Replacements - Let It Be POLL

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed

Here's the quickest way back to my adolesence in a good way. Thanks.

If we've done this before, please lock thread.
I want to go back there when I was a punk rock child. Yes I do.

My vote goes to Answering Machine cause that shit is gonna slap my bitch, yes it will. Thanking ILM.

Poll Results

OptionVotes
Unsatisfied 18
I Will Dare 15
Favorite Thing 12
Answering Machine 10
Androgynous 7
Sixteen Blue 4
We're Coming Out 3
Seen Your Video 3
Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out 1
Gary's Got A Boner 1
Black Diamond 1


Definitely More Goth Than You (Bimble), Sunday, 7 June 2009 21:22 (sixteen years ago)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn306/Floridian_20/ReplacementsLetItBe.jpg

Definitely More Goth Than You (Bimble), Sunday, 7 June 2009 21:26 (sixteen years ago)

i think we've done this before, but i'll say sixteen blue

Oh baby if only you knew I'm down to a hundred-and-two (stevie), Sunday, 7 June 2009 21:29 (sixteen years ago)

Androgynous

i've seen the way you've treated other fuxxors you've been with (Tape Store), Sunday, 7 June 2009 21:34 (sixteen years ago)

or Unsatisfied. This is difficult.

i've seen the way you've treated other fuxxors you've been with (Tape Store), Sunday, 7 June 2009 21:35 (sixteen years ago)

yeah kid it's a-really hip: replacements LET IT BE poll

Pleasant Plains, Sunday, 7 June 2009 21:42 (sixteen years ago)

I listened to the first four songs off this at the gym this week because of this thread, and let me tell you it made me run like hell on that treadmill! I can't figure out if I should choose "Answering Machine" for purely sentimental reasons or if I should try to be more objective. Thank goodness I've still got time before the poll ends.

― Bimble, Friday, January 11, 2008 8:21 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Also another thing I'll always remember is the splotch of white paint that was on the sleeve of my vinyl copy somewhere around Tommy Stinson's legs in that photo. One of those charming imperfections of pressing you would never see now. (and no, no jokes about him cumming please) Anyone else have a botched pressing of the sleeve of this?

― Bimble, Friday, January 11, 2008 8:26 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

;-)

Pleasant Plains, Sunday, 7 June 2009 21:44 (sixteen years ago)

yeah this has been done but iirc "seen your video" was robbed, i'll rep for it this time and i think sarge has my back

and why?!? (k3vin k.), Sunday, 7 June 2009 22:12 (sixteen years ago)

Androgynous, but Unsatisfied is great too.

Jesus Christ, Attorney at Law (res), Sunday, 7 June 2009 22:15 (sixteen years ago)

^^ #'s 3 and 2, respectively

and why?!? (k3vin k.), Sunday, 7 June 2009 22:22 (sixteen years ago)

this album finally opened up to me this weekend after like a year of *appreciating* it but not really loving it. now i love it. and i vote "we're coming out"

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Monday, 8 June 2009 00:10 (sixteen years ago)

Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out

Vokuhila (latebloomer), Monday, 8 June 2009 00:12 (sixteen years ago)

Answering Machine

Vokuhila (latebloomer), Monday, 8 June 2009 00:12 (sixteen years ago)

"seen your video" def

let free dom ring (J0rdan S.), Monday, 8 June 2009 00:13 (sixteen years ago)

"Androgynous" seems to get better year after year for me, really a pretty profound and empathetic song for a straight dude to write about sexual ambiguity/confusion

some dude, Monday, 8 June 2009 00:26 (sixteen years ago)

"i will dare" simply because it's such a great album opener. there's something about it that, when i hear it, makes me excited to be listening to the record.

borntohula, Monday, 8 June 2009 02:58 (sixteen years ago)

"favorite thing" last time, "favorite thing" still

would you ask tom petty that? (tipsy mothra), Monday, 8 June 2009 03:15 (sixteen years ago)

Answering Machine, because after all these years I still don't have a fucking clue how to play it on geetar. I've figured out US Maple songs more easily.

dlp9001, Monday, 8 June 2009 03:20 (sixteen years ago)

i think it's an actual answering machine in the background, could be wrong

and why?!? (k3vin k.), Monday, 8 June 2009 03:29 (sixteen years ago)

Favorite Thing 4EVA!!!!!!

kornrulez6969, Monday, 8 June 2009 03:34 (sixteen years ago)

favorite thing" last time, "favorite thing" still

― would you ask tom petty that? (tipsy mothra), Monday, June 8, 2009 3:15 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

what u arrestin me for, innit (╓abies), Monday, 8 June 2009 03:40 (sixteen years ago)

could easily have voted androgynous or black diamond or answering machine or unsatisfied or favorite thing tbh i'm just feelin we're comin out most right right now

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Monday, 8 June 2009 03:43 (sixteen years ago)

"i think it's an actual answering machine in the background, could be wrong"

That voice at the end -- "If you'd like to make a call....", etc., does that still come on? I haven't had a land line in a few years and I can't remember. That woman must have the most listened to voice in U.S. history.

