Replacements Albums, Best of the Worst: Don't Tell a Soul vs. All Shook Down

the production's never bothered me on Don't Tell A Soul--it's not half as noticable as it is on Tim--it's that the songs kinda suck except for Talent Show

Keep in mind that I love some of the production/engineering work done by the people that worked on DTaS - the Sons of Freedom s/t album was amazing and it was enhanced by that production thump. With the 'mats, it was just the wrong fit.

the production's never bothered me on Don't Tell A Soul--it's not half as noticable as it is on Tim

You've got to be kidding.

I resent the characterization of All Shook Down being one of the worst, really. It's my favorite 'Mats album, even over Tim and Let it Be or whichever one seems to be the consensus fave at the moment. There's a great warm, sort of private sound on All Shook Down that was a perfect goodbye kiss from the band (or what was left of the band at that point).

Conversely, Don't Tell a Soul is tied with Pleased to Meet Me as the worst, most phoned-in sounding 'Mats album. All Shook Down was a welcome step up after two dud albums.

You've got to be kidding.

didn't PP say something about Tim sounding like the band was playing down the hall? at least On Don't Tell a Soul you can hear everything, nothing's muffled

Where the first four records sounded like The Replacements were playing live in front of you, this one sounded like they were playing in a room through the wall and down the hall in some loft you were trying to sleep in.

OTM^^^

Pleased to Meet Me is their best, Don't Tell a Soul is their worst (unlistenable apart from Talent Show and I'll Be You), All Shook Down is like half of a good album

Pleased to Meet Me has a lot of really half-assed songs on it. Aside from "Alex Chilton" and "Skyway," most of this album teeters on total shitdom. The songs on Don't Tell a Soul are not all that bad; it's a production issue more than anything else. And "Anywhere's Better than Here" flat out kicks ass.

I.O.U. - - Great opening song
Alex Chilton - classic
I Don't Know" - - silly and stupid in a good way, total throwaway, not in a Kiss Me on The Bus sentimental way
Nightclub Jitters" – i could see people not liking this, but i dig it
The Ledge" – good, not great
Never Mind" – great
Valentine" - - this plus Never Mind great one two punch
Shooting Dirty Pool" - get your money on the table, get your head out of your ass
Red Red Wine" how could you not like this song?
Skyway" – fuck yeah
Can't Hardly Wait" fuck yeah part II: the return of Fuck Yeah

start to finish excellent

The problem is that most of the PTMM album is just Replacements-by-the-numbers. It has their unique sound, and it's instantly recognizable. It's just not that good. Even though it's the first Replacements album I owned, it's the one I always forget exists. The songs for the most part don't warrant returning to. "Never Mind" is like a bad attempt at re-writing "Unsatisfied." "Nightclub Jitters" is an interesting genre exercise, but it's not that great of a song. "Valentine" is pretty much the definition of a generic Replacements song. "IOU" is almost a carbon copy of "Gary's Got a Boner" but less memorable and less funny. "I Don't Know" sounds like it was written in the studio 5 seconds before the record button got pressed. "Shooting Dirty Pool" is faceless bar-rock, and might as well have been performed by George Thoroughgood and the Destroyers. I have to really try to enjoy this album.

Pleased to Meet Me has a lot of really half-assed songs on it.

REAL TALK

every Replacements album has a bunch of half-assed songs on it - this is a band whose entire rep is based on pretty much never using their whole ass.

"Never Mind" is like a bad attempt at re-writing "Unsatisfied."

???? The two songs don't sound anything like each other

OU" is almost a carbon copy of "Gary's Got a Boner" but less memorable and less funny.

don't get this at all, the latter is a jokey throwaway lyric and the the former is a barnstorming opener. I agree with Mr Que's assessments of the individual tracks fwiw. If this is by the number those are some damn good numbers.

"Never Mind" is like a bad attempt at re-writing "Unsatisfied."

???? The two songs don't sound anything like each other

also this. one is a 12-string acoustic ballad and the other is a mid-tempo rocker

I Don't Know" sounds like it was written in the studio 5 seconds before the record button got pressed.

That's what makes it good!

"Shooting Dirty Pool" is faceless bar-rock, and might as well have been performed by George Thoroughgood and the Destroyers.

hahaha no.

Let's go back to pretending these two records don't exist, okay?

Well, I still feel like "Never Mind" is trying to go for a similar feeling as "Unsatisfied" but can't really pull it off. The riffs for "IOU" and "Gary Has a Boner" are really similar IMO. Anyway, my point is that PTMM is kind of forgettable and empty to me.

