special introductory paragraph!

Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash

Moonments In Minnesota

Stink EP

Hootenanny

Let It Be

The Shit Hits The Fans

Tim

Pleased To Meet Me

How Did The Vomit Get Up On The Ceiling?

Don't Tell A Soul

All Shook Down

Don't Buy Or Sell-It's Crap EP

All For Nothing, Nothing For All

Now personally, I feel that (A) there are a few really lousy songs on here ("I Bought A Headache," for eggsbenedict), and (B) the mix is entirely too tinny and high-pitched to make me wanna listen to it every couple of hours, but (C) it's such a joyful little record and (D) it's so extremely fast-paced, and (E) most of the melodies are so brain-stroking that (F) it's a very worthwhile buy for (G) anybody who digs fast stuff but doesn't need to be beating up poseurs (H) all the (I) (J) and (K) day. The best thing about the record is that it inspired a Rolling Stone Record Guide reviewer to pen the immortal lines, "Who knows if we'll ever hear from them again? Who cares?" Hmm. Perhaps somebody deserves a demotion.

Reader Comments

reech@dorsai.org
Truly "funcore". It was great to hear that there were bands in the Midwest that were just as drunk and stupid as we were in NYC!

Unidentified User
Sorry Ma is their best record. Enough Said. It whips everything else.

JonnyMotel@aol.com (Clay)
I agree with the man above. yes. their best ever. maturity sucks.

malinsky@sprynet.com
the replacements started out fast... and then got really boring. after let it be its just predictable mid-tempo stuff. ok for some i guess, but for me nothing beats those lovely 2 minute punk songs.

smcquill@home.com (Sean McQuillan)
This one's the best. 18 songs in 36 minutes of fury.

jaimoe0@hotmail.com (James Welton)
It's striking how little resemblance this album bears to mid-period, pure genius Replacements. I think I'd love this album more if it had been my introduction to the band, but I worked my way backward from "Let It Be" and "Tim" to this point, and I find them a little unconvincing as a "punk" band. All that aside, it's still a great album, especially "Johnny's Gonna Die." Wow! Great song, and a hint of things to come. The rest buzzes along with drunken, wreckless abandon. It's all fun, energetic stuff, and in spite of my cranky opening lines, I'd recommend it to anyone who likes beer-soaked hooligans playing funny songs fast and loud.

benalto@benalto.com (Rocket Robin Hood)
This album is totally a great teenage rock and roll anthem-packed carnival ride. It's so refreshing because the one thing (typical to 18-20 year old bands) it lacks is misplaced rage and ego-filled angst. Funcore indeed!

okeydoke0@yahoo.com (Barrett Barnard)
alcohol is good for some things.one of those is to to play rock n roll.and this is really just a rock n roll record.its fast catchy and powerful.hmm.it sounds like the who to me.you can tell they really like the ramones but they added some elements of the new york dolls and the rolling stones too so its not really pop punk.its more like a fast power pop record.tons of great songs too.paul could already write original hooks.i second the 8.

Imperialjg@aol.com
first of all, the replacements are my favorite band ever! i will never love a band as much as i loved the"mats. i started with "let it be" and worked my way back. im not gonna dis their "mature" years because i think all of the 'mats shit is way worthwhile. aside from the title(which is fucking godawful,but then again every replacements disc is tragically titled) this is an awesome record(yup, im using the term "record". im old. fuck you if you dont like it.) what teen raised in the midwest couldnt identify with "sorry ma,..."? "hangin downtown", "something to du", "takin' a ride", and "shiftless when idle". those songs are my teenage years. hanging out, wasting time, feeling antsy and wanting to burst out of your fucking skin from lack of mental(or any kind of) stimulation. who hasnt felt the cruel pangs of unrequited love because "youre just a customer"? yeah, "otto" and "i hate music" are stupid, but fun stupid. cmon!!!! "i hate music/its got too many notes??? brilliant. and a song about johnny thunders. cool.

ka_lundquist@yahoo.com
this is one of my favorite records ever. I don't know how many of you have a vinyl copy of this with the lyric sheet but there are comments for each song. My favorite is for the song "customer". "make up your own words, I did". I used that as a mantra chant for every band i've ever been in. All in all, a really good representation of what would turn into midwest hardcore & grunge. Mark you need to give some of the Chicago bands some due. The Effigies & Articles of Faith come to mind, & what about a Die Kruezen review?

GODDAMMIT! Frigging pigeons keep flying by my window, making the sun shine off them into my eye. Is THIS why I moved to NYC??? To deal with this kind of pain and suffering day in and day out? I blame fuckin Bloomberg. Just you watch as the city goes down the shitter because of this Mr. Moneybags guy using the office to further his political career.

I don't know whether these "other" songs are covers or originals - the only ones I recognize are an early version of "Take Me Down To The Hospital" with different lyrics and covers of "All Day And All Of The Night" (Kinks! GREAT cover! punkin'!), "I'm Cryin'" (Animals! Rock ON!), "Slow Down" (Larry WIlliams, I think! Beatles! Fast rockin' early yeah!) and "Substitute" (Who! Shitty cover! Shoulda picked a more raucous Who song! Like "Underture"!). The others say stufff about "Don't Tell Me," "You Got Love," "Junior's Got A Gun," "Down Your Pants," "Wanna Be Loved" and "All By Myself," if that's what Paul is saying in them. That's what it sounds like anyway. My guess is that these are highlights from the early Paul Westerberg rock opera Don't Tell Me You Got Love - Junior's Got A Gun Down Your Pants! Wanna Be Loved All By Myself.

One other thing -- again, I don't know if these are covers or originals, but if they're originals, it should be pointed out that most of them aren't as good as the ones on Sorry Ma, leading one to further be thankful that the Replacements didn't stick to the punk rock their entire career.

Because then we wouldn't have the excellent grindcore of All Shook Down.

Reader Comments

benalto@benalto.com (Rocket Robin Hood)
Am I the only one who figures they took the Jam's cover of "Slow Down" and took out any rhythm resembling R&B and sped it up? I think I am.

Who the fuck am I??????

Reader Comments

reech@dorsai.org
Wrong! This is short fast and terrific! The Intro of the Minneapolis police closing a show into KIDS DON'T FOLLOW is one great seque. Hey ya want subtlety? Go get a Perry Como record. This is out and out rock n roll!

Unidentified User
You suck. STINK rocks.

drazy@gatecity.com
AC/DC's Ballbreaker sucks ass, no argument from me there. It makes no sense, however, how one could totally justify the Aussie's ninth grade humor and then turnaround and say it ain't cool for these Twin Citians. Hell, a few of 'em were probably in the ninth grade when this thing was recorded. I recently re-purchased this e.p. on c.d. (as every red blooded American is supposed to do: repurchase your shit digitally) and smiled. Ain't that enough?

James Welton
More drunken punk rock fun from these guys. Song titles like "Fuck School," "Goddamn Job," and "Dope Smokin' Moron" leave little to the imagination as to the tunes contained within. "Kids Don't Follow" and the atypical (for this release) "Go" are the two strongest songs, but all of it buzzes along with decent velocity, attitude and fun. This would be the Mats last attempt at a straight punk album.

Thomas.Wilson16
hi Matters

STINK may not be their best effort but it is good shaggin music and i like Chris mars's drumming dudes and bitches,,,,,

Rocket Robin Hood
Prindle totally underrates this, as does Westerberg. This isn't Westerberg trying to be hardcore, this is Westerberg's VERSION of hardcore, and every single song is a gem. "Dope Smokin' Moron" is an amazing collection of crazy riffs with great guitarwork by Bob. And Prindle doesn't get knocked on his ass by "Gimmie Noise"? That alone is totally worth the price of this EP. It's the best song on it! Dig the snide comment at the Suburbs, for those in the know re: Twin/Tone roster. This is the one true 10/10 of any Replacements record.

Barrett Barnard
the most "hardcore" the greatest rock n roll band ever ever got.still it has some great songs on it.what other band in 1981 would put a song like "go" on a record.and this band just cannot stop writing hooks.a really fun record.if you got 15 minutes to waste put on this record.plus its got fuck school on it.what a song.

Jeffery Hoelscher
I never knew the lyrics to "Gimme Noise" but the Suburbs comment caused me to listen closer. Then I still didn't know the lyrics. Then I looked them up and it's pretty funny. Thanks for that.
This is the most rooted Replacements record. I'm not sure what I mean by that but there's something about it that feels like the trunk of an oak tree. I'd say a thousand good things about this record except that you don't want me to. The one nice thing I will say is that it's the first thing called punk rock my 9th grade ears heard out there in the lonely Minneapolitan suburbs and it cured me of the idea that not fitting meant endless misery. It made me buy everything punk that showed up at Great American Music (roughly one record per month) and it was all uphill from there (assuming that uphill is a good thing).

The only thing keeping this from 10 status is the feeling I get shortly after listening to the album that it perhaps was almost too easy a record for them to have made. Couldn't anybody have made this record had they gotten wasted enough before entering the studio? Well, that remains to be seen. All I know is that there were rumors that he was into field hockey players - there were rumors.... Just joshin' you there. All I know is that this is my second favorite Replacements album, and every semi-silly soul sitting silent surrounding stereo should pick it up tomorrow.