Mark, Monday, 8 June 2009 03:45 (sixteen years ago)

yeah i get her for busy lines and automated voicemails

and why?!? (k3vin k.), Monday, 8 June 2009 03:55 (sixteen years ago)

nobody likes "Gary's Got a Boner." Will one of the contrarians on here just vote for it already?

Jesus Christ, Attorney at Law (res), Monday, 8 June 2009 05:18 (sixteen years ago)

i like "gary's got a boner". but it's one of their bar-band rock numbers, which work fine as album cuts, they just don't jump out as anybody's favorite song. (see also "dose of thunder," "shooting dirty pool," etc.)

would you ask tom petty that? (tipsy mothra), Monday, 8 June 2009 05:28 (sixteen years ago)

Answering Machine, because after all these years I still don't have a fucking clue how to play it on geetar.

rumor has it Open A with a capo on fret 2 will be a good place to start

all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Monday, 8 June 2009 05:45 (sixteen years ago)

i have voted 'unsatisfied' in both of these polls. has there ever been a TIM poll?

the table is the table, Monday, 8 June 2009 05:57 (sixteen years ago)

i will dare

insincere ilsas of the SS (hmmmm), Monday, 8 June 2009 08:02 (sixteen years ago)

Sixteen Blue

ithappens, Monday, 8 June 2009 09:00 (sixteen years ago)

could easily have voted androgynous or black diamond or answering machine or unsatisfied or favorite thing tbh i'm just feelin we're comin out most right right now

^^^^rEAL tALK.

Definitely More Goth Than You (Bimble), Monday, 8 June 2009 10:04 (sixteen years ago)

on the previous poll i voted i will dare
this time ill go with androgynous.

Zeno, Monday, 8 June 2009 17:07 (sixteen years ago)

My prediction: Current vacillation will lead to me listening to this album, like, ten times in the next few days, going from one option to another as if my vote really matters, then ultimately forgetting to vote at all and yet feeling OK about whatever wins.

THESE ARE MY FEELINGS! FEEL MY FEELINGS! (I eat cannibals), Monday, 8 June 2009 18:07 (sixteen years ago)

Voting once again for "Favorite Thing."

Jazzbo, Monday, 8 June 2009 18:09 (sixteen years ago)

Now we're talking! (never mind fuckin' Tim).

There really isn't a bad track on this record. I'm going with "We're Comin' Out."

Alex in NYC, Monday, 8 June 2009 19:05 (sixteen years ago)

Eh, Tim's not so bad song-wise. It's the production that sucks.

Jazzbo, Monday, 8 June 2009 19:08 (sixteen years ago)

favorite thing

autogucci cru (deej), Monday, 8 June 2009 20:39 (sixteen years ago)

Kidding about the bad track thing? "Gary's Got A Boner" is one of the most cringe-worthy songs I've heard in my life.

the table is the table, Monday, 8 June 2009 20:49 (sixteen years ago)

i can think of a lot cringier songs from Tim or Don't Tell a Soul

Mr. Que, Monday, 8 June 2009 20:55 (sixteen years ago)

Kidding about the bad track thing? "Gary's Got A Boner" is one of the most cringe-worthy songs I've heard in my life.

....yet still better than most of Tim.

Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 9 June 2009 01:08 (sixteen years ago)

People, people, dudes. Your sense of propriety is completely gayass! Gary's Got A Boner is an high quality rockin jam.

what u arrestin me for, innit (╓abies), Tuesday, 9 June 2009 02:18 (sixteen years ago)

for real, plus duh it sounds like "cat scratch fever"

pretzel walrus, Tuesday, 9 June 2009 02:29 (sixteen years ago)

cringe-worthy sort of implies that it's done in earnest; but this is a joke song, top to bottom.

Jesus Christ, Attorney at Law (res), Tuesday, 9 June 2009 02:31 (sixteen years ago)

no--it's a metaphorical exploration into the journey of a young man's wrenching, yearning struggle with priapism

Mr. Que, Tuesday, 9 June 2009 02:41 (sixteen years ago)

Answering Machine v. Unsatisfied. Thinkin' the latter.

Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 9 June 2009 02:49 (sixteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Friday, 19 June 2009 23:01 (sixteen years ago)

Androgynous is one of the best examples ever recorded of the "less is more" minimalism style in pop/rock.

