We Are the Sons of No One: The Replacements' TIM

much harder for me that Let It Be. really have no idea how it's going to go, but my money is on Bastards of Young or Here Comes a Regular....

'Swingin Party,' though, might just get my vote.

Ooooon the bus!

"Left of the Dial"--like "All the Young Dudes" and "Teen Age Riot," a moving fantasy that tries to will into existence an audience that isn't really there.

"Hold My Life" -- doesn't seem like the most well written song on here or anything but somehow is my favorite. The title and chorus really get me.

Left of the Dial

I prefer this record to Let It Be, and thus find it impossible to choose one song. Went for "Here Comes a Regular" cuz it's Monday morning, I'm 34, and am not apt to support the sentiments of "Left of the Dial" ("Waitress in The Sky" maybe).

ain't much to rake anyway in the fall

i kind of think tim gets slighted in the canon, it's definitely one of my favorites. off the top of my head, it's a close call between "hold my life" (love the blarghy incoherent lyrics, and the "razzle dazzle" chorus), "swinging party," "left of the dial" and "little mascara." might go "mascara," which i think is a great little impressionistic drama.

Waitress

left of the dial just a tiny bit over hold my life

Little Mascara is one of the ones that I was hoping would get some love-- it does have some real high drama.

i might just vote Bastards of Young. it is the song that i always put on at bars with TIM in the jukebox...which for some reason turns out to be most bars i frequent in san francisco.

This is a better album than "Let It Be" to me. It is quite hard to select one, but I went for "Swingin' Party." Second would be "Little Mascara" maybe. But I listen to "Waitress in the Sky" more than either of these.

Another vote for "Left of the Dial."

Written, BTW, about/for Lynn Blakey of Let's Active.

This was a pivotal album for me in the sense that it's one of the first times (I guess Daydream Nation is there as well) where I was really forced to confront that fact that a band I loved had 1. totally lost it and 2. nobody seemed to notice and 3. the critics seemed to actually be thrilled that my favorite band now sucked.

It took years of therapy (plus finding a reasonable number of like-minded souls on the internets) until I could cope.

Anyway, "Lay It Down Clown" seems less emasculated than the rest, and in my head I can kind of imagine a Stink-era version of it that would actually be ok.

Not my fave album of theirs, but...

I'm going with "Kiss Me on the Bus." Time was when I'd have gone for the more conventional "rocker," that being "Bastards of Young," but that track just doesn't move me anymore. Not sure it ever really did. Like I said, I don't think this album is really all that great.

So weird!

I mean, I like the earlier work a lot better as well, but Tim is just so much more cohesive than Let it Be, imho.

The Replacements were never meant to be cohesive, IMO.

I can understand a little the disappointment of fans who expect the amphetamine rush of Let It Be, but how on earth are Tim's songs inferior? The would-be anthems are the only ones that grate.

how can we construct a Replacements canon without "Left of the Dial," "Waitress in the Sky," "Here Comes a Regular," and "Kiss Me On the Bus"?

Oh, I love the songs. My problem's always been the sound. I would kill to hear the raw tapes, before they were thrown into some deep vat of murk.

I don't think either Tim or Let It Be is all that cohesive. . . but I think Let It Be's throwaways (Black Diamond, Seen Your Video) are way better than Tim's (Lay It Down Clown, Dose of Thunder, I'll Buy)

how can we construct a Replacements canon without "Left of the Dial," "Waitress in the Sky," "Here Comes a Regular," and "Kiss Me On the Bus"?

Left of the Dial is the only "great" song out of the 4, Waitress and Kiss Me are fun but kind of 2nd rate. I'll Buy is pretty lame IMHO.

oops I mean Here Comes a Regular is lame

Here Comes a Regular is lame only because it is the song that middle-aged alcoholic men listen to when they're sad or going through a divorce. if that wasn't true, it would be a great fucking song.

All I have to say is that even if you thought "Tim" was lame, I invite you to stack it up against any straightforward rock record of the past 5 years. Name one that's its equal or better.

Jay Reatard--Blood Visions

Hold My Life. The one and only time I saw them (London, 1987) they opened with this, and Paul Westerberg was so staggeringly drunk he couldn't even finish the song. He waddled off halfway through then was led back 5 minutes later and propped into a chair for the remainder of the gig, during which he didn't manage to sing or play anything coherently. I guess this is all part of the "legend", but at the time it was more like watching a homeless guy staggering around a bus garage.

Jay Reatard--Blood Visions

I'd have to strongly disagree with this. I can't really imagine anyone talking about this record in 10 years.

bastards of young is really great song it has deep meanings u can relate to

Kiss Me On The Bus is unbeatable.

Let It Be's throwaways (Black Diamond, Seen Your Video) are way better than Tim's (Lay It Down Clown, Dose of Thunder, I'll Buy)

definitely.

but i guess i'm in the minority of kind of liking the production on tim. the glammy murk seems sort of apt for the overarching vibe (something like, cocky swagger totally failing to mask a writhing morass of insecurities, anxieties and general terror at the prospect of adulthood).

Waitress and Kiss Me are fun but kind of 2nd rate.

The line between fun and second-rate is the kind these guys pissed on, often.

went with Here Comes A Regular because i didn't need to wait to be in my mid-30s to get it. made sense at 17. and it still sounds spooky to me. so many '80s albums have production only a true fan could love (tolerate is a better word). Compared to their other albums, this one sounds pretty good. should be an interesting outcome here. lots of worthy choices. (someone likes Lay it Down Clown? Really? Never my pick, but go for it.)

