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

"favorite thing" for me.

FASCINATING TRUE DETAIL

they are sitting on the roof of stinsons' mom's house

man this album is great.

Unsatisfied

Androgynous is one of the best fey lyrics ever. Up there with Cole Porter. A four syllable word for a hook, yet never sounds strained or pretentious.

i love that song so much. it sorta blew my teenage mind, because there wasn't a lot of gender-identity-drama in most of what i listened to at that point. well aside from "lola." and "i'm a boy." and "my uncle used to love me but she died." ok actually there was a fair amount of gender-identity-drama in what i listened to. but "androgynous" is in the pantheon.

now i wish i had called the poll KEWPIE DOLLS AND URINE STALLS. oh well.

aw I'm glad people like "Androgynous". in the right mood "kewpie dolls and urinal stalls will be laughed at the way you're laughed at now" makes me tear up a little.

i voted "Unsatisfied"

ha xpost!

Favorite Thing

damn i always think i'm sick of the mats, but this album is great.

"we're coming out"

"Across The Universe"

(That Replacements album is OK, but I haven't really listened to it enough to be able to pick a fave there)

i always think i'm sick of the mats

i know i almost never listen to them these days but i finally got around to putting this on my ipod the other week and it made me happy.

Great album. Unsatisfied by a mile.

My favorite album of all time. Going with "Answering Machine" just because its the last, and therefore the only one that wouldn't leave me disappointed if another song from the album didn't follow.

"i Will Dare" (even if it is a complete ripoff to "I'm Only Sleeping")

Didn't Paul Westerberg recently say that politics has no place in music? That's odd to me, since Unsatisfied seems like it could easily be a political song (could be about a failing relationship, too).

hip replacements

ha. i'll pretend that was on purpose.

Very difficult. I voted "I Will Dare" because it means the rest of the album is coming after it.

Honestly it makes me feel good just to look at this tracklist. So many memories w/ this record.

really really tough to choose between "Favorite Thing" and "Answering Machine". I may have to sleep on this decision.

i sort of think this record (and the mats more generally, but this record especially) invented the slacker era. westerberg saw what was going on, or articulated it, 5-6 years before cobain, linklater, whoever. all the self-awareness, self-doubt, the appropriation of fm rawk (nothing ironic about "black diamond"), the refusal to aspire right in the midst of reagan america. that all got more anthemic later with "bastards of young," "i don't know," "we'll inherit the earth," but none of those top "unsatisfied." it took a recession to put this stuff in tune with the mainstream but they were there a lot earlier.

(also when you consider that the week this album came out purple rain was #1 on the album charts, and that zen arcade came out 3 months earlier, it seems like a pretty good year for minneapolis.)

unsatisfied, but i will dare is pretty close

(also when you consider that the week this album came out purple rain was #1 on the album charts, and that zen arcade came out 3 months earlier, it seems like a pretty good year for minneapolis.)

if only walter mondale could have won the presidency, that would have completed a perfect year for minneapolis.

1984 was also the year when Jam/Lewis really started to establish themselves as an ace producer team, with that SOS Band album and all.

"Favorite Thing" — one of the greatest rock and roll songs ever.
Funny, when I first heard the song it sounded like an indecipherable mess — I couldn't make out the melody, chord structure or anything. Now when I listen, I always marvel at the incredible guitar interplay between Stinson and Westerberg.
I used this song in an air band competition in college. We stumbled around drunk and kicked beer cans into the audience. We were booed, but we kicked ass.

"We're Comin' Out" has always been my fave of this disc.

"i Will Dare" (even if it is a complete ripoff to "I'm Only Sleeping")

I don't hear it.

they are sitting on the roof of stinsons' mom's house

Hey, the Beatles recorded their own Let It Be on the roof of Apple Records! (Parts of it, anyway.)

I don't like this album.

"Black Diamond"

xpost - "Meet me anyplace or anywhere or anytime, now I don't care" has a melody that's IDENTICAL to "Please don't wake me, no don't shake me, leave me where I am". It's just (I think) III-II-I-II-III etc., over and over.

"Answering Machine" for me, btw.

My friends just recorded an album in the same studio this was recorded, incidentally (y'know, kinda neat...I guess).

For me it's favorite thing, and also, all of it.

Gah! I hate choosing but picked Androgynous.