I was going to care about your opinion but then I remembered you're that guy that hates Steely Dan

I don't like PTMM, but do like Steely Dan. Where do I fit into Shakey's list of internet respect?

http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:Quyu5Wox5EtjcM:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/Rankin/respeck_knuckles_s.jpg

This is such a perplexing forum.

Que OTM re. PTTM: great album (was about to say "great fucking album" but actually, no).

I'm probably alone, but I prefer the horns-and-all version of "Alex Chilton" to the demo or whatever. PTMM isn't a great album, but it's a pretty good one that could have been great had "Shootin' Dirty Pool" and "Red Red Wine" been left off.

And, hey, sometimes the high budget production frills help, like the saxophone blurts and Tommy's laugh on "I Don't Know."

man "Red Red Wine" is my favorite moment on there; I have no idea what they're singing about (uh, wine, I guess) but c'mon, the wild singalong at the end is awesome.

uh i don't think it cost a lot of money to mix in Tommy's laughing

that's not my point: they had a guiding hand in the studio who could offer mixing details like the laugh.

I'll bet Tommy Ramone cost more than Jim Dickinson

It's hard to believe that the same Jim Dickinson who made "Kangaroo" is the same guy who ruined "Can't Hardly Wait."

It's hard to believe Jim Dickinson.

i understand and agree with complaints about the production on dtas. i understand and disagree with complaints about the production on tim. i think something is very wrong and strange with complaints about the production on pleased to meet me.

This thread has my blood pressure up. Both of these albums are amazing and this:

If not for the shiny production, Don't Tell a Soul might be their strongest album front to back.

No, I'm not kidding.

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Wednesday, 10 June 2009 16:56 (Yesterday)

is pretty much OTM.

Complaining about the production on DTAS while singing the praises of Tim (probably the most poorly produced album of all time) is ludicrous. Typical hipster sacred cow shit.

It goes like this:
PTMM > Let It Be > Don't Tell A Soul > the rest

"Hipsters" also think Tim has better songs, hipster.

I generally don't mind the production on any of the albums to the point where I can't listen to them-- with the exception of the horns on PTMM. Horns on a Replacements album is completely unfitting.

Even though it doesn't have any single song that approaches I'll Be You, All Shook Down is a much better record than Don't Tell A Soul.

I just think that rock n' roll should be sung while wearing a vest.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Tim (probably the most poorly produced album of all time)
Hey, have you ever heard of a band called Hüsker Dü? Because...

... or maybe that was engineering.

DATS wins over challops, yay. I heard a few tracks from DATS today and was all "yes, this is GREAT! despite sounding like they got Phil Collins' retarded cousin to produce."

Whereas every time a song from ASD comes up I'm "Geez, what shitty band trying to sound like the Replacements is this?"

Pretty close-- seemed like it would be.

The thing is, in 1989, it didn't necessarily sound like horrible production. Compared to any random handful of hair bands at that time (or, say, Pearl Jam's Ten), it could even come out sounding underproduced.

(Of course, compared to, say, Let It Be, yeah, it's bombastic as shit)

(Don't Tell A Soul is what I'm talkin' about)

I'm finally listening to the expanded edition of Don't Tell A Soul. "We Know The Night" is a killer. It's a solo acoustic take, but dig this line:

"In the afternoon, my mind ain't sleepy, it's preoccupied"

look I don't need to explain to any of you what he means but it's naked rock and roll.

all shook down is jam after jam - best ever

they should have gone the whole hog and got Mutt Lange to produce DTAS

ASD's list of guest musicians is a joke, not a proper Mats album.

Total Uncut magazine 'lost classic' bullshit

The Replacements have nothing to do with 'alt-country' either

DTAS is brilliant though

Kidding aside, I guess artistic, kind of shy, earnest, partial to granny dresses and thrift stores.

Manic Pixie Song Character

Kidding aside, I guess artistic, kind of shy, earnest, partial to granny dresses and thrift stores.

So he WAS singing to little 14 year old me?? Whoa

"She's kind of like an artist, and kind of like a movie, but mostly Saoirse Ronan is... ACHIN' TO BE"

There’s a little part in the recent oral history of Lilith Fair where Liz Phair remembered having water splashed in her face by Natalie Merchant that made me lol
It made me think Natalie Merchant had/has more impish spirit than I gave her credit for!