Zeno, Saturday, 20 June 2009 02:53 (sixteen years ago)

nah its just a song where they played piano

autogucci cru (deej), Saturday, 20 June 2009 05:04 (sixteen years ago)

maybe, but it's not the initial meaning but the result that counts.

Zeno, Saturday, 20 June 2009 05:10 (sixteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Saturday, 20 June 2009 23:01 (sixteen years ago)

who besides a sarge voted for seen you video??

what a disaster for 1p3 (k3vin k.), Sunday, 21 June 2009 01:04 (sixteen years ago)

hey, i will dare did better in this poll. maybe by the third poll it will win!

scott seward, Sunday, 21 June 2009 01:09 (sixteen years ago)

I think I voted for Seen Your Video since I voted for Favorite Thing in the first poll. I used to use SYV as background music when I did a halftime scoreboard show on the radio for the local D-I basketball team.

Pleasant Plains, Sunday, 21 June 2009 03:08 (sixteen years ago)

previous poll results:
unsatisfied 17
favorite thing 16
i will dare 14
answering machine 14
androgynous 7
sixteen blue 6
tommy gets his tonsils out 5
we're coming out 5
black diamond 5
gary's got a boner 3
seen your video 1

the rolling stones would be happy

Zeno, Sunday, 21 June 2009 03:18 (sixteen years ago)

Someone should add them together.

Mark, Sunday, 21 June 2009 03:51 (sixteen years ago)

Well, my profession is accounting so...

Unsatisfied 35
I Will Dare 29
Favourite Thing 28
Answering Machine 24
Androgynous 14
Sixteen Blue 10
We're Coming Out 8
Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out 6
Black Diamond 6
Gary's Got A Boner 4
Seen Your Video 4

Every time I get to Androgynous in the list as I go down, I think "wait! that song got short shrift" and then I look at the ones before it and think "oh yeah, that's why" LOL

Subway to Idaho (Bimble), Sunday, 21 June 2009 10:30 (sixteen years ago)

No way to be androgynous and not unsatisfied.

all art is propaganda (kenan), Sunday, 21 June 2009 12:21 (sixteen years ago)

Well, in this context.

all art is propaganda (kenan), Sunday, 21 June 2009 12:22 (sixteen years ago)

eight years pass...

Really incredible album if something as lovely as "Sixteen Blue" is the sixth-best song

bunny slopes, Sunday, 22 October 2017 06:11 (eight years ago)

seven years pass...

Tommy told a fan during a meet & greet earlier this summer that a 4 LP / 3 CD deluxe edition was coming, and the band's various websites - social media, YouTube page, etc. - has just confirmed it.

birdistheword, Tuesday, 19 August 2025 18:21 (three months ago)

*have just confirmed it

birdistheword, Tuesday, 19 August 2025 18:22 (three months ago)

Well, my profession is accounting so...

Unsatisfied 35
I Will Dare 29
Favourite Thing 28
Answering Machine 24

(Results of two polls combined) I'd fiddle with the order a bit there--2/1/4/3--but I would say that is exactly the right top four, with the right amount of distance from everything else. Also think three of the bottom four are right, but I do like last-place finisher "Seen Your Video."

I don't begrudge its existence, and like seeing the band make some money whenever they can, but I can't imagine buying an expanded version of an album that is 1/3 brilliant and contains waste as is. Mind you, being the Replacements, maybe there's some tossed-off brilliance hiding away in there.

clemenza, Tuesday, 19 August 2025 18:33 (three months ago)

This is probably a singular point of view, but I'd rank the CD bonus track "Perfectly Lethal" as second-best track if it had been on the LP.

Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 19 August 2025 18:36 (three months ago)

...which is not to say there's likely a lot of EXTRA extra content at that level of quality.

Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 19 August 2025 18:38 (three months ago)

Never heard that. I do love the non-album track "Pool and Dive" on a compilation I have.

clemenza, Tuesday, 19 August 2025 18:43 (three months ago)

> contains waste as is.

Unlike, say, the Beatles Let it Be, the waste tracks are 100% necessary. The butt-dumb songs make the subtle songs subtle rather than striving. This record got ecological niches.

Primrose Cash Po (bendy), Tuesday, 19 August 2025 19:01 (three months ago)

I know what you're saying, and the album's of a piece, yes. I still think there's two or three lousy songs, and if you replaced them with good ones, "I Will Dare" wouldn't be any less brilliant.

clemenza, Tuesday, 19 August 2025 20:14 (three months ago)

It's not like there isn't a surfeit of sloppiness and crudity even on the "subtle" songs, they don't need "Gary's Got a Boner" for contrast. I was kind of shocked to listen to their debut many years after hearing this one and find that they sounded a lot more together as a hardcore band. I mean, I'm not the typical fan, because I feel like their music could have been better with more "striving" and less embarrassment about writing good songs that are played decently and produced acceptably. Their biography notwithstanding.

Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 19 August 2025 20:35 (three months ago)

Gary's Got a Boner is a great song

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 19 August 2025 20:57 (three months ago)

Two screwing-around songs I love: Neil Young's "Are You Ready for the Country" and the Beatles' "Rocky Racoon. One I consider genius-level: "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," which many people despise. Reaction to these songs is maybe even more subjective than most music.

clemenza, Tuesday, 19 August 2025 21:42 (three months ago)

See, I would probably change the radio station if "Heart of Gold" or "Old Man" came on, but never for "Are You Ready for the Country". I never even thought of it as filler or throwaway, other than a few seconds of false start; I guess I'd reserve that for "Homegrown" or "We Don't Smoke It No More".

Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 19 August 2025 21:48 (three months ago)

I love it, but to me it does sound like it was made up on the spot.

clemenza, Tuesday, 19 August 2025 22:01 (three months ago)

Gary's Got a Boner is a great song

100,000 percent truth

fact checking cuz, Tuesday, 19 August 2025 22:05 (three months ago)

https://store.rhino.com/en/rhino-store/artists/the-replacements/let-it-be-deluxe-edition-3cd/603497811670.html

LET IT BE by The Replacements—Paul Westerberg, Bob Stinson, Tommy Stinson, and Chris Mars - originally released by highly revered indie label Twin/Tone Records, is widely hailed as one of the greatest albums of the 1980s and a cornerstone of indie rock.

The DELUXE EDITION gathers a wide range of unreleased material from the LET IT BE sessions, including alternate versions of “Gary’s Got A Boner” and “Favorite Thing,” as well as previously unreleased outtakes “Who’s Gonna Take Us Alive” and “Street Girl.” The alternate version of “Androgynous” out today features a different vocal take and the full piano intro, restored for the first time. All five bonus tracks from 2008’s LET IT BE (EXPANDED EDITION) are included here, newly remastered for this set.

The collection also includes GOODNIGHT! GO HOME!, an unreleased 28-song performance recorded in August 1984 at the Cubby Bear in Chicago. Sourced from an audience tape and newly remastered, it finds the Minneapolis quartet charging through material from the not-yet-released album (“I Will Dare” and “Unsatisfied”), early favorites (“Color Me Impressed” and “Takin’ A Ride”), and characteristically offbeat covers “Help Me Rhonda/Little G.T.O.” (originally done by The Beach Boys/Ronny & The Daytonas) and “Can’t Get Enough” (Bad Company).

Lithium Just Madison (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 20 August 2025 14:13 (three months ago)

Excited for this but bummed that they changed the format. The past boxes were lovely.

Cow_Art, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 14:29 (three months ago)

Yeah, the album-sized CD boxes of the recent Replacements and Wilco reissues are things of beauty.

henry s, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 15:07 (three months ago)

I get it, but I don't mind something that takes up less space and has a lower price point.

better than ezra collective soul asylum (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 20 August 2025 15:30 (three months ago)

including alternate versions of “Gary’s Got A Boner”

Wow, based on this thread, I bet a lot of Replacement fans are getting a

lot of excitement from this news.

Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 17:19 (three months ago)

Listening to that alternate version of "Androgynous" and I realize the words are obviously indebted to "Out of the Wardrobe" by the Kinks, even to the extent of the male (?) character being named Dick. I wonder to what extent either song fits with 2025 mores around gender identification.

Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 17:35 (three months ago)

Guessing "Out of the Wardrobe" holds up a smidge better than "Black Messiah."

henry s, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 18:12 (three months ago)

I get it, but I don't mind something that takes up less space and has a lower price point.

I was initially disappointed when I saw the photo, but as soon as I saw the list price, I couldn't complain. Remember when everyone here complained how expensive the Tim box set was?

The other upshot is they also have an all-vinyl edition, something they didn't do for the other sets, so you don't have to buy two formats in one package, you can get the one you want and that's it. I was fine with CD's, but having to buy an additional vinyl disc with no additional music likely inflated the cost by a large margin.

birdistheword, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 18:31 (three months ago)

To be clear, I hate packages that mix cd’s and vinyl, wtf is the point of that? I just like having pretty things lined up nicely on the shelf together.

