The Replacements: Classic or Dud?

nahh you just gotta follow dude's trail but he has the whole set on his channel on yt

http://www.youtube.com/user/chriss999

Another guy named SquirrelBait also posted them and somebody said they were on the Twin Tone website.

Thanks.

Friend posted this on FB tonight. (Was there really a Replacements/3 o'Clock/R.E.M. triple bill? 11th-grade me would have died.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWwJNm7q2cs&feature=player_embedded

something about 1986 d-bags prancing about brings out the modulation and chorus that's all over the guitar.

^^ More compelling evidence of why "Bastards of Young" was such a great video.

(Was there really a Replacements/3 o'Clock/R.E.M. triple bill? 11th-grade me would have died.)

Yeah, and here's a review of the show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_vRF_prXJs

(So many great clips on their yt channel -- one live one of scratch acid from 1985)

I found a remaindered copy of their Rhino best-of for $2.50 this afternoon. I think I have most everything on there--possibly even everything--but obviously I couldn't pass it up. I love compilations where you get different labels co-operating. Anyway, my only quibbles with the choices would be the omission of "Johnny's Gonna Die," "Go," and "Hayday." Looks like they got everything else that I love. Maybe "Favorite Thing" should be on there too.

they only had one decent song ("Within Your Reach"), and that relied on a drum machine!

o_O @ 9 years ago

Maybe "Favorite Thing" should be on there too

yeah, that one's great

Check out 41 across in Monday's NY Times crossword

Not sure I can access that...I'm going to guess "Stinson," "Hootenanny," or "unkempt."

That quote from nine years ago is pretty funny--I know the Replacements are always the first band I think of when I think of drum machines. Also found this from Chuck six years ago: "Someday maybe somebody will explain to me why "I Will Dare" (which isn't even very catchy!) is considered a great song. But it definitely hasn't happened yet." If someone can goad Chuck to get on here and start arguing with me about the Replacements, it'll be just like one of those Whiney-Deej things, but for old people, and with better manners.

would goad

they only had one decent song ("Within Your Reach"), and that relied on a drum machine!

o_O @ 9 years ago

DTP (Dan Perry) and his goth new wave tastes are not to be trusted!

hey btw i have everything let it be & after, should i get 'sorry ma' & 'hootenany' & 'suck' or just one or a few of those or

Liz Phair (!) said that anyone who's heard "Let It Be" has ended up LIVING the album for about a year afterward.

boom

I don't have their final album, but, for me, everything else is worth owning to one degree or another--there are great songs on every one of them, even Don't Tell a Soul. They vary in overall quality, of course. Of the three you mention, I'd go with Hootenany. I've been listening to this compilation for the past hour and just loving it. I did think of a couple more songs I wish were on there: "Left of the Dial" and "Rock 'n' Roll Ghost." I think they probably deserve a double-album compilation, although a double wouldn't be as consistently great as this one is.

As a fan of a couple of Replacements albums, I was also struck by the demurrals when I joined ILM seven years ago -- I assumed "everyone" liked them. I've evolved enough that I understand those demurrals now. These days I'm apt to question myself whenever I reach for the the-sloppiness-is-part-of-the-charm line of defense, for any band.

The Phair quote is excellent. I spent a certain percentage of 1984 stumbling home drunk and throwing on "I Will Dare." It's miraculous that my copy's still in excellent shape--record collectors make for the most fastidious drunks.

I've never thought the Replacements needed the sloppiness-is-part-of-the-charm defense. I mean, I guess that's there a little bit of that in why I love "I Will Dare," but one thing that makes this compilation so great for me is that it leaves out the "Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out"/"Gary's Got a Boner" side of the band--I didn't like that stuff at the time, and have even less use for it today.

"I guess that there's a little bit..." (Sloppiness is part of my charm.)

"Left of the Dial" is on there--sorry, I must have briefly lost consciousness. This compilation gets better by the second.

I must have briefly lost consciousness.

you've been listening to let it be, haven't u

I feel like DTAS is sorely underrated. It's not a great Mats record, outside of "I Won't," but it's a damn fine late 80s pop/rock record!

I'm a huge fan of everything starting with "Let It Be" but I made a little comp of my favorite stuff from the thrashy early stuff:

From "Sorry Ma":
1. Takin' A Ride
2. Customer
3. Otto
4. I Bought A Headache
5. Johnny's Gonna Die
6. Shiftless When Idle
7. More Cigarettes
8. Don't Ask Why
9. Raised In The City

From "Stink":
10. Fuck School
11. God Damn Job
12. Dope Smokin' Moron
13. Go

From "Hootenanny":
14. Color Me Impressed
15. Within Your Reach
16. Treatment Bound

Since I made this I bought the expanded "Hootenanny" reissue and have warmed up to it much more, but those 3 tracks above are far and away the stand-outs for me.

hey btw i have everything let it be & after, should i get 'sorry ma' & 'hootenany' & 'suck' or just one or a few of those or

― HOOS the master??