No. Replace "tomorrow" with "four minutes from now." Great mix, too, for a darned change!

Reader Comments

reech@dorsai.org
A mess. I remember stealing this record from my college radio station and then returning it. A shock from their earlier work, this album was sort of what their more drunken shows were like. Except the fun doesn't translate to the album.

Greg7475@aol.com
can you stand me on my feet keeps running through my head. well the party's on the table, oh shit, pass the bill to Chris

hijinks@utarlg.uta.edu (Thomas Rickert)
Great album and really good review.

azitelli@stevens-tech.edu
I wrote an article about this for school, I wish I had it now....anyway, how could anyone RETURN THIS ALBUM? to me, it's priceless! and the best record they recorded. it mixes eveything up into a giant mess that sounds fresh and exciting with each listen. all the great lines are in here, and unlike every Mats album, there is no stupid crap that doesn't fit in....except for everything....i love it...9.5

jaimoe0@hotmail.com (James Welton)
Unpolished brilliance. The Mats break out of the punk rock mold to offer up a dizzying array of styles, as noted by Mr. Prindle above. All of the songs are good to great, the energy is unflagging (even on the slower numbers) and a good time is drunk by all. Especially great on this one are "Color Me Impressed," a soaring power pop tune dripping with disdain for the hip elite, "Mr. Whirly," an amphetamine-fueled Beatles parody, and the album-closing "Treatment Bound," which could serve as the band's unofficial theme song, and probably did. "Within Your Reach" shows the incredible vulnerability that would become a trademark of Westerberg's slower songs. I've heard some people bag on "Lovelines," but I think it's pretty damn funny. This is one of those albums that makes you want to have a drink or six and giggle uncontrollably. Excellent stuff, and genius is just around the corner.

TVEye70@aol.com
Okay, there are some KILLER songs here - "Color Me Impressed" and "Within Your Reach" make it worth owning for damn near anyone with a passing interest in the Replacements. However, the freewheeling, loose eclecticism of the album is kinda detrimental. There just aren't enough great songs. Sure, it's a load of fun, but there's not a whole lot else going on here. Still, it's worth a 7/10.

benalto@benalto.com (Rocket Robin Hood)
This would of been an easy 10 if only they had put on the outtake "Shoot Me, Kill Me (aka Sex W/A Goat)", their "weird metal" number.

SneakthaSlinger@aol.com
I'm a bored reader. And since I like keeping score, here I go trying to identify each song Prindle's referring to in this here review. Let's see..."Run It" and "You Lose" are the two punk songs, and boy do they beat the spunk out of anything on Stink. The Beatles parody is "Mr. Whirly," but I don't know which Beatles song they're butchering because I'm not as much of a Beatle Baileys freaky-deeky as most music fans my age(20) are. However, I recognized "The Twist" ripoff the minute I heard it, which sort of makes me sad. "Snazzy rock-n-roll groove tube?" That one's tough, "Take Me To The Hospital" maybe? That one fits my definition of snazzy. And of course, the drunken country jams are "Treatment Bound" and the title track, the latter an instrument-switching improv session, the former recorded in the basement with no bass and complete with a part where everyone except Paul stops and he has to remind them "Keep goin'!" Then there's "Willpower," the darker, gothy track that probably sounds really good when you're in rehab. "Buck Hill" is the pseudo-surf thingy, "Lovelines" is the lounge-jazzer, and that leaves the 3 pop songs. "Within Your Reach"(the fake drums/overflanged guitar ballad), "Color Me Impressed" and...."Hayday?" I guess. That one sounds too fast to be really considered "straight pop" to my ear-holes, fut buck it. This is a definite 9er. Next time I get really wasted, I'll try to make an album as amazingly enjoyable as this to see if Mark's theory holds true, but I bet I'll end up with nothing but a hangover and a tape full of stupid guitar noises.

okeydoke0@yahoo.com (Barrett Barnard)
I got this album before Let It Be or Tim and though it's not better it is just as good and should be recognized as such. Yeah there's filler but it's darn fun filler (insert prindle joke using disgusting sexual imagery to show just how fun it is). But come on. "Hayday", "Color Me Impressed", "Treatment Bound". These are great songs my man. "Willpower", the title track, and "Take Me Down To The Hospital" are completely unlike anything any other american band were doing at the time. Husker Du was great but in 1983 they were still writing songs about typical punk rock subjects. The Replacements were writing songs about getting laid in your backyard and losing on game shows.So yes to answer your question they are the greatest american rock band ever.And no you cannot pee pee in my coke.

Chris
Now you're speaking my language. This is a great record. I wouldn't have given 'Pleased To Meet Me' the 10 though, as I believe that this fine record is the perfect Replacements record. The reissue with all the bonus tracks is worth hearing too. Don't publish my email address please. It's a shame that you shut down your site before you had a chance to review the Deep Wound complete discography issued on CD in 2006 on J Mascis' label Baked Goods. On your behalf Mark, I'm sure you would've given it a 10 even if you did "outgrow" hardcore.

Now personally, I don't get tons out of the silly noisy "Gary's Got A Boner" and "Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out," which to me just sound entirely out-of-place on this otherwise mature record, but I highly dig and groove out to every other new bag on the record. "Androgynous," "Sixteen Blue," and "Answering Machine" (which could use some rhythm section, if you ask me!) are just lovely. Lovely grown-up songs for a grown-up world. Final word: Before this, they were silly. After this, they were serious. The combination of the two on this record renders the silly portions, to my ears, essentially worthless. But that's just me!!!! :)

Also, the front cover is absolutely hilarious when you realize that the album is called Let It Be. :7D

Reader Comments

jnw@iglobal.net (Jim Hull)
Hot damn! Get a thrill! Hokey Beatles cover...trashy sound inside, and drunken, fun songs. And great ones, too..."Gary's Got A Boner" is the perfect anti-frat song for me, and "Answering Machine" is mesmerizing...MAAAN!...and my cassette was not even Dolby encoded! COOL!

reech@dorsai.org
A pop masterpiece. Plus you get songs about Hard-ons and tonsils. Plus you get Westerberg sounding like Springsteen on a Kiss cover. Plus the balladic, quiet songs are amazing. They rip yer heart right out ("Answering machine", "16 blue").

Bjkmook@aol.com
This is the first Westerberg I ever bought after hearing the soundtrack to SINGLES and it blew me away. Yeah, I've imagined what "ANSWERING MACHINE" would sound like with drums, but the version here sounded just find cranked through my stereo back in those college days. That song and "UNSATISFIED" were probably the first steps in steering my roomates away from shit like The Gin Blossoms. A 9 in my books, 10 when I'm in a nostalgic mood.

hijinks@utarlg.uta.edu (Thomas Rickert)
Only eight stars? You need to check that maturity thang at the door, sprindlecakes! A classic ten, all the way to the bank. Probably the bank of alcohol, but so what? Do you think they care? Kids don't follow, man. Unbelievably good record, and you are working up more bad karma. Just you wait. And wait. Something bad is bound to happen, and its probably because you gave this album only an eight. Open that third eye and squeegee it clean before its too late for befores!

azitelli@stevens-tech.edu
masterpiece? nah...a lot of great songs, but IMO "Sixteen Blue" drags (great lyrics though). maybe it's just cause i can't wait to get to "Answering Machine"! Anyway, "Tommy" and "Gary" rock, I don't care how stupid they are. C'mon, would you really want to hear a Mats album full of "Unsatisfied"'s? It's a great song, but you need that crazy punk rock. Songs 1-5 are perfect (how come no one's mentioned "Androgynous"?), skip "Black Diamond" (it's worthless), and then you finally finish with one of the greatest tearjerkin rockers ever. 9.5

dstreb@neo.rr.com (Daniel Streb)
MASTERPIECE!! And the funny songs ARE funny!! Let's see... "Tommy" rocks and funny too! ("Hey whattaya doin'? You know... After the operation..."). "Gary" sucks, but that's okay because it's the only bad song on the album. This get an EASY ten. One of my personal favorite albums ever. "Unsatisfied" DEMANDS to be played at high volume. The jazz/swing groove in the middle of the punkfest "We're Comin' Out" ALONE is worth the $17.00 price of admission. And how about that guitar riff to "Seen your video"? Awesome.

Muggwort@aol.com
i hate to tell this to the world (especially Evan p. Streb) but i think that most of the replacements let it be is horrible filler. don't get me wrong i absolutely love "androgynous", "unsatisfied " and "i will dare" but the rest of it is too childish and stupid for me. i really think that Paul Westerburg is a talented songwriter and has a great voice but that does not make crap any more exactable like "black diamond," "seen your video," "Tommy dot his tonsils out," "garys got a boner" and "were coming out."

