Comes a Regular), utterly bratty (“Waitress in the Sky,” a petty, if musically charming put-down of flight attendants) and intensely impassioned (“Bastards of Young,” a baby-boom existentialist anthem), Westerberg is a real natural--his sheer personal force and sense of urgency let him transcend his sources, so even while he evokes models like the Who, the music never seems second-hand. On top of all that, he’s still close enough to real life to get a great song out of riding the bus.