Nice mix, GMB. You've gotta find room for "Kids Don't Follow" and "Hayday," though--they're non-negotiable.

Sorry Ma -- hit parade. "shiftless when idle" among my personal theme songs.

All shook down -- didn't love love it when it came out but I was 15, so... Now I get it. Very adult, but muy poignant.

Hayday has that great ants-in- pants thing they do so well. Love that song.

'shiftless when idle' speaks on so many levels to me

As a defender of lots of marooned big production failures from the eighties, I have nothing good to say about Don't Tell Me a Soul besides loving "I'll Be You" and "I Won't": its terribleness has an air of desperation.

I don't remember the album well, but I'll stand up for "I'll Be You" and "Rock 'n' Roll Ghost." I just double-checked the latter to see how it held up, and to me it still sounds great. As a clock-running-down, getting-too-old-for-this song, it reminds me of Lennon's "I'm So Tired" or the Ramones' "Pet Sematary."

I'll defend DTAS because "achin to be" however corny spoke to my 14 year old brain supermega bigtime. My affection may be pure nostalgia but that album was my best friend. I remember listening to side b and hearing the yooooooooow of anywhere is better than here and really -- who doesn't identify with that at 14?? I'll defend it on personal grounds. Shortly after I found/ bought sorry ma, then all shook down came out, and it was a little confusing but I was in love. Nothing mattered.

Nice. Westerberg was such an interesting combination of the 14-year-old kid and this cranky older guy. He was at his best when he split the difference; when he veered too far towards 14 ("Gary's Got a Boner") or cranky old guy (there's some of that on his solo records--along with some good stuff), he wasn't as good. Unless the "Gary's Got a Boner" side of the Replacements was in fact Bob Stinson, in which case another ingenious theory down the drain.

only dud on don't tell a soul is "i won't" because it's just sort of directionless and raucous; rest of it is so completely solid despite production. "talent show," "anywhere's better than here" (sounds like a rip in the earth), "darlin' one"... great fucking record!

Knowing Alfred's history with championing weirdly produced records in the 80s, have always been a big surprised on Don't Tell a Soul! I think it's underrated. That's one corrective I tried to make when reviewing reissues for Pfork.

I adore the first four LPs. I play "Sorry, Ma" most often, "Hootnanny" the least and the other two in equal amounts.

"All Shook Down" was horrible. Worst show I ever saw was them on that disc at Madison Square Garden supporting a bloated Elvis Costello.

But overall, mucho classico.

Sorry Ma is glorious. Every home should have one.

ASD is pretty patchy, the quieter moments are the best, but certainly not the despairing alt-country before alt-country classic that UNCUT etc wants you to believe it is. I don't think the band had anything to do with that scene at all.

Knowing Alfred's history with championing weirdly produced records in the 80s, have always been a big surprised on Don't Tell a Soul! I think it's underrated. That's one corrective I tried to make when reviewing reissues for Pfork.

I'm with on "I'll Be You" -- top ten 'Mats.

*I'm with you

Check out 41 across in Monday's NY Times crossword

awesome for the clue, and doubly awesome for the answer, which instantly evoked the bridge of "alex chilton."

james redd: how did you see this on sunday afternoon/evening? do they post monday's puzzle online that early?

Yes, fcc, Sunday and Monday puzzles both post very early.

We've been over Don't Tell A Soul a lot on ILM, & I'm a defender. "Talent Show" remains an apex: the clear-eyed pursuit of an ambition you know seems silly to others, aware of your shortcomings but also of your talent, & most importantly, trying. When indie takes up with the sad feckless loser, I lose interest; ain't much to rake anyway in the fall.

The guitar sound on that is just so horrible on that album- I remember wanting to kill the Lord-Alge brothers when it came out. Although maybe it wasn't really all their fault, couldn't stand most of the material either- it was some kind of logical progression from the live version of "Can't Hardly Wait" to the bland studio version to the bland studio versions of material that wouldn't have been exciting live anyway.

Just read about this in the liners to the DTAS reissue I got used for three bucks yesterday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5CaagwSYGk

I'm with on "I'll Be You" -- top ten 'Mats.

Yes.

"I'll Be You" wouldn't make my personal Top 10, but I agree that it's excellent. It mentions Surfer Joe, which is neat, and also mentions Canada, which is even neater.

Tom Petty sure liked it enough.

Just read about this in the liners to the DTAS reissue I got used for three bucks yesterday:

I saw that when it aired, the International Rock Awards. Even though the 'mats had been on SNL a couple years earlier, seeing them here on prime-time network TV (I think it was ABC) felt like you'd wandered into an alternate universe. It was one of those occasions where you wanted to excitedly call up every 'mats fan you knew to tell them about this, but then you realized you only knew about three people who even knew who the 'mats were, and only one was a fan.