Here Comes A Regular certainly made sense to me at 17 as i was already a budding alcoholic then, but it turned lame over the years because of people like this guy...
http://wldimages.findlaw.com/images/3661209/2491037_1.jpg

who used to blast the shit out of it in his office all the time. three times divorced, total alcoholic (two DUIs), incredibly verbally abusive.

"Here Comes a Regular" always sounded like a fantastic mimic of a tune from Big Star's Third.

that fucking guy

btw westerberg was in his late 20s when this album came out, not his mid 30s

bastards of young is really great song it has deep meanings u can relate to

i'm honestly confused as to how to interpret this

i kind of lolled at that post, tbh

I listened to my wife's old shitty cassette of Poison's "Look What the Cat Dragged In" (the first time I'd ever listened to this album all the way through btw) and it reminded me of this album, just the production and the reference points, etc. No wonder Tommy joined GnR.

whoa-- you can't compare GNR and Poison; they're in completely different leagues.

hair metal shmair metal

Well, both use that low budget echo.

hair metal shmair metal

GNR doesn't belong in the hair metal genre at all. The timing might have coincided and to a small extent the makeup, but that's about it. Name one Poison/Ratt/Kix/Trixter song that's as completely obtuse and epic as "Estranged" or "November Rain." There's not even a song about partying on "Appetite for Destruction." They're all songs about misanthropy, violence, and paranoia. Hair metal is all about good times.

.There's not even a song about partying on "Appetite for Destruction."

"Paradise City"?

....nah, scratch that.

there are some songs i really, really like on this one but as noted previously it is basically exhibit a in how to make a rock record sound completely bloodless and boring and corny. big-time '80s production or attempts at same ruined SO MANY records during this era.

Yeah, to me, it's hard to even tell what they were going for with the sound. It doesn't sound big, slick, or any of that. But it also doesn't sound raw or in your face or distorted. It sounds just kind of tame and bland and limp. All the instruments sound weird too, nothing seems to be recorded right on any level. Still a very good record.

but falling short of potential is kind of what the whole ethos of the Replacements is about, so in a way it's perfect.

yeah but in the way where i don't want to listen to it very much, it's not

left of the dial

Where the first four records sounded like The Replacements were playing live in front of you, this one sounded like they were playing in a room through the wall and down the hall in some loft you were trying to sleep in.

that's true, but like i said i think it's in keeping with the indeterminate anxiety of the songs. "hold my life" wouldn't work as well as it does with let it be production. "left of the dial" either.

Bastards of Young vs Left of the Dial

controversial choices, Dr. Snorbius

Is there a demos (or live) version of this around? Always kinda wondered if that might be better (though the tracks included on the remaster don't inspire much hope). Honestly, I don't think the problem is all production. It's stilted performances/lousy production and really when it comes down to it, I'm just not that fond of the songs. I mean, I got no problem w/Game Theory's dinky-ass production from around the same time, but they had hooks...

i think a lot of the performances are stilted at least in part because they click tracked the drums. ok i am done complaining about tim now, it is still really a pretty good album even if that comment about it being better than any straight rock record from the last five years is rongorama

can't have a tim thread without this.

On the bus or Left ot Dial.

(also should have a link to their classic tim 'snl' appearance, but of course you have to bribe an uzbeki gun-runner to get an 'snl' video link these days, so never mind.)

waitress waitress waitress

this is my fave mats album, have we done a replacements album poll yetÉ

Left of the dial, I think

i agree that 'little mascara' doesn't get enough love, so i voted for that.

Slightly sympathetic vote for I'll Buy for me.

really, any track except 2,4 and 8 could get my vote here.

Yes--in fact, if you did a worst-track poll, would it be safe to say that "Dose of Thunder" would win in a landslide?

'controversial choice' is every hmmmmmm decision to post

i figure "dose of thunder" was a sop to bob. pretty bad, in any case.

KISS ME is for those of us who don't think 'great' is a synonym for 'anthemic' - Left of the Dial might have the best coda on the album, but it's certainly not the best song. BO'Y might be a better-written song than le bus, despite the embarrassing hook, but the performance on record isn't as good.

the production is a half-measure of sorts, but i don't care. while it's possible it would work better with let it be production, it's possible it would work better with even fuller-on Tom Werman production too XD.

you know what's fun? singing the lyrics to "Heaven" over the guitar part in "Here Comes a Regular"

the P-Furs song?

lol, probably the Bryan Adams song

the Warrant song, obv!

also Here Comes a Regular has nothing on the next tune on my itunes - the Rev. Billy C. Wirtz' Teenie Weenie Meanie

"Heaven" has different chords, and also different phrasing. I don't see how this works.

you wouldn't

bastards of young is really great song it has deep meanings u can relate to

i'm honestly confused as to how to interpret this

― Jesus Christ, Attorney at Law (res), Monday, June 8, 2009 11:36 PM (16 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I thought this song was TOTALLY profound when i was 16.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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

didn't vote for BoY but still good work all

surprised Regular got so many votes.
it's good,but...

The opening lines of "Regular" contain a sad truth inevitability thought about drinking and how it affects lives that seemed wise and tragic when I was young and just seem true and sad now.

It's the kind of songwriting turn of phrase that country music writers turn into hits.

i like "regular" a lot, but it didn't sink home to me until i spent 6 months tending bar. working those grim afternoon shifts where there are only 3 guys there -- one of them the guy who's always waiting outside the door when the place opens at 11 a.m. it was just like, oh right, this is what that song's about.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5146HT4DJFL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

^^^the Regular