4/10

jaimoe0@hotmail.com (James Welton)
Thus begins their three album stretch of true greatness. Where "Hootenanny" was a slapdash, drunken showcase of musical styles, "Let It Be" is a far more accomplished album where their previous dalliances are honed into integral parts of the whole. From the country shuffle of "I Will Dare" to the bleak wail of "Unsatisfied" to the remarkable piano ballad "Androgynous" to full-on rockers like "We're Coming Out," this album is one great song after another. Hell, the weakest song on here is "Gary's Got A Boner," and it would have been one of the best songs on their first two albums.

"Sixteen Blue" is the most effective song I've ever heard at transporting the listener back to adolescence and all of its confusion and isolation. Westerberg must have a hell of a memory. "Unsatisfied" is a quintessential rock and roll scream of despair and alienation. These weighty matters are balanced by the kind of inebriated yuks we've come to expect from these guys in "Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out" and their cover of the Kiss classic "Black Diamond," which in and of itself isn't a particularly funny song, but the fact that they're covering Kiss... well, come one. Doesn't that kind of make you chuckle?

This is the album that brought them truckloads of critical acclaim, and for good reason. It's simply one of the best albums to come out in the 1980's. In other words, I kind of like it.

TVEye70@aol.com
In some ways, I agree with Muggwort above...there is indeed plenty of filler on this record. "Gary's Got a Boner", "Black Diamond", "Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out"...I don't even remember any of these and will probably never listen to them unless I'm playing the whole LP. However, that is almost totally counteracted by the sheer, utter brilliance of the remainder of the album. I'm living "Unsatisfied"; "I Will Dare", "Androgynous" and "Sixteen Blue" are absolutely gorgeous, made all the more stunning by Westerberg's wounded voice; "Seen Your Video" is a prime, kicking bitch session; and "Answering Machine" DOES NOT NEED A RHYTHM SECTION - it's great as it is. 9/10, screw the filler.

okeydoke0@yahoo.com (Barrett Barnard)
The 80s were jampacked with great underground albums,but this might be the best.Well it's my favorite anyway.The 80s underground scene stressed originality and variety.This album is certainly that.From the best pop song of 1984 in "I Will Dare",which is my personal favorite,to the psycho reflective folk of "Answering Machine",this album runs the gamut from punk,jazz,power pop,country,folk-rock,and pure Replacements styled garage rock.

People say this was the album when they matured,but I really think that came a bit later.Sure there are sad songs,such as the ultimate tear jerker "Sixteen Blue",but there are also 2 of the stupidest pieces of music ever thrown together in "Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out" and the "Cat Scratch Fever" rip off "Gary's Got A Boner" which are both dumb,sloppy,and catchy pieces of americana.

Paul Westerberg's songwriting has never been better.Just look at the hooks in the garage power pop "Favorite Thing" or in the anti-music video screed "Seen Your Video.It's the same with Bob Stinson's lead guitar playing.Just look how he shreds on the punky-lounge jazz of "We're Comin' Out" or in the Kiss cover of "Black Diamond".The rythmn section of teenage Bassist Tommy Stinson and Drummer Chris Mars is solid in the best way possible.Just look at what they do on "Unsatisfied" which might be the best song Paul ever wrote.But as far as Paul's lyric writing ability goes he might never top the jazz-pop of "Androgynous".Just great stuff.

I'm sorry this is so long but this album means more to me than any other piece of music.It could be the best american rock album ever.In my opinion it's only competition is Aerosmith's "Rocks",Kiss's "Alive!", Husker Du's "Zen Arcade",the Meat Puppets "II",and finally Nirvana's "Nevermind".Thanks for listening to my rant.

jim.tennyson@verizon.net
Copycats have been busy trying to reproduce Bob Stinson's ripping chainsaw guitar sound for the last twenty years. For me, his genius manifests in its highest form on We're Comin' Out; a brilliant noise that still tightens my gut after all these years. It is the second-best rock album ever produced. A feeble old man in my forties now, I began listening to the early material in my twenties, and I feel that the band peaked with this effort. Subsequent recordings are terrific, but lack Bob, and the raw emotion and energy of the early stuff. Some will argue that Tim is the best - and it is no doubt a close runner up to Let It Be. It is apparent that these clowns remained honest to the essence of their being, unlike the pretentious, arrogant, snaggle-toothed Limeys who produced the best rock/punk/whatever album ever, London Calling.

mabewa@yahoo.com (Matthew Ward)
You're totally right about them first being silly, later being serious, and this being the in-between. But, that's why this is my fave album by them, because it combines both sides of the band so well. Plenty of great, well written songs, but a huge amount of humor as well. Plus, it's got that great, crazy eclecticism that some underground 80's bands had--almost every song sounds like its own genre, but somehow it all fits together. I mean "We're Coming Out" is the closest to hardcore they ever got, but then they do the goofy, soulful break in the middle. "Androgynous" is a weird piano ballad. "Black Diamond" is a KISS cover that's way better than the original. "I Will Dare" is quirky alt-folk-rock. "Unsatisfied" is brutal, depressive folk rock. "Gary's Got a Boner" is total garage rock mania, and "Answering Machine" sounds like Billy Bragg. They tried this kind of maniac diversity on "Hootenanny" but with o! ne crucial difference: that album, while fun, only had a couple of great songs on it, while on this one, even the goofiest songs are timeless.

This album is a 10 in my book--along with Husker Du's Zen Arcade, one of the most perfect and timeless of 80's alt-rock albums.

DenBlake29@aol.com
i think you missed the mark with this one. i think you are a superb record reviewer, and have stated so in other reviews, but i think you run into trouble when an lp contains too many variant elements tossed in in seemingly random order. most think it is an element of greatness. i think surfer rosa gets the nod over doolittle too often because of the "emporer's new clothes" element. people give it a 10 because if they don't others will think they do not "get it". let it be is one lp where it is ok to give it a 10. hence, if you want to knock an lp a couple dots to reflect your independent thought do it to surfer rosa. you can reinforce this lp's greatness and still maintain your street cred. brilliant stuff. god how i get trapped in social elevators-having to sit through other people's sterile crap -and think about an original piece like answering machine.

Mcshane123321@aol.com
Hey, the copy of 'Let It Be: Remastered and Expanded' I preordered ages ago just arrived today; I'd actually forgotten about it, to be honest! And it's GREAT! You're right; they are really melodic on this one!!

Opener "I Will Dare" is one of those tracks that just sticks in your head forever - I've only to the album three times and I can remember it almost perfectly! Same for "Favourite Thing," except that one's a bit rocky (but just as memorable). "We're Comin' Out" starts and ends as a kickass piece of punk with the middle part sounding like some ol' time American RnR; and it sounds like something off Zen Arcade - just the production is miles better here and the vocals are more audible. The lyrics to "Tommy Get His Tonsils Out" are very true but also kinda funny - typical snobby Doctor gets pissed off at a "little snot" that interrupts his day by prolonging his (the kids own) operation. The next track "Androgynous" was a bit of a "Huh?" moment at first - what with it being a piano ballad and all - and I half-expected it to star getting punky just to fit the album. But in retrospect it really fits the album, calming its mood down; it's a really good tune too. The KISS cover is SUCH a massive improvement on the original; it's just soooo much grittier than before. "Unsatisfied," whilst a great song, isn't within a mile of Zappa's "I'm Not Satisfied" or the Stones' "I Can't Get No Satisfaction." I'd describe the rest but their all great.

You gave this absolute gem just an eight?! SERIOUSLY?! That'd better be one hellofan 8! It's the only "'Mats" (what dyslexic ass came up with that abbreviation, by the way; Surely "'Ments" would've had more relevance? Maybe just cod "'Mats" sounds better, or is there some potentially hilarious backing story to it that I'm too un-hardcore to know about?) album I own so far, so whether or not it gets The Coveted 10 For The 'Mats from me is something for the future, but it definitely gets a 10 from me!!! Thanks for recommending this group, I love them!!

Oh yeah, the singer's got a wicked voice too! Kinda gruff but still emotionally resonant; a bit like Bob Mould (see, I know my Husker Du!) but not as angsty!

Reader Comments

reech@dorsai.org
As I was at several of the Mats shows from this period, I could attest that this is exactly what one of their shows sounded like!

fernaumead@aol.com
Live Boston 1985 - At the Channel, full band version of "Answering Machine"------SMOKIN' The real version of "Can't Hardly Wait" not that recorded bullstuff with the strings, and as if it couldn't get any better "Hitching a Ride" for an encore. Bob Stinson sitting at a table by himself with his down jacket on and a six pack of beer in a paper bag watching TV during the opening act.

Live New York 1985 - "Little Mascara"-----top 10 songs ever written. "Here Comes a Regular" is every bar I've ever been in the mid 80's where you could get a 35 cent draft, and those regulars were enough to make you give up drinking. Downside,it is "Knocking on Heaven's Door" of course. Live show----Ritz, 10 million in attendance and the band was as ON as they ever were. AMAZING versions of "Rock and Roll All Night" and for an encore "He's A Whore"(Cheap Trick-1st album) Westerberg screaming "I'M A WHORE" over and over.................

charlesr@visi.com
The "unverified" story you mention as to the origins of the Shit Hits The Fans Replacements tape is exactly true. I went to High School with the man who was the soundman for the 'Mats for this particular show, and he is the one who took the tape from the person who was recording the show. He still has the original cassette! I only wish he had waited until the show was closer to over (or was it already done, judging by the quality of the performance) before grabbing that tape. But that's all hindsight. Anyways, the story as you put it (they listened, they laughed, they decided to release it) is essentially correct. If you wish to ask bil@visi.com about it, he might be happy to verify that he was the one.....