Cow_Art, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 18:54 (three months ago)

Oh yeah, same here. Maybe it's OCD, but visually it annoys me how the deluxe edition of my favorite album will be sitting on a small shelf in a tiny digipak wallet while Dead Man's Pop gets to sit all high and mighty next to a row of lavish box sets.

birdistheword, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 20:34 (three months ago)

lol

Cow_Art, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 22:31 (three months ago)

Listening to that alternate version of "Androgynous" and I realize the words are obviously indebted to "Out of the Wardrobe" by the Kinks, even to the extent of the male (?) character being named Dick. I wonder to what extent either song fits with 2025 mores around gender identification.

every time i hear sixteen blue, my favourite song of this album and my favourite Replacements song, it's striking to me that a band so damaged and dysfunctional and a songwriter so given to chaos and casual cruelty in his private life at that time could write a song that is so sensitive and generous to teens experiencing gender confusion. destroys me every time, and still feels way ahead of its time in terms of sophistication around its topic.

conspiracitorial theories (stevie), Friday, 22 August 2025 21:23 (three months ago)

That was one of Westerberg's greatest gifts, or perhaps he set himself up for such striking contrasts by setting the bar so low, lol, via drunkenness or self deprecation or whatever. He could "sell" a song like "Sixteen Blue" or "Androgynous" (or "Within Your Reach" etc.) because he also delivered "Gary's Got a Boner."

The other day I was humming "Dyslexic Heart" in the shower. It's a pretty cheesy song, but it's the kind of a clever lyrical conceit that he excels at. "Well, my heart could use some glasses/I try and comprehend you but I got a dyslexic heart."

Fun anecdote, as mentioned in passing on a different thread, I just dropped my daughter off at a pretty preppy college. Through my own fault I misplaced my set of clean clothes for the day, so had to move her in while wearing a Replacements shirt I pulled out of my (not too dirty) pile. All the other dads looked like they golf, and then there was me. But at one point I was waiting with my kid by the mailroom, and the middle aged/my aged guy grabbing the packages from the back got my attention and asked what my shirt said. I'm used to talking to normies, so told him, "oh, it's a band called the Replacements." And he lights up and says, "That's what I thought! They were my favorite band, I must have seen them 18 times. Then he lowers his voice and leans to me and whispers "no one here has any idea who they are."

Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 August 2025 22:41 (three months ago)

Per Jason Jones at Rhino, looks like the change in format was due to the band listening to their fans:

The band members and their management have heard complaints from fans for years about the combo LP/CD format and took this project as the opportunity to make a change. It's not about money (believe me) as we went with upgraded LP packaging in order to keep as closely in line as we can with the feel and look of the past combo LP/CD releases. Of course there will be differences, but it's still heads and shoulders above what most bands from their era are receiving from the reissue world (if they are even being reissued at all).

birdistheword, Saturday, 23 August 2025 00:53 (three months ago)

Minutemen say "Ouch!"

Lithium Just Madison (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 23 August 2025 01:13 (three months ago)

today, Jon Pareles describes Westerberg's attitude in "Androgynous" as "neighborly" and "live and let live" re: "drag queens and transgender people." and I've had a friend say the same, that westerberg is supportive. Yet it is transparently so that the song laments androgyny in the 80s. "Something meets boy, something meets girl" ; "he might be a father, but he sure ain't no dad" ; I'm sure Westerberg wouldn't write a song with this sentiment now, but in 1984, he was not into foo foos on MTV like Boy George or Marilyn…what am I missing?

veronica moser, Monday, 25 August 2025 13:56 (two months ago)

i assumed the he might be a father, but he sure ain't no dad was about some asshole dad of the androgynous subject

a (waterface), Monday, 25 August 2025 14:57 (two months ago)

Don't get him wrong/don't get him mad sounds like equivocating on the parents part

a (waterface), Monday, 25 August 2025 14:57 (two months ago)

agree
also thought it was "sure ain't a dad"
relatable!

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 25 August 2025 15:10 (two months ago)

I related most to Sixteen Blue though

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 25 August 2025 15:10 (two months ago)

Yeah, father/dad line always stuck me as a brilliant description of an authoritarian father who would say mean things couched with "don't get me wrong..." and would fly off the handle when he gets angry. From my experience, that type of behavior doesn't fit the warmth & love of being called a "dad", the cold & formal "father" fits much better. Also, the "something" lines don't strike me as anti-trans in context either. The song is very much of it's time in that it's about androgyny and not gender transition. It's about not knowing and not caring about someone else's gender. "Something" is a placeholder for unknown, not inhuman in that context. Plus the next line is "they both are the same, they're overjoyed in this world," which is overwhelmingly positive.

