Replacements

[Al_4_ISU 12451]

I love "Merry Go Round" and have really grown to appreciate "All Shook Down" as I've gotten more into Paul's solo stuff the last year or so.  I agree with pretty much everything you said.  For whatever reason, writing about his little sister brought a certain characteristic out of his writing ("Achin' to Be" is the other one that comes to mind) that's got that mix of wistfulness and tension that just hits you square on.

I'm definitely in the "grew into the Mats" camp.  Despite growing up very much in the shadow of their influence, they just weren't something people I got musical recs from growing up were into.  I started reading about them as an influential band when I was in HS ('99-'03) and continued to see them referenced by bands that I was into.  I didn't really get into them until maybe 2009 or so.  It was getting into The Hold Steady that made me need to just sit down and listen to the Mats.  "Tim" was my first album (it was one of the remastered/expanded editions) and that ragged version of "Can't Hardly Wait" is what really got me into them.

I was already pretty into the alt-country thing, so despite my high school punk phase, I've always a bigger of fan "Let it Be" and beyond than I was the "Hey Ma"/"Stink" era.  I didn't truly get the Bob era until I heard some of the high quality live shows from the end of it (I think the Ed Stasium version of "Tim" really shows his potential too).

[hullabelew 3723]

Every Replacements fan needs to read this book.  Strike that...every rock music fan needs to read this book.   Has a TON about the Replacements but is really about the building of the Minneapolis music scene from the buy who was a driving force and right in the middle of it all, Peter Jesperson. 

https://www.amazon.com/Euphoric-Recall-Producer-Executive-Tastemaker/dp/1681342715

 

[Celery Man 20931]

I'm both a huge fan of the Replacements and also not that deeply intimate with their discography. In 2008ish, I was deep into my own music and ambitions of rockstardom and was going through a kinda musical genealogy kick. Tracing the influences of music I was into back into the hardcore and alternative rock scenes of the 1980s. I read Our Band Could Be Your Life cover to cover and some of the chapters a bunch of times, including the one on The Replacements. I wasn't even really that familiar with their music, but I felt a connection to their story. My band went on tour right as I was doing that, and I bought some kinda compilation (I think "Don't You Know Who I Think I Was") from a record store near a pier in Baltimore and I remember just listening to it a bunch of times driving into Pittsburgh. And I eventually bought Let It Be and wore that album out. It's funny, I guess I'd say "Can't Hardly Wait" and "Alex Chilton" are my favorite Replacements songs but Let It Be is the album. I Will Dare is one of the greatest opening tracks to an album ever.

 

I'm slowly listening to Danger Boys now. I should read that Jesperson book. 

[Al_4_ISU 12451]

10 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

I'm both a huge fan of the Replacements and also not that deeply intimate with their discography. In 2008ish, I was deep into my own music and ambitions of rockstardom and was going through a kinda musical genealogy kick. Tracing the influences of music I was into back into the hardcore and alternative rock scenes of the 1980s. I read Our Band Could Be Your Life cover to cover and some of the chapters a bunch of times, including the one on The Replacements. I wasn't even really that familiar with their music, but I felt a connection to their story. My band went on tour right as I was doing that, and I bought some kinda compilation (I think "Don't You Know Who I Think I Was") from a record store near a pier in Baltimore and I remember just listening to it a bunch of times driving into Pittsburgh. And I eventually bought Let It Be and wore that album out. It's funny, I guess I'd say "Can't Hardly Wait" and "Alex Chilton" are my favorite Replacements songs but Let It Be is the album. I Will Dare is one of the greatest opening tracks to an album ever.

 

I'm slowly listening to Danger Boys now. I should read that Jesperson book. 

I love Danger Boys.

[Carl Spackler 3479]

Are you guys referring to Trouble Boys?  Or is there some other book about the Mats called Danger Boys?

[Al_4_ISU 12451]

1 hour ago, Carl Spackler said:

Are you guys referring to Trouble Boys?  Or is there some other book about the Mats called Danger Boys?

I meant Trouble Boys.  Brain fart based off previous error

[Celery Man 20931]

My mistake. That’s one of the problems with listening to books - you hardly ever see the cover/title.

[Carl Spackler 3479]

No worries -- was just making sure there wasn't another tome out there about the band.  I read Trouble Boys a while back and thought it was very good.

There are a few other books out there about the 'Mats, including All Over But The Shouting and Lemon Jail.  I haven't read either one, but might add them to my wish list to read someday, along with Hulla's recommendation above.

I got into the Replacements right around Tim, and that remains my favorite album of theirs.   

Edited September 10 by Carl Spackler

[Carl Spackler 3479]

On 9/4/2024 at 8:46 AM, Celery Man said:

 I Will Dare is one of the greatest opening tracks to an album ever.

Quoted for truth.

[jimmyjazz 45887]

Great illustration by Jack Pabis: