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

finally i can call this my favorite replacements record and no one will look at me like i have two heads

the remixed "we'll inherit the earth" sounds fucking amazing

I read Trouble Boys a few weeks ago, revisited the catalog (altho I haven't heard this reissue). It's hard for me to evaluate this band, they meant so much to me as a kid, were one of the very first shows I saw, I bought into the whole mythology etc.

But with age and hindsight and being fully cognizant of how being a drunken asshole is not actually that cool - it makes me reflect a bit more harshly on Paul as a songwriter. Like, if you *don't* buy into that "lovable loser" mythos, are the songs still good? Generally the answer is "sometimes" imo. "Talent Show", "Can't Hardly Wait", "Kiss Me On the Bus", a handful of others. Some of it is just too voyeuristic and wrist-slashingly depressing for me to listen to anymore ("Here Comes a Regular" for ex.)

you haven't cited the pre-1984 stuff, which most people omit like they do the Beatles before Rubber Soul.

yeah well, I don't like much of it

I'm aware of the vocal ILX contingent that thinks Sorry Ma is the peak

well, if you think the beautiful-loser ethos is a problem, the speed and smarts of the early material will mitigate it

I was just thinking today what an awesome songwriter he is.

American film, lit, and cinema are replete with beautiful losers whose creators regard them with a cold eye without the eye itself getting moist. The Replacements' good stuff avoids the problem.

the speed and smarts of the early material will mitigate it

that's true to an extent, otoh I'd be hard-pressed to consider "Fuck School" a great song. I mean, it's fun and funny and all but it isn't great, really.

p sure "anywhere's better than here" is my favorite replacements song and the new version confirms that several times over

the vocal ILX contingent that thinks Sorry Ma is the peak

Hi dere!

"Achin' to Be" is still a moronic song about a dude who can't write about a woman whose virtues have nothing to do with malehood.

pfft i'm achin' to be too

fair critique as well bc i do hate the final verse

you are NOT kinda like an artist

it's that scene in high fidelity where john cusack dreams of dating a musician so he can be an in-joke in the liner notes, but a song

a dream too tire to come true

Some of y'all think too much attention is paid to lyrics ... until you don't. I think his melodies, riffs and hooks are super-sharp; Westerberg is an underrated (lead) guitar player.

Fuck School IS a great song!

Yes it is. What’s the matter, buddy?

New production makes even “Achin’ To Be” easier to sit through.

Especially when it is not followed by “They’re blind.”

"Achin' to Be" is still a moronic song about a dude who can't write about a woman whose virtues have nothing to do with malehood.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, September 27, 2019 4:16 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

sigh

Debate me.

I like "They're Blind" and "Asking Me Lies."

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

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

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown)

This post brought tot you by Too Much Whiskey.

Tee Tot

Making my way slowly through this. These Bearsville sessions not so hot. Wondering if “I Can Help” feat. Tom Waits is gonna be the Billy Swan song.

This is so great, I'm really enjoying it. Westerberg really is a once in a lifetime songwriter and I wish he would release good-to-great new albums every year, but a) he hasn't been committed to it for a long time, and b) back when he did he was really spotty. I thought the I don't cares album was really, really great and hoped it would be a kind of new beginning but he (obviously) blew it again. When I think about him in those terms, it makes me sad.

I love "Asking Me Lies" and this new mix really kills it.

“asking me lies” feels like it could’ve been covered really well by both prince and the afghan whigs

This was a really enjoyable listen. I saw them on the DTAS tour and the songs sounded a lot better live than on the record.

I thought the I don't cares album was really, really great and hoped it would be a kind of new beginning but he (obviously) blew it again.

I agree with you about the IDCs album being great but how exactly did he 'blow it?' I think I'd blame general indifference and / or poor marketing long before I'd blame the artists in this case

Did they even tour the album?

“asking me lies” feels like it could’ve been covered really well by both prince and the afghan whigs

xp I think the tour for this album was the opening slot w/ Tom Petty

I think he meant the I Don't Cares album

For DTAS they did a stinnt opening for Petty and then a headlining tour. Royal Crescent Mob opened when I saw them.

I remember googling it back, and then googling it now. I couldn't find a trace of it, a single setlist for any show.

The headlining tour -- mostly small theaters -- was about a month before the Petty tour. They played the Aragon in Chicago; I had a ticket, but couldn't go at the last minute. I gave my ticket to a friend who bought me this shirt, which I think I still have somewhere.
http://www.defunkd.com/public/upload/images/product_images/big/matmin_95151360955478.jpeg

xpost Google harder

http://replacementslivearchive.blogspot.com/2014/02/may-3-1989-celebrity-theatre-phoenix-az.html

Oh yeah I see. I was indeed talking about the I Don't Cares album this whole time.

That is a great t-shirt though.

"Achin' to Be" is still a moronic song about a dude who can't write about a woman whose virtues have nothing to do with malehood.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, September 27, 2019 4:16 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

The musical structure of the chorus outweighs any lyrical weaknesses

"Achin' to Be" is still a moronic song about a dude who can't write about a woman whose virtues have nothing to do with malehood.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, September 27, 2019 3:16 PM (five days ago)

this song really truly spoke to me as a young woman (age 14) trying to figure out wtf was going on -- what strikes me as funny now is that i did want to be him. i did not want to be his woman-object, i wanted to be HIM (only still be myself). i still think it's poignant & good. maybe not the 'mats everyone wanted but they were the 'mats i needed at the time.

i was still a kid really, not a young woman. a girl.

Hey wait, what about if he was not really singing about someone else but was actually mostly singing about himself? Wouldn’t looking at it that way that bring the song into better focus and improve it?

Which is already built into the song, innit, DO U SEE?

I know that this slant has just improved the song for me.

this song really truly spoke to me as a young woman (age 14) trying to figure out wtf was going on -- what strikes me as funny now is that i did want to be him. i did not want to be his woman-object, i wanted to be HIM (only still be myself). i still think it's poignant & good. maybe not the 'mats everyone wanted but they were the 'mats i needed at the time.

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, October 2, 2019

this is awesome

what about if he was not really singing about someone else but was actually mostly singing about himself?

doesn't Westerberg say this outright in Trouble Boys?