Best Replacements Album

[upinkzeppelin2]

I honestly only know one Replacements song: Skyway. And I love it.

[rockysigman]

I'm expecting that this one won't be very close. Please to Meet Me and Let It Be will get some votes, but Tim will likely run away with this one.

[Kensterberg]

Much as I love Pleased to Meet Me and Let It Be (and Don't Tell a Soul and even Hootenanny), I've gotta also go with Tim.

[Weeping_Guitar]

Well, Tim is probably my favorite album of the '80s, so yeah, it gets my vote.

[Ayinger]

I had to break the run and go with Pleased To Meet Me --- copping that it's usually my favorite call through & through.....Let It Be would be a close 2nd.

I think the band sounded it's best with Pleased; well written, better played songs with the production raised a notch or two while still having some attitude able to show through. Let It Be is glorious for that attitude being played with a looser abandon AND cheaper sounding production. I'd put Tim as a good call for bridging right between the two......fuck, just get all three and be done with it!!!

_{....oh, I do have a soft spot of All Shook Down too.....}

[Galactus]

I'm bored and so I will give my thoughts on a ll the bonus tracks from the recent reissues of all the 'Mat's albums.

Sorry Ma,Forgot To Take Out The Trash

19-25 Demos- Raised In The City, Shutup, Don't Turn Me Down, Shape Up, You Ain't Gotta Dance, Get On The Stick, Oh Baby

Fun punk, that's about it really.

26-28 Session Outtakes- Like You, Get Lost, A Toe Needs A Shoe

Slightly better sounding fun punk. No missing "gems" here really. It's not to say that they are bad but the great all the great tracks from this period seem to have made it on to the album.

29 Alternate take - Customer
One of my favorite tracks. A slightly more ragged take on this short blast of genius.

30 Rehearsal - Basement jam
The boys messing around. Again fun is the key word.

31 B-side - If Only You Were Lonely
Solo Westerberg, a hint of what would come. It would sound out of place on the album but it's as good as anything that made the album. From the beginning Paul shows the desire to be more then the singer for a punk band.

Stink EP

9-11 Outtakes - Staples In Her Stomach, Hey Good Lookin', (We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock

The latter two covers make this short EP a little less forgettable. Hey Good Lookin' would stick around the Mat's setlists for years, though in a later slowed down drunker version, more in the spirit of the original. Rock Around The Clock is sloppy and awesome. They should've done an EP of covers.

12 Demo - You're Getting Married
Another solo Westerberg track, certainly more interesting then "White And Lazy" even attempts. They couldn't stay a punk band forever, here's why.

Hootenanny

13- Alternate version - Lookin' For Ya
Early version of Lovelines, kind of boring without the spoken word jazzyness that it became.

14-16 Outtakes - Junior's Got A Gun, Ain't No Crime, Johnny Fast
These tracks were probably left off for being a little too conventionally punk. Johnny Fast is just a faster take on Johnny's Gonna Die from Sorry Ma.

17-18 Alternate versions - Treatment Bound, Lovelines
Treatment Bound isn't really different from the album version except it has full production instead of the intentionally "tinny" mix on the album. Lovelines features a different vocal, Paul reading different ads.

19 Demo - Bad Worker
Westerberg solo again, only this time it's not a very good song.

Let It Be
12 B-side - 20th Century Boy
If Paul knew the words this would be great, as it is it's just really good.

13-14 Outtakes - Perfectly Lethal, Temptation Eyes
The first is a good track but obvious why it left off, the second is a Grass Roots cover, also pretty good.

15 Demo - Answering Machine
Neat for historical purposes I guess, terrible sound quality.

16 Outtakes - Heartbeat - It's a Lovebeat, Sixteen Blue
A Defranco Family cover and an alternate vocal on Sixteen Blue. The bonus tracks for this album are pretty disappointing really. I know they couldn't match the how the great the album is but aside from 20th Century Boy the covers are fairly uninspired and the outtakes don't shed any light on anything.

Tim
12 Acoustic outtake - Can't Hardly Wait
It's just a guide track. No nice guitar fills or anything outside of the rhythm. It is a peek inside the process though. The idea was the band would play to this guide track, only when they played loud they couldn't hear it.

13 Outtake - Nowhere Is My Home
The first outtake that could really be argued maybe should've been left on the album. If it was issue of time though this was the right track to drop.

14 Outtake - Can't Hardly Wait
Full band version, not the same as the Tim Version. This was great song from the beginning.

15 Studio demo - Kiss Me On The Bus
You kind of wish the whole album would have been produced a bit rougher like this. Paul has never liked the production of Tim, maybe he's got a point.

16 Alternate versions - Waitress In The Sky, Here Comes A Regular
Neither are very different from the takes they ended up using. Not only is this their best album, the outtakes are among the most interesting.

Pleased To Me Me
12-15 Demos - Birthday Gal, Valentine, Bundle Up, Photo
The Mats as a trio. Again one wonders how the album would've been different if they'd recorded the whole album this way. Birthday Gal should've been on the album (though the All For Nothing outtake version is probably better) and Valentine, with a fuller, warmer sound, is arguably better then the one that made it on the album. Bundle Up is pretty much Jungle Rock which was released on All For Nothing, it's still a filler track. Photo has been floating around bootlegs for a while as PO Box and also should arguably have been worked up for the album. Though aside from this take no one remembers anything about the song.

16 Outtake - Election Day
Same as All For Nothing.

17 Alternate version - Alex Chilton
A less produced take, an argument that the more polished production was really the way to go. With Westerberg's increasingly mature songs some the subtleties are lost.

18 Demo - Kick It In
I've never read it anywhere but it sounds to me like this might be an early version of Asking Me Lies.

19-20 B-sides - Route 66, Tossin' and Turnin'
More Mats covers, good ones at that.

21 Alternate version - Can't Hardly Wait
Another one, this is pretty similar to the Tim versions. The versions with horns and strings is still the best one. Deal with it.

22. B-side - Cool Water
Chris Mars sings country. Fantastic.

Don't Tell A Soul
12-13 Outtakes Portland, Wake Up
Both from All For Nothing, both should've been on the album. Wake Up would've stood out like a sore thumb, but this album as much as I like it could've used some more rock.

14 Demo - Talent Show
A more aggressive take. This album more then others make clear the shift was in favor of more radio friendly production value, Westerberg's songwriting hasn't changed much.

15 Different mix - We'll Inherit The Earth
With a distorted six string bass on the intro and throughout.

16-18 Outtakes - Date To Church, We Know The Night, Gudbuy T'Jane
Date To Church is the same as All For Nothing, We Know The Night says it's not the same but it sounds the same to me and Gudbuy is a Slade cover in the vein of what the boys were doing on stage.

All Shook Down
14-20 Demos - When It Began, Kissin' In Action, Someone Take The Wheel, Attitude, Happy Town, Tiny Paper Plane, Sadly Beautiful

Some songs made it some didn't, it doesn't matter which is which.

21 Alternate version - My Little Problem
...pretty much the same as the other...

22 Don't Buy Or Sell, It's Crap EP - Ought To Get Love, Satellite, Kissin In Action

Satellite is the same as All For Nothing, this EP is better then All Shook Down. There's no excuse all three of these songs aren't on that album.