As for the quality of enjoyment one gets from the tape.. perhaps if you'd been a kid from Minneapolis who loved the band, you might have been caught up in the total amusement of what they did when they did it. I enjoy listening to the tape from time to time 'cos it takes me right back to what those guys were like. Totally unpredictable, sometimes amusing, sometimes annoying, but always clearly being "The Replacements". There's no mistaking that tape for any other band! I LIKE it!

It's not perfect, though, and don't let anybody tell you that it is. "Dose Of Thunder" is a surprisingly moronic (and apparently unironic) heavy metal song, and neither "Lay It Down Clown" nor "Left Of The Dial" kick up a whole lotta gumshoe ("Left Of The Dial" starts great, but fails to live up to its initial promise). Still, that Paul. He, sir, he can write a dang melody. "Here Comes A Regular," though, wow. Is it about Bob Stinson? You'd know better than I. All I know is that right after this album, Paul threw Bob out because his constant intoxication was threatening to ruin the band. That's the rumor, anyway.

Reader Comments

reech@dorsai.org
"Bastards of Young" and "Left of the Dial" are American Classics. Every teenager who picks up a guitar should be forced at gunpoint to learn them before they do anything else! Great production, lousy support from their record company. This is the one that should've made them start. And they put in a great appearance on Saturday Nite Live during this tour.

Raoul Duke
I really really liked the replacements before I purchased Tim, but the minute that I put this album on I nearly screamed a scream of horrendous anger. How could america reject this great album? It was at that point that I lost faith in the musical taste of the american people. Great songs, great singing, great everything (except for those two heavy metal filler tracks "lay it down clown" and "dose of thunder", every song on this album is great)

Unidentified User
"Here Comes a Regular" is a piece of junk. It's the most overrated Replacements song ever. "Lay it Down Clown" and "Dose of Thunder" get ripped on for being rock and roll. I think that sux. Would you like to be in a band that plays mopey - sad tunes on tour for months? Did anyone ever think that a band writes songs for more than one reason? Did anyone ever think that the 'Mats themselves enjoyed the tunes everyone hates... and laughed?! They weren't poets. They weren't gods. They were just people.

Thomas Rickert
I agree that not everything is completely sublime in Tim-land, especially with Dose of Claptrap, but Left of the Dial is unbelievably out to getchya, and it does me everytime. Here Comes a Regular, though -- words fail. The kind of song that can only be created from a certain kind of wisdom and experience, but it never helps your life, it just allows you to write the kind of song that scars souls. The song defies anyone to be unaffected and unmoved because it has more knowledge about that something that we all want to have, its wiser than we, and we fall fickle on our ennui...

What? What the hell does that mean?

Forget it, put your head back in the sand, close your third eye. Go to a bar or something. Learn something from the bottom of that glass. Overall, probably a nine instead of an eight.

Impedyment@aol.com
i dont get it.....no one as of yet, has mentioned "swinging party". whats with you people??? sure bastards is great, kiss me is great, little mascara is great... hold my life is great, here comes a regular is great....but damn swinging party is just the perfect song....it kicks tim over the edge of being the best(although even their worst was still the best cuz its the replacements after all) album they made. please to meet me is their most consistent, and let it be has those touchs of greatness, but the gems on tim outshine just about everything...

Christopher Howe
here comes a regular is a piece of junk??????????????

hey you ignorant moron what was great about the mats is they were perfect because they appealed to many!!!! and here comes a regular is what represents the very majority of their fanbase simply because their fanbase is full of miserable alcoholics who relate to every line in that song! what all their records really boil down to is passionate songwriting, whether it be a passionately felt punk song (more cigarettes) or a westerberg gem like here comes a regular. the mats played every aspect of rock n' roll from punk to metal to ballads to mid-tempo pop.. they're ability to create great songs of any rock genre makes them great and leaves them in a catagory all by themselves - that we all can remember and that today's bands really should try to live up to.and why has no one mentioned the fact that paul westerberg is one of the greatest one- liners in all of rock music, his sense of humor in even some of the more depressing songs is what makes paul westerberg, pauly westerville

richbunnell@home.com
This really is a fantastic album, pretty commercial but in a jagged, raw way that makes it appealing to both unabashed popmeisters like me and total indieheads like that guy over there, you know, that guy. It all kind of blends together at first, but if you're not humming "Hold My Life" and "Kiss Me On The Bus" by the third or so listen, you have no soul, maaaan. "Here Comes A Regular" is great too, even though it sounds exactly like every other damn acoustic song ever written, but I'd have to say that my favorite is "Waitress In The Sky" for whatever random reason. The album as a whole is an incredibly high nine.

Jcjh20@aol.com
Great album. My favorites off the record are the slower ones actually, but the rockers are real fun. I agree "Here Comes The Regular" is probably the best song on the record, but the whole thing is absolutely great. Only stinker is what everyone else seems to agree on, "Dose Of Thunder". 9 on this one. Ohh and i agree with Impedyment@aol.com that "Swingin Party" seems to be underrated by everyone. Definatly a beauty of a song.

Asss McGee
Whaaaaaat? How can you say "Here Comes A Regular" is a piece of junk? Its one of the most beautiful songs of all time! Just listen to the sincerity in Pauls voice! Absolutely beautiful! That "unidentified user" kid needs to get the wax out his ears!

chunderman@blueyonder.co.uk
To me this is the greatest album of all-time.

No Filler and All Killer. The vinyl mix is much better as you can actually hear Bob Stinsons guitar and you can truly appreciate the beauty of side 2 as one slab of music, as it was meant to be. Let It Be is nearly as good, then get Pleased To Meet Me and Hootenanny.

James Welton
Anyone expecting a letdown due to major label meddling is going to be in for a surprise. Once again, Westerberg has stacked an album with one great example of good old American Rawk 'n Roll after another. Only "Lay It Down Clown," which sounds like an appalling Aerosmith imitation (not that Aerosmith is appalling, just this song is) fails to work for me. "Dose of Thunder" might sound a little out of place in the Mats body of work, but it's not a bad song by itself. "Hold My Life" and "Bastards of the Young" are great rockers, and "Swingin' Party" is the precursor to the album's stunner "Here Comes A Regular," which should be subtitled "Don't Drink." I'll bet even Tom Waits wishes he'd written that one.

I can't say enough good things about this album, and any songwriter who quotes Mr. Wizard from the Tutor the Turtle cartoons is okay by me. You remember. From Tennessee Tuxedo? Sure you do.

Zophael979@aol.com
In short, the best record the Replacements ever made and the most beloved of all in my CD collection. Some would point to "Let It Be" as the best and that's understandable, but the song-writing wasn't as polished yet and the record lacked a truly great hard rock anthem. "Pleased to meet me" is another many consider the best and I cannot blame those who do....but the band was better when they had Bob and the song-writing on "Tim" was deeper.

It's pretty mind-blowing how many "could-be" hits were on this record and how much of a debt the 90s "alternative" scene owes to it. The lead-off track, "Hold My Life", sounds like the Gin Blossoms (but better, less repetitive) with the pop melody grounding the raging guitars and Paul singing depressed-yet-optimistic lyrics relating to his alcoholism. Gee, I just described about half the songs on "New Miserable Experience" now, didn't I? Not knocking the Blossoms. I like 'em, but there's a definite Mats' influence.

Then comes the more raucous, rockabilly-esque "I'll Buy", which is just....great. I don't know why it doesn't get brought up much when great Replacements songs are discussed (okay, great Replacements songs are hardly ever discussed...). "On the Bus" is one of the best pop songs I've ever heard, obviously Paul's attempt to do something Alex Chilton-esque with the jangly guitars and subject matter that harkens back to "Thirteen" (off #1 Record). What makes it better than "Thirteen" though is that Paul invests enough heartache in the song to make it less cute and more like a pained lament. Also, Bob's guitar solo puts the song a bit closer to rock music.

"Bastards of Young" and "Left of the Dial" are probably the two best songs on this album, both having a strong hard rock vibe with a tone that alternates between punkish ("You didn't mention by name") to really emotional ("The ones who love us best are the ones we lay to rest..."). About five years later, they would've been surefire hits in the post-Nirvana environment. The songs were just too ahead of their time (too hard for the mainstream, not punk enough for the underground). Hell, I'd go as far to say that "Left of the Dial" is the best rock song in the last twenty-five years or so. That includes "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Also, there's "Little Mascara", a nice little garage rock tune that The Strokes would kill for and the Goo Goo Dolls have been trying to make their whole career. "Swinging Party" and "Here Comes A Regular" are the two ballads here to round everything out, the former being one of Paul's most emotional vocal performances and the later being laid back, reserved, sad, beaten down, etc...

