The Replacements: Classic or Dud?

Shared a cigarette for breakfast
Shared an airplane ride for lunch

Great track. Should've made Dead Man's Pop instead of "Back to Back."

Wait, it’s not on that?

It is, but as a bonus track, not the album proper.

I should say, Dead Man's Pop (had it gotten a final mix back in the day) should've come out, not Don't Tell a Soul, and on top of that, they should've swapped out "Back to Back" for "Portland."

"We Know the Night" would've been nice too, but according to Wallace they erased the full-band performance so it's lost forever. The version that survives is great, but I don't think they would've used it on a final album.

Dead Man’s Poop more like it.

Dead Man’s Pop definitely shoulda come out, but I don’t think there was any way that was gonna happen. The sound of it (the recent-ish mix, that is) is far more dry than that of PTMM or even Tim. And a dry-sounding record in 1989 was a non-starter if you wanted a hit, which they did, and almost got (“I’ll Be You” stalled at #51). DTAS got them more exposure than they’d ever had; without the digital-reverb-drenched gated-drum sound, no Petty tour, no regular MTV rotation, no radio play.

With the benefit of hindsight, Wallace and Jason Jones both suggested something that was plausible - Lord-Alge should've mixed the singles. There was precedent for that, both in the Replacements camp and elsewhere on Sire/WB's roster. So slap the Lord-Alge mix on to both the singles sent to the radio stations and the music video, but let Wallace take care of the album. (I don't think a tiny bit more echo would've hurt had Wallace gone that route too, which is plausible based on his work elsewhere.)

I always like the Replacements, but some days, like today, I absolutely love them. And almost any day, for whatever reason, "Don't Tell A Soul" is the one I reach for first. I *think* it was the first one I heard, because it was contemporary, but regardless, I really like it.

I'm glad DTAS has its devotees. I'm like that with Tim, which was likewise my first Mats record. I definitely came back around to DTAS after Dead Man's Pop, it helped me connect with some of the songs I'd shrugged at. "Anywhere Is Better Than Here" e.g., is much more of a stomping rock song without the layers of acoustic guitars and whatever else is on there.

Yeah, in the right situation, "Anywhere Is Better Than Here" is a really great song to put on when you're massively pissed off.

Talent Show is a really good way to kick off a record

I feel that way about "Pleased To Meet Me", my introduction to the band and favorite even though "Let It Be" and "Tim" are clearly better records.

"Dead Man's Pop" completely redeems "Don't Tell A Soul" for me, removing the awful production and adding some much-needed oomph to many tracks.

I am in my 50s and stuff like "Unsatisfied", "Answering Machine" and many others still resonate, differently now than when I was 20 of course but still have tremendous power.

Talent Show is a really good way to kick off a record

I enjoy a few songs on each of their records. "Rock 'n' Roll Ghost" is their best Sister Lovers pastiche, but Game Theory have a half-a-dozen better songs in the same mode.

Which?

Mary Magdalene
Any Other Hand
Where You Going Northern
Regenisraen
Together Now, Very Minor
Initiations Week

...and more if I included the Loud Family. I first heard of the band from a review in Spin of Lolita Nation which said they had hooks that Bryan Adams and the Replacements would kill for, though I was probably more intrigued by the mention of Roxy Music.

Those Game Theory songs and "Rock & Roll Ghost" may have had the same inspiration -- Sister Lovers -- but Game Theory were stone anglophiles in ways the 'mats never were. So with "Ghost" Westerberg nails the stark mood/ambiance of Sister Lovers, but isn't trying for the same hooky melodic sweetness. Even though the 'mats worshipped Beatle-worshippers Big Star, I can't think of a single 'mats song off the top of my head that I could call "Beatle-esque." I can think of at least 10 Game Theory (and Big Star) songs that fit that description.

Good point, and of course Scott Miller valued aesthetic "tidiness" much more than Westerberg.

Good description.

Saw a picture of a high school friend with Scott Miller. Believe he was in a band with Miller’s wife. Maybe I should compare notes with when my friends and I met the ‘Mats at The Grotto in New Haven. Alex Chilton was a no-show.

otm re "tidiness." And Miller's voice was mellifluous -- I can't imagine Paul navigating, I dunno, "Penny Lane" or something, but I can easily hear Miller nailing it.

