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

Tommy and Bob

Thats p much it tho

Alex Chilton?

Which would indicate a certain orneriness is needed. Seems like Slim might fit the bill but not aware of any songs written about him.

Too bad he never wrote a song about Lou Reed.

Still sniffing around the cheese baited in the trap by Alfred when he accused us of being guitar-centric rockists for wanting to hear the guitars on a Replacements record. We’re blind!

Mostly singing about himself” sounds about right given what I know of the guy

Yeah, well, I love that degree of ambiguity that is key in the Replacements. Not being really sure of whether he's writing about themselves or the others, happy or sad, angry or forsaken, serious or funny. Most likely all of it, at the same time.

This is a great record, so close to the sound of "Pleased to Meet Me". "We'll inherit the earth" sounds like the same band that did "The Ledge" this time! "Achin' to be" and "Back to back" do the same thing with "Never mind"! And putting "I'll be you" at #2 is a great choice, it ramps up the album just when it needs it (like "Alex Chilton" in PTMM). I was always uncomfortable with having "Back to Back".

hahaha if we're gonna start hunting down songwriters that mostly sing about themselves gonna need a big reeducation camp

Yeah well the ambiguity and confusion is what's key here; it's not as resonant or interesting if it's 100% clear.

You be me for a while and I’ll be you, why dontcha

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

― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, September 27, 2019 2:26 PM bookmarkflaglink

Well now your favorite replacements record has two heads!

lol

it's my not-so-secret theory that Westerburg's most poignant tunes are about and for Tommy.

Love the way Anywhere's Better ends now.

The only subject I know for sure is his sister, who inspired "Waitress in the Sky." I think some are about Lori Bizer, who worked at Twin/Tone?

it's my not-so-secret theory that Westerburg's most poignant tunes are about and for Tommy.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, October 3, 2019 9:24 AM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I always tear up about those lost tonsils

Other Subjects:
Johnny Thunders "Johnny's Gonna Die"
Bob Stinson "Good Day"

"Lay It Down, Clown" was about Peter Buck's reluctance to share his speed stash.

Don’t forget Gary!

“Left of the Dial,” one of the members of Let’s Active (Faye?)

Left of the Dial” is the story of this girl, a guitar player, Lynn Blakey, who toured with Mitch Easter’s Let’s Active. We got to be friends. She wanted me to write her a letter, but I never write letters. I figured the only way I’d hear her voice was with her band on the radio, left of the dial on a college station. And one night we did. We were passing through a town somewhere, and she was doing an interview on the radio, left of the dial. I heard her voice for the first time in six months for about a minute. Then the station faded out.

yep
it's almost like this theory he only wrote about himself was total bullshit!

also I tell you what I don't know how many artists would give their blessing to a book that makes them look that bad, then give the author the plum gig of writing liner notes to a big box set

also isn't Achin' to Be about his sister Mary Lucia?? I swear that was in the book

What did it take to twist Paul’s arm to get this to come out?

It was funny. I think he left it up to management and Bob Mehr, like, “If you guys want to do this. Fine. Fuck it.” And he’s kind of checked out on it. I don’t know if there was anything bad about it. He just doesn’t like going backwards in time. He doesn’t like the whole idea of, “We released this and that.” Like, what about this painting I’m making right now? I get it. The fans like that kind of stuff. He’s enough of a music fan to know that.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/replacements-tommy-stinson-dead-mans-pop-interview-889797/

Well, damn. According to Mehr’s liner notes, Westerberg wanted Pete Townshend to produce DTAS. I’m absolutely certain that my 16-year-old brain would’ve exploded had that come to fruition.

This was only an opinion, but didn't Chuck or somebody draw the conclusion that "Achin' To Be" was about a Natalie Merchant-type?

What’s a Natalie Merchant type?

Girl.

Too Liberal To Function

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