No votes for Tommy or Gary?

For a classic album, the filler on this one seems especially weak. Maybe that's a result of the rest of the album being so strong. I picked "Favorite Thing" but I could have gone with five or six other songs.

i don't think of any of the songs as filler, exactly. gary comes closest, but i'd miss it if it weren't there. the album's less than a half-hour long, they didn't need filler.

I like whatever the Nugent rip-off is

I voted for the cover.

Am I the only one who doesn't care for Answering Machine? This is one of those instances where I'm convinced I'm actually wrong, because I can't think of a single reason why it hits my off switch.

Because you can't dance to it, maybe?

I like plenty of things you can't dance to...

"Favorite Thing", just ahead of "Black Diamond".

response to tipsy mothra on "Black Diamond": c'mon, you don't think covering Kiss wasn't just a bit ironic? American indie acts frequently sorta-semi-ironically co-opt trad rock, like, we're punk and ha ha we're playing Kiss but actually, damn, this is a great song, and hell, even though our version isn't better than Kiss', it still rocks and it's fun to play and listen to...and after all that hedging your see that the initial irony was necessary to get you to reflect on the differences between American indie and trad rock, and this reflection is part of the aesthetic. Lots of later American indie bands got this: think of Weezer and their co-opting of the Van Halen and Aerosmith logos circa the Blue Album.

Answering Machine is lame

Killer

i will dare
favorite thing
we're coming out
tommy gets his tonsils out
gary's got a boner

Loved when I was 18-25, totally sick of them now
androgynous
unsatisfied

Filler
black diamond
seen your video
sixteen blue
answering machine

Answering Machine is lame

Y'know, that's probably it.

Loved when I was 18-25, totally sick of them now

The quintessential ILX meme.

people change

I voted for "Favorite Thing" just for the Bob solo.

I love 'em all though. I used "Seen Your Video" as bumper music behind my halftime basketball reports back when I was on the sports radio.

I still think that their recorded cover of "Temptation Eyes" would have been a better choice to end Side One than "Black Diamond".

"Unsatisfied" used to be a pretty personal song for me, but now that I am satisfied, I'm all like okay whatever.

"Answering Machine" is a great song even though it contains the worst effort at rhyming ever.

I voted for "Answering Machine."

I don't know...there is such a great depth of feeling in Westerberg's vocals. And an ass-kicking guitar sound as well.

It's sad to me that I find this song was the band's swan song...at least on record. I tried to listen to "Tim" a few days ago, after reading Walsh's book. I just can't get past the horrible production on that record. I have a feeling that there are some great songs hiding under all that sheen. Curse you Tommy Ramone.

Yeah, I wouldn't describe it as a sheen, but agreed that Tim sounds awful, tough the songs are good. You take the awful record cover and the awful sound and it's amazing how far the best songs get on their own.

Seems like Bob is already halfway out the door on Tim.

i like tim, but it was the first one i bought (followed by this a few weeks later). the production's annoying, but there are so many great songs on it that it doesn't really hinder my enthusiasm. "little mascara," "hold my life," "left of the dial," etc. and "here comes a regular" which i didn't totally understand until i spent some of my own bar-fly days.

The fact that Tim is lackluster isn't Bob's fault. I saw a few shows when they toured for that record. It's true that Bob seemed pretty much in the bag but his playing was spot on.

The last time I saw him on stage he was wearing a green glitter jump suit.

i like tim, but it was the first one i bought (followed by this a few weeks later). the production's annoying, but there are so many great songs on it that it doesn't really hinder my enthusiasm.

OTM. I didn't buy it until my junior year in college and was amazed by "Hold My Life," "Kiss Me On Bus," and "Here Comes a Regular." "Lay It Down Clown" augurs rote thrashers like "Red Red Wine" but for the most part this is the first and only time that they balanced a little more production dough with songs to match.

Maybe they mixed him out, the way Lou Reed mixed out that other Bob on some of his records?
(xpost)

"Kiss Me On The Bus," of course

xpost

xpost - "Meet me anyplace or anywhere or anytime, now I don't care" has a melody that's IDENTICAL to "Please don't wake me, no don't shake me, leave me where I am". It's just (I think) III-II-I-II-III etc., over and over.