People knock "Dose of Thunder" and "Lay it down clown", but I like them both. Simply put, there are no bad songs on this CD. Don't buy expecting punk rock, but buy expecting really good music. Actually, just BUY IT! TODAY! NOW!

10 of 10.

Barrett Barnard
maybe i shouldnt write reviews when im drunk but this is the replacements so fuck it.this is a wonderful album.from the opening odf hold my life to the final heart wrenching chords of here comes a regular this is one of the best albums of the 80s. theres rockers like left of the dial and bastards of young which is truly great and then theres ballads like swinging party.its just a brilliant album.buy it now.g

DenBlake29@aol.com
just said how much i like the let it be lp. and then i heard this. ok, i think let it be has a better, more original and less uptight sonic quality, but c'mon, this a great album by any band and would put any unknown band on the map. why it didn't kick the mats into musical stardom is beyond me. this was just a few years before rick astley and salt-n-peppa so you get the picture. haven't listened to it in along time and i am still impressed by just the memory of it even though i still love let it be more. most follow ups to a masterpiece come nowhere near this. i miss 80s alternative music. the 90s was a decade of pure crap. nirvana wasn't the beginning of alt., it was the culmination and the beginning of the quick death of it.

I feel like I should be saying more, but I don't know what to say. Westerberg is a great songwriter; his words are witty but moving, with lots of clever turns-of-phrase ("You wish upon a star and it turns into a plane," for example), and his music is a fine wholly-American take on Beatle-esque guitar melody with a touch of Dylan's street gruffness tossed in. I don't know why the hey I wrote that. Maybe it's accurate. Who knows? Let's just say that there was never a bar band quite as creative as Those Replacements. Except possibly Bob Seger.

I was kidding. The Replacements are beer rock at its brewiest. Period.

Which I don't have anymore, 'cause I'm a boy.

Reader Comments

Peter Williams
this is my favorite mats record too! i remember the first time i heard it in a friend's car. i discovered the absolute beauty of "skyway" and "can't hardly wait." slowly i began to realize that all the songs were fucking great and that this was one HELL of a good band. "alex chilton" rocks and "nightclub jitters" swaggers and swings, they were on top of their game here. it was done officially as a trio but chilton plays some guitar on it ("can't hardly wait") and someone named "east memphis slim" plays a lot of keyboards and sings too. i don't know if that's slim dunlap or not. he wasn't officially in the band yet but maybe it's him. oh, by the way, mentioning the gin blossoms at the top of this section is funny because i see loads of similarities in the bands. firstly they were both sloppy drunk and sucky when i saw them live, i was too at the replacments show so i thought it ROCKED but the gin blossoms blew. secondly the guy who recorded and mixed Pleased To Meet Me is the same fellow responsible for both those jobs and producer on that first gin blossoms record New Miserable Experience both bands had alcoholic ex members who have recently died. for the gin blossoms it seems that the dead guy was the good writer and fortunately for us (and themselves) westerberg was the good writer and not bob stinson. what the gin blossoms do have on the replacements is the ability to follow up a pretty damn good first record with a total piece of SHIT. westerberg waited until his first solo album to really get shitty, i mean come on, "dyslexic heart"? i can't believe somebody who wrote "here comes a regular" or "i'll be you" would write such stupid SHITE! sorry about that bit but someone might find it interesting, after all you posted reviews of ALL the lump records right. ps all the chris mars records and various tommy stinson projects have been ultimately disappointing. so the break up of the replacements gave us three sorry to mediocre artists where one great band once had stood. thanks for nothing you stupid egotistical mother fucker(s)

Nik Everett
This album and Tim are my favorites. Pleased To Meet Me is the perfect marriage of punk and pop and a classic. No one to me has been able to do it as well except for much of Kurt Cobain's brief work.

dstraub@geosys.com (David Straub)
My favorite 'mats too. "IOU", "Alex Chilton", "Shooting Dirty Pool", and especially "The Ledge" rock me up and down the block every time I hear them. And "Skyway" is so nice... Would have been so cool to be around Minneapolis in the mid-80s and see this band and Husker Du play small places in their prime.

reech@dorsai.org
Well, if Tim didn't make em stars this one should've had. Poppier then Tim with a couple of tunes that foreshadow Westerberg's solo career- "Skyway", "The Ledge". They miss Bob's craziness, but this is the last great Mat's album. "IOU" and "Red Red Wine" are awesome. "Can't Hardly Wait" was a work in progress for years before it shows up here.

fernaumead@aol.com
This album was a signal that Paul without perspective equals the beginning of the end. Without a guitarist who could actually play the guitar work is pathetic, some teenage kid plays lead on most of the tracks ("dirty pool", producer's kid I think). Paul thought, probably still thinks, that maturing his music meant horns and strings and trying to be Gordon Lightfoot. "Skyway" equals the end of listenable music from PW. Until 14 Songs at least. It got no finer than TIM, RNR without a lead guitarist is called Pleased to Meet Me.

Sonik9@aol.com
I remember the first time I heard this album. I was going through some of my dad's records and came across this album, I decided to put it on. From the moment I heard "I.O.U.", I was, well, completley BLOWN AWAY!!!! Ok, I thought, every album has one great song, Im sure that was it, the rest will just be ok, wrong!!! "Alex Chilton" came blasting next, so I thought, THIS is where Nirvana gets it from. This is one of my favorite albums of all time. "I Don't Know", "Shooting Dirty Pool", and "Red Red Wine" rock, "The Ledge" is beautiful, and I love "Skyway". an easy 10.

Unidentified User
"Shooting Dirty Pool" is great?! You're nuts

Thomas Rickert
Sure, a good record, but a little mainstream at times due to the loss of Mr. Outtacontrolguitarist, who also happened to be sheer klutz genuis, and the motor of the Mats. When he cashed out, it was the beginning of the end. Its time to point out that this myth about Westerberg needs to be re-addressed: it is false. The Replacements were a band, and every element contributed. Period. Look at Westerberg's solo career as proof. This is a bit overrated in my book, and that overrating is coterminous with the overrating of Westerbergermeisterberger.

Man, I feel better now.

azitelli@stevens-tech.edu
Take out "Dose of Thunder" and "Lay it Down Clown", add the other 9 to PTMM minus "Shootin Dirty Pool", "Red Wine", and "can't hardly wait", throw in the electric version of "CHW" and you have the greatest rock and roll album ever. in reality, Tim = 8 and PTMM=7.5

richbunnell@home.com
I can't exactly see why this album is always awarded such nigh-universal praise. It's good, but it seems a bit sterile to me - it might just be the mix on the CD, but everything seems to be recorded at too low of a volume. I want my rock to rock, dammit!! Plus, the endless barrage of slick, watered-down '80s rockers on the second half makes listening to the album seem tiring by the time it winds to a close. In spite of this, it's still, for the most part, a good album - "Alex Chilton" is a true heir to the Big Star name, and "I Don't Know" sounds almost exactly like the Tubes, which is a good thing. And though I complained about the second half a couple of sentences ago, the presence of "Can't Hardly Wait" at the end makes it all worth it, even if it starts out sounding like a slicker ripoff of XTC's "Life Begins At The Hop." I give the album a seven.

drazy@gatecity.com
I caught a very drunk and uncool Natalie L*c*s singing "Alex Chilton" about six months after this album was released and knew my world was fucked. You see, I never saw Natalie listening to anything but Whitesnake up until that point and I questioned if the Mats were headed down that same heavy-rotation MTV road. They could have been, and Westerberg knows this. It's the mix, the mix, the dreaded DDD, but that chilly digital cold can't freeze out some of Paul's best songwriting. Not a ten, more like an 8 (dropped down to a 7.5 after they named a movie after one of the best songs on the thing). Save the 10 for Let It Be or Tim. I'll betcha anything that Natalie has completely forgotten the words to "Alex Chilton" by now, the lush...

Muggwort@aol.com
When I first heard the replacements it was on let it be, which I had gotten because it was on VH1's "100 hundred greatest albums of rock n' roll" and for some reason I wanted to buy all the albums on it (I never completed that idea). so I got this let it be and was disappointed, it had to many noisy stupid songs like "garys got a boner" and "Tommy got his tonsils out", but it ended up having 2 of my favorite songs of all time on it "I will dare" and "androgynous", I was curious latter I saw on Mark Prindle's 47 greatest albums that he likes (on music junkies anymouse) the replacements pleased to meet me, I decided to buy it, so I bought it and listened to it and guess what i hated it all except "Alex chilton", "the ledge" and "can't hardly wait", so I thought to myself "my God these replacement boys suck, Paul Westerburg needs to learn how to separate shit from diamond." but since I had just wasted $9 I decided to give it another spin, I liked it a little more, I realized the virtues of "valentine" the next time I listened to it I loved everything, this is one of the best albums I have ever heard! buy it today (or tomorrow).