I can't think of a single 'mats song off the top of my head that I could call "Beatle-esque."

Mr. Whirly

D'oh!

“Waitress in the Sky” sounds like Lennon could’ve penned it.

Ha! re: "Mr. Whirly"

BUT...was it directly inspired by the Beatles? Or by Tomorrow (featuring Bob's fave guitarist, Steve Howe)?

Compare the intros:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6gqN9HSa7U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TBwM6oz3Bg

This was posted elsewhere by Jason Jones at Rhino but apparently we shouldn't expect a Hootenanny box set due to lack of material. Bummer.

Unexpectedly, "The Twisted Art of Chris Mars"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmaw2DDeCQc

(Side note: Horseshoes and Hand Grenades is better than any Paul Westerberg album.)

Juxtapoz magazine did a lovely profile on Mars which focused solely on his incredible art at least 20 years ago. His pieces can sell for $25kUSD+, and I’m sure he’s made far more from them than he ever did in The Replacements

…

This ranking is pretty good imo but I'd move Hootenanny up from 6 to 4.

https://www.spin.com/2023/09/every-replacements-album-ranked/

I need to spend more time with Hootenanny. For some reason my brain classifies it as an EP and then I'm surprised when I see how many songs are on it. I only have it on vinyl and I got it after my big Replacements phase, so I haven't given it the attention it deserves.

There's a dude on the Hoffman Forums that works with Rhino on the new box sets, it might be Bob Mehr. But he was saying that there likely be some sort of a Hootenanny special release, it just won't be a big box set because he doesn't think there's enough stuff to justify that. But it sounds like an expanded release is in the cards.

There’s so many Mats threads I probably should have revived the one Bob Mehr recently showed up on.

Xpost Stink should be above DTAS

This ranking is pretty good imo but I'd move Hootenanny up from 6 to 4.

Same here. It's a really good album with some of their greatest tracks.

Clemenza's Real Life Top 10: I heard "Unsatisfied" in the car today, but just the slow build at the beginning (same part used so brilliantly in Adventureland--bumper music for a talk show on the Zoomer station here. Bizarre; this is a station for plus-50s, which makes sense in terms of timeline, but this is not a station meant for plus-50s who bought Replacements albums.

(missing end bracket there after Adventureland)

really dislike Adventureland for its revisionist history soundtrack. no disrespect to the YLT score.

We couldn't be farther apart there: love "Unsatisfied" and Husker Du especially.

LOOK ME IN THE EYE AND TELL ME

Bob Mehr's the best. His Mats book is one of the greatest music biogs I've ever read.

Yeah, I read it recently and it was great. It would have been really easy for the book to come across like a laundry list of fuck-ups, but it manages to avoid that.

Out of interest, does the book specifically talk about their major 1987 London show I attended where Paul was so fucked up he couldn't even stand, let alone sing or play? Or was that just par for the course at that time and not worth its own mention?

No, nothing specific about that show. There were more details about the prior euro tour because it was their first time overseas. The 87 shows were noted as being more of the same with rowdy London shows but low turnout outside of that.

Hootenany is my favorite but it might suffer from the bias of being the first Replacements record I bought

I have it as high as 3rd on some days. YMMV, but the thrash rockers add to the overall album for me, rather than, I dunno Red Red Wine or whatever.

November 15, 1987 @ Orpheum, Minneapolis. "Notes: during ‘Never Mind’ Paul falls off the stage. You can hear a thump in the recording. ‘Dude Looks Like A Lady’ (Aerosmith) is inserted during ‘Gary’s Got A Boner.’

I know it's been discussed here and elsewhere, but the reported relative lack of traction the Replacements had/have outside of America ... that's totally linked to the fact that the band's fucked up-ed-ness is fundamentally, even foundationally American, right? I can't think of a better metaphor for this country than a self-destructive, simultaneously effortlessly brilliant and accidentally brilliant band as apt to rip your heart out as fall off the stage, or offer galvanizing, generation-defining anthems alongside nods to late-era Aerosmith in the middle of a song about boners.

I think it's that particular mix of decadence and unpretentiousness, though even by that standard there's not really anyone else like them in America, either.

we're comin to your town
we're gonna fall right down
we're an American band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ8nlsZIJUk

That's ok