I don't think there's too many bands that have moved up to a major label from an indie that have done it as well as the Replacements (Nirvana, Green Day, i don't know, maybe the Blood Brothers?) That's kind of remarkable considering how overproduced all of the Replacements' major-label records sound - that 80's new-wave or major-label punk sound. Ugh. This record is no exception with Jim Dickinson attempting to EQ all of the heart out of everything.
But the song are SOOOOOOO good. I remember I used to hate this record because I thought I was supposed to hate it. No Bob Stinson, man. Come on. My friend Joe from the Hot New Mexicans alerted me that this was a classic record, and while it might not be Let it Be or Tim it comes pretty damn close. In fact, there is an urgency here that was lacking on much of Tim, with the opening track jumping out at ya and tackling ya to the ground and the poppy rasp of "Never Mind" making drinking sound fuckin' important maaaaan.
It's also got one of the Replacements defining moments, "Alex Chilton." What can you say about a band who writes a pop song, a SINGLE, as an ode to a musician who never quite make it that they admire, all for a major label, for MTV. As they say in the next song, it was nice that The Replacements kept "one foot in the door, the other foot in the gutter." Even if the Replacements weren't the equivalent of our worst drunken selves playing rock and roll, the music here is so good and also varied. This record takes a lot of the experimenting on Hootenany and makes them ALL real songs. The quieter songs "Skyway" and "Can't Hardly Wait" are especially good on this record. I guess the real funny thing about this Replacements is that at most people will attest that this is their third best record. "Nightclub Jitters" and "The Ledge" kinda take it off course for a bit, but if they didn't go of course they wouldn't be the Replacements, yeah?
No comments:
Post a Comment