10/10

James Welton
To my ears, this is the Replacements' crowning achievement. This album has more great tunes than should be allowed by law. "IOU," "I Don't Know," "Nevermind," and "Red, Red Wine" rock like there's no tomorrow. "Valentine" and "Alex Chilton" are brilliant pieces of power pop. "Skyway," while not as harrowing or emotionally naked as "Here Comes A Regular" off the last album, may just be the prettiest tune Westerberg ever wrote.

Recorded as a trio with producer Jim Dickinson and guests like the Memphis Horns rounding out the sound, Pleased To Meet Me sounds fantastic. I don't know if there's a "Jim Dickinson sound," but every album I've ever heard that he's produced has been fantastic. And I've not heard the version of "Can't Hardly Wait" without horns, but where some people say the horn section mars the song, I think it's an interesting, entirely unexpected departure that works.

No album is perfect, though. Listen to "Willpower" off of Hootenanny and then "The Ledge" off of this one and tell me they aren't eerily similar. "The Ledge" is a fine song, but they'd pretty much already recorded it a couple of albums earlier. But this little reservation is the very definition of a quibble. Anyone who claims to like rock n' roll should have this in their collection. Why don't you?

john_schlegel@hotmail.com
Personally, I can't like this one as much as I do Tim (the album, not some guy). It just doesn't have the same exhilaratingly high soaring melodies that the 1985 album had, nor does it feature the same polished songwriting. The first four songs are all classics, but the rest of the album just gallops along confidently (but mundanely) until the up-beat closer "Can't Hardly Wait." Even the punkish "I.O.U." and anthemic "Alex Chilton" are substandard when compared to most of the material on Tim. Still, Pleased to Meet Me does have a way of growing on you. It doesn't really contain any bad songs -- well, "Valentine" is a nondescript pop rocker, and "Red Red Wine" a generic hard rock song, but the rest of the album is at least modestly enjoyable. The LP is relatively fast-paced to boot. "Skyway" certainly sounds pretty when I listen to it, even though I don't find it all that captivating or memorable. And I enjoy "Shooting Dirty Pool" myself (the song, not the act), if only for its commanding, riffy drive (it's not really melodic). My faves would have to be the noveltyish but very catchy "I Don't Know" and the beautiful ballad "Nightclub Jitters," which I even like better than "Swingin' Party"! You might not care for it the first time you play it, but Pleased to Meet Me is still a safe bet. 7/10.

Eric Sweenor
I've never liked much of Tim apart from the singles, "Kiss Me On the Bus", etc. (it is overrated), and Pleased... is a bit too polished, but the songs make it their best. They got in touch with soul and toned everything down, but damn if it ain't their catchiest bunch of songs! "Never Mind" may be the Replacements' manifesto (?) and "Can't Hardly Wait" is an utterly goregous pop song - better heard on the Nothing for All demo version though. Varied too - "The Ledge" and "Skyway" wouldn't have fit much anywhere else, but here they work. This is one of the prime pop/rock albums of the 80's. Get it. 9/10

Rocket Robin Hood
This record as it stands is kinda weak for me. They had played and played and played "Can't Hardly Wait" since the Let It Be days and this high-concept w/horns version is a bit of a letdown. The version from "Shit Hits The Fans" is way better. Plus I don't like "Shooting Dirty Pool" or "The Ledge". However, if they'd released everything they recorded in Memphis on this - Chris Mars singing "Cool Water", "I Tried To Make This Your Home", the "Beer For Breakfast/'Til We're Nude" knockout rock tracks, "P.O. Box", and grabbed the oldie outtake "Nowhere Is My Home", put this out as a double album...well, it woulda been the Exile On Main Street of the 80's. Seriously!

Zophael979@aol.com
Tim happens to be my favorite Replacements record (well...my favorite record), despite it's muddy production (now if only someone gave it the "Raw Power" treatment and remixed the whole thing...I can dream...). Either Pleased To Meet Me or Let It Be stands as my second favorite. I'm not sure which.

PTMM is another one of those great records from the 80s that could've been Nevermind if the stars had been aligned the right way. You'd think that if the Replacements had broken through in 87, Dinosaur Jr., the Pixies, and possibly Husker Du couldn't have been far behind. It would've been like the British Invasion all over again...except without the invasion. Well, I can dream...

As for the record itself, it's a pretty much a classic obviously. The upbeat cousin to the melancholy Tim.

The opener, "IOU", is a straight up punk number with great, snotty lyrics directed towards the music industry (I want it in writing/IOU nothing). Next comes "Alex Chilton", a great piece of hard rock that's probably better than anything Big Star even did (which is saying a lot...and yeah, whether it's better than "September Gurls" or not is up for debate). Then comes the jazzy goodness of "I Don't Know" and "Nightclub Jitters", which push the Replacements' music in a new direction they sadly did not travel down further on subsequent records. Ending the first side (or marking the middle of the CD) is "The Ledge", one of the album's two melancholy numbers. It's a first person suicide study that neither approves of or condemns suicide. It's simply a song of empathy. The fact that this song, a dark melodic number, was the lead-off single was pretty much commercial suicide.

"Nevermind" is the flipside of "The Ledge, being as it's pretty, melodic piece that has nothing to do with suicide. Then comes a trifecta of punk-pop numbers, "Valentine", "Shooting Dirty Pool" and "Red Red Wine". All of them are of varying quality. One is a very good song, another is merely okay, and the other is the only bad song on the album. Trying guessing which ones are which. Up until this point, there really haven't been any ballads on the album. That makes it all the cooler that Westerberg stuck two of his best at the end. "Skyway", the second melancholy number on this piece, is just Paul and his guitar, singing about some girl he never got the nerve to introduce himself to. About 95% can relate to that. The closer, "Can't Hardly Wait", is a full-band pop number with lots of horns and strings and stuff. In stark contrast to the previous album's melancholy closer, "Can't Hardly Wait" is a song filled with barely contained exuberance and optimism for the future.

Yeah, I just described about every song on the album. Sue me. Just means that it's really good. I'm sure some of the songs could've been made better with the guitar skills of Bob Stinson. He was missed, but I'll be damned if Paul, Tommy, and Chris didn't try their hardest to make up for it. As such, I'd give this one a 9.5, mainly because I already gave the 10 to Tim. Crap, just buy both of these records if you haven't all ready. Now! Go!

Hey Mark, it'd be cool if you reviewed some of Paul Westerberg's solo records. Sure, his first few were shaky and somewhat disappointing but "Stereo" is just...whoa...

Shane
I worked mostly backwards on these guys too.Jonnies gonna die and Go are two songs that should have been number one hits,somewhere in the world anyway.A great,fun,mostly believable punk band that went on to be completly capable of radio freindly hits(and had one).To bad only a few people in Seattle and Min. know them very well.

halbert@utc.msstate.edu
I saw the Replacements in a small venue in 1985 or 1986, between "Tim" and the release of this disc and they were great! Fast paced, and loud, full of energy and they even did a cover of Alice Cooper's "Eighteen". The next time I saw them in concert, they opened up for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and they played like they didn't give a shit, except for their cover of Lou Reed's" Walk on the Wild Side ", a very lackluster performance. But the album "Pleased to Meet Me" is excellent indeed! "I.O.U" kicks ass from the very beginning and never lets up."Alex Chilton"the next cut, is the first song I heard on the radio and led me to purchase this release."I Don't Know" with sax and trombone horns backing it up, keeps the steady rocking pace the previous cuts started, note the lyrics "what the fuck's he saying, I don't know" and the part where the music stops and starts back up. "Nightclub Jitters" is a slow finger snapping sing-along, much like a lounge act. "The Ledge" follows and is probrabley the most serious song.Sound reminds me of the bands The Mission U.K. and The Church. Anyway, on with the remainder of the disc(I had a cassette copy). "Nevermind" is pop rock with clever lines such as "It's all over but the shouting, it's just a state of mind" and the following cut,"Valentine", continues the cleverness with lyrics like"If you were a pill,I'd take a handful at my will". Uptempo rockers "Shooting Dirty Pool" and Red.Red Wine follow, note the pause in "Dirty Pool" where Paul Westerberg ask "Why did you get the haircut? and the response is "Drugs man". "Skyway" seems out of place, but it is a beautiful song, and I play it on my acoustic guitar now and then, The last song "I can hardly wait" is a radio friendly cut complete with horn arrangements.

One of the best Rock-n-Roll records ever released, too bad they couldn't follow it up. A "10" in my book.

mayhaas@hotmail.com
great album,nice songs - nevermind,cant hardly wait....and so on...paul westerberg,got it

elliotimes@yahoo.com
"Shooting Dirty Pool" is great! What's so weak about it? And you like "Nightclub Jitters"? Maybe YOU'RE weak, ya weakling!

Nah, you're not weak. But I do have to say that I like Tim better than Pleased to Meet Me. Only by a tiny bit though, cuz this is a great record too. "Can't Hardly Wait" makes me a happy guy.

mikehawk797@gmail.com
An excellent album, but I'm not sure if it's their best. The main problem for me is the production: there's almost no empty space in the mix, as if they just had to put a handclap here or a synth flourish there. Just let them play the damn songs!