Mmmmmmmmmaybe, but "I'm Only Sleeping" is a bit more rife with minor chords than "I Will Dare," giving the two songs entirely different feels (to these ears, anyway).

I voted for "Gary's Got A Boner" because I knew it wasn't going to get any love.

Tim was the last album I bought by the Replacements. I held off just because it almost has a dull Bad Company tone to it, thanks to the production and not the songwriting.

I listened to it again a few months ago, and the songs have really held up. It's like Westerberg was trying to get serious about writing songs, but wasn't trying to sell out like he was on the later records.

Thread leakage is now making me imagine this entire album being performed by William Shatner.

one more chance ... to get it all wrong

If you will ... dare
I will dare

This thread made me think how I've never even heard the last two Replacements records - the friend who got me into them oh so long ago was so hateful towards them that I never bothered to listen.

Is it worth it from some used bin somewhere? Or will it just make me mad?

Mmmmmmmmmaybe, but "I'm Only Sleeping" is a bit more rife with minor chords than "I Will Dare," giving the two songs entirely different feels (to these ears, anyway).

-- Alex in NYC,

Definitely. But you can hear the resemblance.

I don't know if the last two records will make you mad, but I'll stand up for Don't Tell A Soul until the end.

If I could alter my screenname like in the old days, I would change it to "Gauss" and rep for Pleased To Meet Me.

man I love that one too

instead of Gauss why not go for a true nutt like Galois? if only...

In due time Gary's Got A Boner will be used to sell Viagra to our generation.

Resemblance maybe, but I certainly wouldn't call it a "complete ripoff"

That'd be "Mister Whirley."

If Tommy had played the bass hook from "I'm Only Sleeping" THEN it would have been a ripoff.

Resemblance maybe, but I certainly wouldn't call it a "complete ripoff"

No, that's fine, "complete ripoff" wasn't MY terminology. I'm neutral about the whole thing, didn't even notice the resemblance until Snrub pointed it out.

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.

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?

and "here comes a regular" which i didn't totally understand until i spent some of my own bar-fly days.

man i should just not write about the replacements. it makes me stupid.

anyway on the last two albums, it just depends on your level of enthusiasm. don't tell a soul has some great songs. all shook down has a nice vibe, some nice songs, but never really stuck with me. everybody sounds halfway out the door.

I confess I've not ever bothered to hear either of them, a fact I also admitted to my friend on the phone this evening.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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

re: Don't Tell a Soul - its mostly crap but there are a couple of GREAT songs on it ("Ill Be You" in particular). "All Shook Down" has some decent stuff on it too but sounds way different (acoustic guitars abound) and is more like a Paul Westerberg solo record.

aw i'm glad everything got at least one vote.

re: Don't Tell a Soul - its mostly crap but there are a couple of GREAT songs on it ("Ill Be You" in particular).

they made the band play to a click-track on this, and it's painfully obvious. the music doesn't bob and weave like it used to.

all shook down was in fact supposed to be a westerberg solo album until the label demanded otherwise, in terms of billing. the only songs all four replacements play on are "attitude" and "when it began." the rest are paul with session people, with the occasional slim dunlap appearance.

Don't Tell a Soul is their most underrated album by far.

Three good songs does not an underrated album make.

same songs + different producers would = something close to pleased to meet me.

it's funny, the production on dtas didn't strike me as particularly bombastic in 1989, but now it sounds fucking ridiculously dated. more gated reverb on the snare! more, i say!

Which three?

"I'll Be You," "I Won't," and, um, "Anywhere's Better Than Here," maybe. God, so many moments of self-pity on this album.

"darling one" was a nice idea for a song, not quite realized though.

kinda interesting that five of the top six voters are mid-tempos or ballads, and the bottom five are all pretty much rock songs.

voters = vote getters

I'm delighted to see Answering Machine did as well as it did.

surprised, actually, that Black Diamond didn't place higher and I Will Dare didn't place lower.

but then again, i kinda like 'Tim' just slightly better, if only for "Bastards of Young"

"seen your video" was fucking robbed.

...hip replacement...

ROBBED i say!

I was only saying that in the thread title, I saw the words "hip replacement."

I just discovered this band a month or so ago! I enjoy this album.

Released on this date 30 years ago.

Not bad, only 12 months between this and Tim, then. Didnt realise it was that close...