BrianB, Monday, 25 August 2025 15:53 (two months ago)

It's kind of interesting that Joan Jett plays "Androgynous" in her sets to this day

Josefa, Monday, 25 August 2025 16:00 (two months ago)

xp Westerberg revisited "father/dad" territory vis a vis "house/home" in "Here Comes a Regular":

I used to live at home, now I stay at the house

henry s, Monday, 25 August 2025 16:05 (two months ago)

Also Kurt Cobain pretty clearly lifts it for serve the servants: I tried hard to have a father / but instead I had a dad.

drew in baltimore, Monday, 25 August 2025 16:07 (two months ago)

Thats kinda backwards tho

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 25 August 2025 16:19 (two months ago)

The song is very much of it's time in that it's about androgyny and not gender transition. It's about not knowing and not caring about someone else's gender. "Something" is a placeholder for unknown, not inhuman in that context. Plus the next line is "they both are the same, they're overjoyed in this world," which is overwhelmingly positive.

yes yes all of this. androgynous is a relentlessly upbeat, positive song (by a band with a somewhat foo foo bass player and a guitarist who liked to cross dress)! same hair, revolution! tomorrow who's gonna fuss! they love each other so!

i don't doubt that someone trying to write the same song in 2025 might approach it differently than westerberg did in 1984, and because social media exists, 10 million people (or maybe more like 100 people, this is the replacements we're talking about after all) would probably fuss about it. people were mean and stupid then, people are mean and stupid in totally different ways now.

fact checking cuz, Monday, 25 August 2025 16:35 (two months ago)

The track gets a lot of power mixing the positive lyrics with a weary arrangement. It moves it from anthemic to a bluesy put-upon fatigue. Why wont they just let us be? Which is why "We'll Inherit the Earth" doesn't work for me - the triumphant riffage clobbers the fatigued lyrics.

Primrose Cash Po (bendy), Monday, 25 August 2025 16:48 (two months ago)

I get a little uncomfortable about holding these handful of old songs (Walk on the Wildside, Lola two other common ones that get brought up) to today's standards, no one -- if anyone is being honest -- was as aware or using the exact right ways of talking about these things when those songs were released, but I guess I try to look at the intent, and in all these cases I think the songs have a generous outlook, whatever problematic aspects there might be in hindsight

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 25 August 2025 17:17 (two months ago)

First time I heard "Androgynous," it conjured up the image of Marlene Dietrich doing her famous cabaret act.

The sandblocks (?) that immediately come in and stay until the very end sounded like the surface noise I was hearing on transfers of old 78's - I was just getting into music from the '20s, '30s and '40s at the time - and something about the tune and easygoing pace made it seem ideal for Dietrich to sing, where she could gently croon it while wandering about the tables in the club. Combined with the lyrics of the song and a visible line to Dietrich's groundbreaking image dissolving gender boundaries within popular mainstream entertainment, I always thought it would be a brilliant anachronism if, say, a 1930s period piece had a German language pseudo-Dietrich cover of this song emanating from an old 78.

"Und sie lieben sich so...androgynie...." [rumble, rumble, rumble]

birdistheword, Monday, 25 August 2025 22:46 (two months ago)

Huh I never heard Androgynous as any other than affectionate toward its Dick and Jane. The “he might be a father but he sure ain’t a dad” scans to me as not wanting identity to be defined by biology.

paper plans (tipsy mothra), Monday, 25 August 2025 23:13 (two months ago)

The sandblocks (?)

created by the band "from chunks of wood found in Blackberry Way's basement," according to trouble boys. my favorite thing about that recording.

fact checking cuz, Monday, 25 August 2025 23:25 (two months ago)

yeah I think you're mishearing those lyrics veronica, or at the very least we hear them very differently

conspiracitorial theories (stevie), Tuesday, 26 August 2025 08:20 (two months ago)

today, Jon Pareles describes Westerberg's attitude in "Androgynous" as "neighborly" and "live and let live" re: "drag queens and transgender people." and I've had a friend say the same, that westerberg is supportive. Yet it is transparently so that the song laments androgyny in the 80s. "Something meets boy, something meets girl" ; "he might be a father, but he sure ain't no dad" ; I'm sure Westerberg wouldn't write a song with this sentiment now, but in 1984, he was not into foo foos on MTV like Boy George or Marilyn…what am I missing?

― veronica moser, Monday, August 25, 2025 6:56 AM (yesterday)

There's pics of the band often dressed in women's nightgowns, skirts, dresses around the time of Let It Be, for example this photo of Bob & Paul live in Chicago 10/12/84 that's included in the reissue:

https://www.instagram.com/gailwithacamera/p/DNyC8Af4nVF/

I don't think that Paul nor the band was lamenting androgyny at all... Paul listened to a lot of NY Dolls, Bowie & Lou Reed and maybe also that crosstown wunderkind from the north side of Minneapolis who was the same age as he and Bob.

imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 26 August 2025 21:16 (two months ago)

two months pass...

This week, Rhino delivers a “Let It Be” box set that beefs up the original record with rarities, alternative versions of released songs and a typically craggy gig from Chicago’s Cubby Bear club. (There’s also an excellent essay from D.C.’s writer/singer Elizabeth Nelson.)