Speaking of songs, (as Tony the Tiger would say) they're great! This album is much more diverse than Tim, and as Shootin' Dirty Pool and I Don't Know show, Westerberg has gotten much better at writing straightforward sleaze rock (compare them to Dose of Thunder and Lay it Down Clown). Also, I think these are the only songs on the album that benefit from the production. The only song on here that I don't like is Nightclub Jitters, but hey, don't take it from me!

Tom Scharpling: "Okay, here's one for you. The Replacements: Where did they go wrong?"
Kid eBay: "Uh...In retrospect I would have to say Don't Tell a Soul."
Tom Scharpling: "Really? You go back that far?"
Kid eBay: "What, you're not one of those people who go all the way back to, like, Tim are you?"
Tom Scharpling: "No, no, Tim might actually be my favorite."
Kid eBay: "Oh, okay, cool. Not Pleased to Meet Me."
Tom Scharpling: "There are so many holes on Pleased to Meet Me."
Kid eBay: "What? What's one, name one!"
Tom Scharpling: "Nightclub Jitters?"
Kid eBay: "It's a change of pace!"

Overall, a great album.

Jeffery Hoelscher
This is the record that made me stop listening to them. I was too young to know it at the time, but Bob Stinson really made the band for me. He added self-effacing humor, without which a band gradually devolves into Pink Floyd. I listened to this record a lot because I loved them so much, but I eventually gave up. The records that came out after this each received one disappointed listen from me. The move to Sire brought them down a level. Firing Bob nailed their coffin shut.

One really big difference that I'm digging is this version of "I Don't Know," which -- you know when the song stops, there's a pause, then a long saxophone note, then the song comes back in? In this version, the song stops and suddenly you hear an atrocious drunken Replacements version of "Out Of My Head Over You." Then the song comes back and you can still hear them playing that awful cover underneath. This is, I guess, a reference to how the Replacements couldn't decide whether to play the game and possibly become famous or keep sabotaging their chances by performing drunken covers and dicking around all the time (which is the theme of "I Don't Know"). It's GREAT! My assumption on why they opted for a sax note instead is that they didn't want to pay royalties.

I know I wouldn't want to pay a King or Queen! (Here's where a MIDI version of a bunch of people laughing uproariously should appear in your speakers - if for some reason it doesn't, you have a faulty computer and should take all the pieces out and screw around with them until it works right).

The CD has 26 songs - what, pray tell, makes up the rest? I guess they're outtakes from the album. There's a few covers ("Route 66," "I Think I'm Going Out Of My Head" and "Tossin' And Turnin'" are definitely covers, and my eyebrows wouldn't exactly go flying up and off the top of my head if I discovered that the country-western tune "Cool Clear Water" was one too) and a bunch of songs that follow the same stylistic patterns and moods as the songs that MADE the album, but just aren't as memorable. Which should be a lesson to all of us who insist on filling up 74-minute CDs with our songs. It can really make for tough listenenening when you've buried ten great songs between ten that aren't as great. The Replacements wisely said, "Nosiree!" and picked just the best ones. Like that piece of shit "Shooting Dirty Pool."

Any fan of The Replacements should own this. The rarities are key - KEY - to understanding why Paul Westerberg's solo work is a little sketchier than his band material. It's bacuz he ALWAYS wrote songs like this, but used to have the inimitable creativity to back it up with incredible melodies time and time again. He STILL pulls it off quite a bit - he's just not as invincible as he used to be. He's too old for this shit. A buddy film with him in it would be opportune. He could star with Bob Mould as a couple of former Minneapolis rock stars who get paired together as rookie policemen. No! Paul could be the rookie policeman who's paired with an older GAY partner. Bob is close to retirement and gay but he's agreed to do one more case for the Chief. And Paul Westerberg keeps messing up because he's so excited and nervous about his new job. And Dave Pirner could be the bad guy who steals thousands of dollars worth of jewels from the nightclub, which is generally where jewels are kept. And Prince could play a hilarious Martin Short-esque character who runs around screaming and flapping his arms up and down effiminately. Maybe an anvil could fall on his head and little birdies could start flying around in a circle as he passes out. And then The Cows could come in and the action could stop for several hours while, at my insistence (I play the hardboiled but good-hearted bartender), they play every single song in their catalog, including "Danny Is A Faggot."

And that's my opinion of the new Time Machine movie: Disappointing because the actors don't REALLY go back in time.

Even more FM-ready than "The Ledge" from the last album, these songs are humorless, faceless, guitar-driven, nearly energy-free odes to exhaustion and longing. But I really like 'em! Though not a whit of this could be described as "good-time American rock 'n' roll," the melodies are still novel and memorable, and to hell with all them nay-sayers. Albums this sleekly generic usually suck, but this one doesn't. So give it a chance! "I'll Be You" was a minor MTV hit, and the only real crap pile is "I Won't," a weak-hearted attempt to rekindle the old rock 'n' roll flame that once-ignited the band so brightly. More appropriate is the song right after it, "Rock 'N' Roll Ghost." The album sounds just like it looks - dark, sad, tired, and awfully slick with a bar code and acne scars and the new lead guitarist smoking a cigarette.

Reader Comments

jnw@iglobal.net (Jim Hull)
Well, it may not suck, but as Replacements albums go, it inhales deeply...the thing that got me the most about this one is that it sounds lifeless despite the production. The Replacements to me were all about energy, and this one IS absolutely energy-free...maybe it was their "environmentally conscious" album?

rrousin@berkshire.net (Richard G. Roussin)
The comma should stay. 'Mats rule!

markc@javanet.com (Mark Cybulski)
I totally agree with Jim Hull above. After their masterpiece, Pleased to Meet Me, this is a real "lifeless" let down. It's softer, but All Shook Down was softer and that was the second best album (even if it was all Westerberg, whose album, Eventually, is really good too). I guess you could say this is shitty softer.

reech@dorsai.org
Awful, the beginning of the end. Soft AOR crap.

paul_kepp@classic.msn.com
Yes, it may be a bit overproduced, and it may have been the final nail in the coffin of the mats' punk past, but Don't Tell a Soul is their most solid album top to bottom. "Talent Show" still has the adrenaline, "Anywhere's Better Than Here" has the pessimism, and "Darling One" has the ability to get you laid. I always recommend this album to first time listeners.

Greg7475@aol.com
believe it or not, the deep thinkers at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, one of the largest daily newspapers in the country, recently had an editors meeting to decide whether to use a comma before the "and'' in a series.

Bjkmook@aol.com
This is a great Mats record because of the songwriting. If this album had had production like PTMM or ASD, it would have been a classic. I mean, you have to be dead from the waist down not to rock to "I'LL BE YOU", or even something as slow as "ACHIN' TO BE" (one of Westerberg's best songs, IMHO). Even if it sounds like Eddie Money.

hijinks@utarlg.uta.edu (Thomas Rickert)
Keep the comma. But don't buy the album. Jeez, Westerberg going on about artists. Pathetic. Just pathetic. And dumb. Where once he made art, was art, with a band willing to submit to the band process, now he's an "artist." And he has an ego from reading all that misbegotten rock criticism that called him a great singer-songwriter, just like James Taylor I guess, so now he wants to be just like him or something. As if the rest of the band were just sidemen or something, making no contributions. Well, we all no what to think about that, I hope! And so now Pauly also sucks -- just like James Taylor!!! Plus he has an insufferable ego -- just like James Taylor!!! My coming of alternative age party was held with this record, because it brought home a lesson I was already suspecting but did not want to face, that alternative -- yeah, so we called it that back then, we didn't know, ok, so get off my back -- was really not going to follow a trajectory any different than classic rock's. In other words, everything that rises... Sad, sad, sad. It's a sick sad world!

But it is better than the Gin Blossoms!!

azitelli@stevens-tech.edu
This is on par with Tim AND Let it Be? Crazy!!! this sucks for the most part. no spirit at all. sure, they're all grownup, but does everything have to sound this not-heartfelt when you get old? but it's not that bad...good, shiny adult alternative...5.5

9402992h@student.gla.uc.uk (Dan Hackney)
Replacements? Must be a Yank thing. Oh, and lose the comma.

dmacleod@accesscable.ne
The comma is redundant! Geez I ain't no English student and I doubt anybody reading 12 year old reviews of Replacements' albums really cares anyway. You hard core fans should get over it! Yeah, it was a sell-out and was definitely the beginning of the end, but compared to most other crap out at the time, it is a MASTERPIECE. I agree, compare it against earlier Mats' albums and it comes up short but you can't go through life comparing everything to PTMM, you'll get very bitter.

Schneider_Dave@msn.com (Alfred Schneider)
this and tim are the best two replacements records, pleased to meet me sucks except for skyway and alex chilton, you all know this to be true but are too cowardly and meek to say it, therefore, consider yourself blessed that a fellow as brave and independant-minded(i'm not sure that is proper english) as myself has the large and firm testicles to speak up for all you simpering little posers, with your black pointy shoes and herpes lesions(oh, wait, that's me, i just tell the gals they are pleasure bumps)

jaimoe0@hotmail.com (James Welton)
I've always had trouble discussing and evaluating this album. On the one hand, you can't help but compare an artist's latest work to his or her past achievements. In that light, Don't Tell A Soul suffers. But if this was the only album the Replacements had ever made, well, it would've been pretty good.