I very distinctly remember the Natalie Merchant connection coming from this article in Spin where the writer says Achin' To Be is about a "girl who you know looks like Natalie Merchant." (Totally recommend flipping through that issue btw)

I'm pretty sure in the book it specifically says it was about his sister but maybe I'm misremembering

That issue had a reasonably significant impact on me. While Sex Machine isn’t quite as great as they make it out to be (though an un-futzed-with version is coming out next month), many of the other lists sent me on investigating scurries.

And the Winger ad is all-time.

> That issue had a reasonably significant impact on me.

Me too! I still have my copy

- Tim (probably the most poorly produced album of all time)

- Hey, have you ever heard of a band called Hüsker Dü? Because...

Tim is notoriously a poor sounding record, but it's never been a deal-breaker for me, partly because it sounds poor in a familiar way: it reminds me of the Spot-engineered Hüsker Dü records and even some Ramones albums.

- I'm finally listening to the expanded edition of Don't Tell A Soul. "We Know The Night" is a killer. It's a solo acoustic take, but dig this line:

"In the afternoon, my mind ain't sleepy, it's preoccupied"

look I don't need to explain to any of you what he means but it's naked rock and roll.

It really is a highlight. (FWIW, it was remixed for Dead Man's Pop with a spoken intro left in.) Wallace mentioned that he recorded a full-band version of the song too - not the sloppy one with Tom Waits but presumably a proper recording that could've been used for the album. Unfortunately, when the band erased a bunch of tapes in a rush of bootleg paranoia, Wallace said the original multi-track was one of the casualties, and that was all they had since it hadn't mixed it yet. Hard to see how it would've beat the solo version we do have though - the spare guitar-and-piano arrangement really enhances the mood.

- i love "asking me lies" and many variations thereof

Count me in as another fan of this track. I didn't even remember how it sounded on Don't Tell a Soul, but it's fun stuff here, especially on the bonus cassette sent with Rhino direct orders:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oW5_LDOwfo

With the rhythm guitar mixed up, the classic Jackson 5 connection becomes clearer and more evident. It's every bit as charming as one of the J5's better deep cuts.

- I've heard the Tom Waits stuff is awful

Fun to hear once, but that's it. "Date to Church" really is the only thing worth returning to. I like how they remixed it though, it sounds like they double-tracked the harmony vocals to make it sound more like a parody of a choir.

- one quandary: "Portland" should have been on the album and would have been one of the best songs, but then Westerberg would have had to drop one of the best songs Talent Show because he recycled the chorus of "Portland"

"Portland" totally should have made it - I would've used it to replace side two's opener, "Back to Back." And repeating the chorus doesn't sound like a problem - it actually gives the album a welcome bit of thematic unity by having those lyrics appear on each side's opening cut.

- Oh, here's a downgrade on the new version, imo: I think "I'll Be You" is slower.

True, but I still would use the Wallace remix for the album as it would be too jarring to keep one of CLA's mixes intact. In hindsight, Wallace told Mehr that he should've asked Sire to let him mix the LP and let CLA mix the singles, and Mehr pointed out that such a move would have a strong precedent as Jimmy Iovine was brought in to mix the single release of Pleased to Meet Me's "Can't Hardly Wait."

Weird revive; I’ve been listening to Dead Man’s Pop and DTAS all week. For my money, honestly, the best Replacements album in either configuration, though I give the nod to the Wallace mix.

It would have been very cool and po-mo if they had kept Portland on and been like “so the look out here we go part is in both songs; deal with it.”

What they did to “They’re Blind” on DTAS was a fucking crime. In retrospect. Although it’s a gorgeous song in either presentation.

Yeah, very cool - I definitely would have kept in both tracks as-is. It would've been interesting to see the response to having a hook/lyric repeated like that too - not a new idea at all, but the best-known precedents in rock would've been stuff like Yes or Wings' Band on the Run. (Although the 'Mats did start off playing a lot of Yes before Westerberg joined.)

My memory of Don't Tell a Soul is tied up with my having seen them for the first time on that tour, at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. I caught them on a really good night, and it's one of the most memorable concert experiences I've ever had--the buckets of beer the venue was selling notwithstanding.

Natalie Merchant types . . .

Natalie and Michael came into the record store I was working at in Boulder, CO in, I guess, about 1986 or 87. I didn't realize who they were until they left; I thought they were a couple of homeless people.

A buddy of mine saw 10,000 Maniacs early on. Natalie was huffing markers all night. By the end of the show, her upper lip was multicolored.

shiver in my bones just thinkin
bout the Sharpies

what's the marker here?

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