Because it’s the Replacements, the publicity rollout of “Let It Be” is, er, slightly unconventional. Westerberg, at 65, is “retired,” according to his representative, and not doing interviews. (I did, truth be told, attempt an end around by mailing the serious baseball fan a personal letter and signed Topps card of 1970s Twins catcher Butch Wynegar; Westerberg never replied.) Bob Stinson died in 1995, age 35, after years of drug abuse. Mars, 64, and Tommy Stinson, 59, did agree to talk about “Let It Be,” though they hadn’t heard the set yet, and Stinson said he wasn’t likely to listen to it.
“I kind of lived it, you know, a hundred years ago,” he said by phone from Montreal, where he’s recording a new album.

From a Washington Post article

curmudgeon, Saturday, 22 November 2025 05:19 (two days ago)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/2025/11/21/replacements-band-let-it-be/

curmudgeon, Saturday, 22 November 2025 05:19 (two days ago)

"greasy-haired, slacker king of the Winona Ryder set"? jfc, with stupid lines like this still being floated, it's small wonder PW has made himself unavailable for interviews

sawdust lagoon, Saturday, 22 November 2025 09:15 (two days ago)

I can't read the article but is he confusing Westerberg with Dave Pirner?

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 22 November 2025 11:35 (two days ago)

Wasn't the high school in Heathers named Westerberg?

Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 22 November 2025 13:02 (two days ago)

In Trouble Boys, it's mentioned by Paul that he <almost> got involved with Winona around '89-'90, and they're still friends who joke about how they probably should have done it because people were shipping them anyway.

Lithium Just Madison (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 22 November 2025 13:10 (two days ago)

I dunno I guess I think of Pirner when I think of greasy, he's exceptionally greasy looking

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 22 November 2025 14:14 (two days ago)

She was a huge fan! It was not the other way around.

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Saturday, 22 November 2025 14:30 (two days ago)

I remember being in my backyard reading a magazine in a hammock and reading that she was a huge fan and I was too. I noted I had something in common w her. Probably age 14-15.

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Saturday, 22 November 2025 14:38 (two days ago)

That’s def a terrible sentence tho for sure

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Saturday, 22 November 2025 14:38 (two days ago)

Given that Westerberg was 30 in '89 and Ryder was 18, and also given Westerberg being Westerberg, it's probably best for all involved that they didn't get all involved.

paper plans (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 22 November 2025 14:44 (two days ago)

1000000% and it’s depressing to think he would even talk about it.

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Saturday, 22 November 2025 14:49 (two days ago)

He was my dreamy imaginary boyfriend too, I get it. But it’s best kept in the realm of the imagination.

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Saturday, 22 November 2025 14:50 (two days ago)

It sounds like it was

a (waterface), Saturday, 22 November 2025 15:01 (two days ago)

The party is over

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 22 November 2025 16:47 (two days ago)

So the box set has 2 demos of "Answering Machine" plus the current mix of the album version. A bunch of live stuff, mostly from a Cubby Bear gig, but also some from elsewhere.

curmudgeon, Saturday, 22 November 2025 17:51 (two days ago)

"Perfectly Lethal" on there too iirc. And "Temptation Eyes," along with some other stuff from singles/EPs.

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 00:37 (yesterday)

Such as "Heartbeat, It's a Lovebeat."

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 00:38 (yesterday)

"20th Century Boy" and "Hey Good Lookin'"

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 00:39 (yesterday)

Maybe this stuff was already on some previous reissue.

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 00:39 (yesterday)

Yes, Let It Be (Expanded)

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 00:41 (yesterday)

Since 2008.

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 00:54 (yesterday)

Anyway there's no way this is gonna be as revelatory as DEAD MAN'S POP or the TIM remix.

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 01:01 (yesterday)

Still, dutifully listen from the beginning until I get to the live stuff

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 01:02 (yesterday)

Alternative version of "Sixteen Blue" is nice!

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 01:03 (yesterday)

Outro guitar seems the same but other stuff is different.

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 01:06 (yesterday)

There was a period after I read TROUBLE BOYS when I couldn't stand to listen to them.

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 01:07 (yesterday)

Okay, the alternate versions and mixes winning me over.

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 01:12 (yesterday)

On to the live material! Bob is still in the band so I am excited.

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 01:22 (yesterday)

https://www.gq.com/story/when-the-replacements-courage-was-at-its-peak

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 01:23 (yesterday)

^Just found this, which is presumably similar to what's in the physical package

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 01:23 (yesterday)

Amazed I finished reading that before I finished listening

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 01:51 (yesterday)

But it was well worth it

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 01:51 (yesterday)

Beach Boys cover!

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 01:52 (yesterday)

The bass player, the one with the Rod Stewart hair, is rubbing his eyes sleepily. Why is he tired? We can only conjecture, but it may have something to do with playing a late-night gig and then hustling off to class the following morning.

I always thought the Let It Be cover captured Tommy picking his nose!

Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 23 November 2025 03:43 (yesterday)

You can pick your Rickenbacker...

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 05:24 (yesterday)

I missed Elizabeth Nelson, journalist and Paranoid Style musician talking about Let it Be yesterday afternoon at a dc club with Jim Spellman who was in dc band Velocity Girl

Nelson wrote the liner notes for the box

curmudgeon, Sunday, 23 November 2025 14:47 (yesterday)

Right

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 15:50 (yesterday)

And that article is excerpted or adapted from those notes.

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 15:51 (yesterday)

I've got to admit, sometimes I find Nelson a little too purple, or at least too Romantic, but I suppose it suits the Soul of Rock and Roll subject.

Anyway, in her piece:

Everything was on the table—Big Star and T. Rex and the Stones, sure, but also U2, Mott the Hoople, The Buzzcocks, Booker T., Eno, Ted Nugent, Elton John, and, obviously, KISS.

Eno?

If there is anything truly sad about The Replacements’ ample legacy, it’s the lack of recognition they receive as perhaps the preeminent working-class heroes operating between Phil Ochs and Public Enemy in terms of telling true and unglamorous stories about the working poor.

Public Enemy?

Had no idea Jessica Hopper was apparently friends with Bob, that's wild. She also observes in Nelson's piece:

The things that were happening on the coasts in 1985 were so indelibly, traditionally macho. Black Flag, Circle Jerks, the beginning of NYC hardcore. Let It Be functions in part as a critique of that failed masculinity. They’re saying, ‘If that’s what being a man is, I want to fail at it.’”

Which is true and not an original observation but intriguingly one that could be applied to a few different contemporaneous MN acts: the 'Mats (wore dresses or eye-liner, sung about insecurities), Husker Du (long-haired barefoot drummer, played poppy songs and pop covers, were mostly gay), but of course also Prince (who one could argue was actually so aggressively masculine/heterosexual he could get away with being feminine, not unlike the ascendant hair-metal gods of the West Coast). Something more than master tapes in the Mississippi, I guess.

Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 23 November 2025 18:40 (yesterday)

Soul Asylum?

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 20:50 (yesterday)

You know, I don't think I've ever listened to them!!

Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 23 November 2025 21:19 (yesterday)

They ended up being viewed as a kind of cheesy band, I think, but back in the day they put on a great live show. Maybe they even have a recent album out.

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 23:21 (yesterday)

I'd always heard they were a great live band (always winning Best Live Band polls and whatnot) but I just never got around to them. I think I know two songs from the hit album, I know Bob Mould produced an album and Steve Jordan (!?) produced an album, but if I ever bought one it was a cut-out cassette and made no impression. Dunno why. I never really listened to or got into Dinosaur Jr. or Buffalo Tom or Goo Goo Dolls, either.

Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 23 November 2025 23:32 (yesterday)

Just came across a live album of theirs from 2004 that I never really listened to that I am about to check out.

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 23:33 (yesterday)

Looking at these poll results is sort of crazy to me. Answering Machine is so clearly the best song on this album.

Anyway, the novel that I've been writing for the past year or so, and will probably continue writing for the next year, is titled "Sixteen Blue."

a tv star not a dirty computer man (the table is the table), Sunday, 23 November 2025 23:40 (yesterday)

Wow, cool!

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 23:42 (yesterday)

But this album has no real best song.

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 23:42 (yesterday)

Although for me there is a worst, since I have never stopped resenting and disliking Peter Buck's contributions to "I Will Dare," pardon me if challops.

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 November 2025 23:43 (yesterday)

Agreed, shocking to me that people rate that one so high.

Also weird to me that people had crushes on Westerberg, when it's Tommy Stinson who is clearly the dreamboat of the group. Young Tommy was a total smokeshow imho

a tv star not a dirty computer man (the table is the table), Sunday, 23 November 2025 23:49 (yesterday)

fwiw, I had no idea he was that young in some of the photographs of the young band— wasn't trying to be a creep. i always forget that Let it Be came out when he was like 17. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

a tv star not a dirty computer man (the table is the table), Sunday, 23 November 2025 23:54 (yesterday)

Yeah, it's nuts, isn't it? I always thought the same thing, sorta. The big hair, looked like a rock star, not a kid. And then you see some of the formative photos, like this one:

https://img.apmcdn.org/f15e0095d743de67a7f1a393444781ece0e032e9/uncropped/d399c2-20140909-the-replacements.jpg

Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 November 2025 00:10 (seven hours ago)

yeah, totally wild.

a tv star not a dirty computer man (the table is the table), Monday, 24 November 2025 00:19 (seven hours ago)

If not totally wired.

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 24 November 2025 00:28 (seven hours ago)

DoCan't u see?

Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 24 November 2025 00:38 (seven hours ago)


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.