The songs aren't bad, and in fact "Achin' to Be" and "Rock and Roll Ghost" stand up favorably to most of the stuff in the Replacements' canon. "I'll Be You" is a pretty tasty piece of radio ready pop, certainly better than most of the poop that made it onto radio at the time. And "I Won't" isn't bad so much as woefully out of place. I read an interview with Westerberg shortly after this came out and he said Tommy's reaction to this batch of songs was "Where's the fuckin' rock n' roll?" Thus "I Won't." It's not bad, but it does sound a bit like an afterthought.

In the end, though, I can't recommend this album with the same unqualified enthusiasm with which I would recommend everything that came before it. If you like intelligent songwriting in a slick, late 80's pop setting, get it. If that's not your cup o' joe, at least tape "Achin' to Be" off a friend's copy.

okeydoke0@yahoo.com (Barrett Barnard)
this record gets picked on too much.its like an ugly girl with a great personality.sure the production sucks but some of the songs are wonderful.darlin one is one of my favorite replacements songs ever.talent show is a great little pop song.i give it a 7 for the inclusion of askin me lies by far the worst replacements song ever.

specializedvideos@comcast.net
Prgram this "Anywhere Is Better Than Here", "Asking Me Lies", "We'll Inherit The Earth", "I'll Be You", "Rock 'N' Roll Ghost", and "Darlin One" and you have a great album. I agree "I Won't" sucks, and although "Talent Show" isn't terrible it is boring and most of side one is even worse so I understand why this album gets ripped on, but "We'll Inherit The Earth is my all time favorite Replacements song and nobody mentions it so screw all those that want a perfect album everytime they buy one. "Anywhere Is Better Than Here" is another classic, it rocks out hard, and is another awesome song that also doesn't get much praise. The rest of the songs I mentioned are great as well. More than half is awesome and I can't see how people need more. I'll take 6 classic songs anyday.

jackgamber@gmail.com
Ey Pringle!

So, you was all "should I put comma after slow in the phrase "sad, slow, and pretty"" and I just wanted to tell you that that is called an Oxford Comma and they're preferred by most writers and professors as far as I can tell. Also this faggy band named Vampire Weekend wrote a song about it and made assholes think they were hip but FUCK THAT.

Also, Don't Tell A Soul is good. I mean, don't go right from Sorry Ma to it, or you'll be real confused and what-not, but if you listen to all their records, then it's a far more natural progression of musical style. And if you hate the production, what'd you prefer? The production of Tim? FUCK YOU, GUY WHO MAY THINK THIS.

Actually, I haven't heard either of his solo albums, so maybe he has run out of steam, but, by golly, go pick up almost any record with the word "Replacements" on it, give it a few fair listens to get used to the style and let the songs really sink in, and you too, like so many others before you, will shake your head in wonder that this band never became a staple of classic rock radio. Three thumbs up.

Reader Comments

reech@dorsai.org
Westerberg 1, the Mat's 0. Don't even look at the cover on this one!

fernaumead@aol.com
As Lester Bangs would say: NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

hijinks@utarlg.uta.edu (Thomas Rickert)
Better than Don't, but still lackluster compared to past glories. Attitude is a great little ditty, as is the title track too. So not completely worthless! And lots better than the Gin Blossoms, Dave Mattews Band, and all that other claptrap that people try to force me to listen to and that makes me want to hate music and kill myself because its so unbearably mediocre. In case you wondering. And maybe you weren't, but there you go, and there you are.

HowlinTomFan5@aol.com
Except for the gordon lightfoot-eske production(Take note kids:the goo goo dolls would ape this album and slick it up even more,in the future, for major Mtv mega bucks) and 2 piece-o-crap songs I don't think this tunebag is that bad.An 8.5 on it's own merit....compared to L.I.B a 7.Compared to a boy named goo a 10.I mean it sure as hell beats don't tell a soul................

jaimoe0@hotmail.com (James Welton)
First of all I'll just say, as if you couldn't tell by my previous posts, that I'm a huge Replacements fan, and they didn't do anything that was absolutely horrible. That said, this is hands down my least favorite Replacements album. Kudos for taking some of the gloss off the production. Could you imagine if these songs had been gussied up the way the stuff on Don't Tell A Soul was? I'm hearing strings and swooshy synthesizers, and I'm not liking it. They should have let Westerberg go ahead and make this his first solo album instead of passing it off as the Replacements. But it's got some decent songs like "Attitude," "Happy Town" and "Sadly Beautiful." "My Little Problem" even manages to rock a little bit, but to me this is the album with the energy deficit. Get it if you love The Replacements or resigned despair.

After this, Paul's solo career is spotty, but mostly listenable. However, I've heard nothing but raves about his live shows. Tommy Stinson's band Bash and Pop put out a decent, Replacements Jr.-sounding album called "Friday Night Is Killing Me." I actually like it quite a bit. Then he had a band called Perfect or something like that. They weren't. Now he's the bassist in Axl's new Guns and Roses. Chris Mars put out some decent solo stuff, too, which makes you wonder if the Replacements might have been able to soldier on a bit longer if Mars and Stinson had been allowed a little more creative leeway in the band, especially toward the end. However, his albums have gotten increasingly mediocre, but I understand he's a heck of a visual artist. I think he's done most of the artwork for his own albums. Haven't heard Slim's solo stuff. Bob's dead.

okeydoke0@yahoo.com (Barrett Barnard)
this record is really hit and miss.for every genuis pop song there is another worthless pop song.but the title track is one of the wierdest and best songs paul westerberg ever wrote.other highlights include attitude,sadly beautiful and the magazine in yer dentist office to keep kids mind off of the pain that awaits them.

danielbrookes@gmail.com
This is my favourite 'Mats record. It reminds me of being fat and 19 in my friend's bedroom. A bunch of us guys had saved a couple of grand to go around Europe and see things before we moved on and diverged. The owner of this record had made a big play for some girl and failed, and decided to drink all of his travelling money away. he was kind of the nucleus of the group, so we all followed suit in his wallowing, sitting around in the summer and listening to this. 'Nobody' was the part where anyone would get shushed for taking through. It got a bit intense. In retrospect it was all a bit lame and we should have gone to Europe without him, but this record's love almost offset what I missed. Except that fucking last track, it's shite.

BBQ Bangin'? Beats Bumpin'! When Ya Rollin' Thru?

I don't need your whining. The CD is what it says it is. The well-written corporate rock shoulda-been-hits which they created "all for nothing," and the bunch of hilarious hard-to-find nonsense that they're presenting to you, the silly fans, all in the same place for the first time, which is, obviously, "nothing for all." Don't buy or sell - it's crap! But you know what, Geraldine? Paul Westerberg's trash is our treacle! Listne, sit donw and shut pu!

Reader Comments

scottstrobel@hotmail.com
Fuck it all! It was great growing up in the mini apple and being to go to 1st ave and oar folk to listen to the mats. Their music was drunk young and fun and its fun to go back in time every so often and relive the days that my wife and kids won't let me live anymore.

KJohnsonHP@aol.com
I like the organization of "best of" with one disk of Major Label hits and another with "B-sides,etc" . Like you I just wish they would have included some of the Twin Town tunes. I really like some of the pre-Let it Be songs but can't listen to any one album in it's entirety (I think you have to be under 24).

The early indie years produced some great tunes that would appeal to fans who don't like most of the hardcore songs on these albums. "Go" for example is one of my favs and far from the thrash of the other songs on Stink. "Color Me Impressed" would also find fans in another context.

What is on the "hits" disk however is awesome and shows why I never understood why this band didn't make it big...timing I guess.

Neskobe@aol.com
hey hey i like it when the mats' do rock and roll (beer for breakfast,red red wine,kissin in action, gary's got a boner,shutup ,etc.)as much as anybody else .I just don't like it when they do it badly.

HowlinTomFan5@aol.com
Hey hey hey hey hey!I heard that twin/tone is doing it's own version of this record......b-sides and alternate takes from the inebriated years.........only it may be a box set.......it's being compiled by Peter Jasperson(I think or heard)........and will probably not see the light of day for quite a while........don't ask me why but that's what the goddamn rumor mill says on the newsgroups that I frequent when I get tired of the thing with the doo-hickey and the DEELOY......FROYNLAVEN!!!!!..........uhhhhh speaking of this little post-humous release why didn't sire put a third disc of classic live performances from this period?Or just take out the greatest hits section?All diehard fans already have these tunes.That's what I would have done if I ran Sire .Then again I am a Mats fool.............

d.lysien@attbi.com (David Lysien)
that magical moment when music becomes more than just notes and chords and makes you feel like you can accomplish anything. the whole meaning of art\music. that is the replacements. don't fight it. let them take you.