SOUNDTRACK: THE REPLACEMENTS-Let It Be (1984).
I had posted about this record back in 2009. This is what I write nearly ten years ago, and I’m pretty okay with it.
This is the final album the Replacements made before they moved to the majors. This disc represents the culmination of their pre-major label sound and is one of my favorite “college albums” of the era.
The disc retains a lot of their sloppy/punk sound of the time, but the songwriting moves forward a little further. Westerberg wrote some timeless anthems for this disc (“I Will Dare,” “Unsatisfied”). But, they also sprinkle the disc with silly tracks…not filler exactly…more like balance. This keeps the disc from being too ponderous.
“I Will Dare” opens the disc. It is bouncy and poppy with an irresistible chorus. But the bulk of the album is faster and more rocking. Unlike on their their first two discs, however, the songs run a little bit longer, and they don’t attempt the hardcore feel quite as much.
In fact, there are a few songs that are quite clearly ballads. “Androgynous” is a piano ballad (!) that could have easily been written by Tom Waits. “Unsatisfied” is another ballad, although this one has more instrumentation. Nevertheless, the feeling of yearning is palpable in Westerberg’s voice. Finally, “Answering Machine” is another flanged-guitar filled song about romance in the age of modern technology (circa 1984).
These relatively light (musically, not emotionally) songs are balanced out quite nicely by the pair of punk/nonsense songs: “Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out” and “Gary’s Got a Boner.” They add some (more) levity to the disc. As well as some rocking guitars.
But perhaps the most surprising song is the cover of Kiss’ “Black Diamond.” It is surprisingly faithful to the original, (at a time when Kiss was not even ironically cool) and it rocks just as hard.
This album showcases the diverse aspects of The Replacements perfectly. While some people say their next album Tim is their masterpiece, I am more inclined to go with Let It Be. And, for some reason, I really like the cover.
[READ: July 1, 2016] Let It Be
I have often thought I should read this series. Of course, the last time I thought about it, there were 50-some books in the series and that seemed like way too many. Well as of June 2017, there are 120 books in the series, which is an insane series to jump into.
But at work, four of the books came across my desk and if that’s not an invitation to read something, I don’t now what is. So I’ve decided to read these four and we’ll see if that leads to more.
This was an interesting book to start with because it really set the tone for the series, by which I mean, as far as I can tell, anything goes.
Colin Meloy (this was written when The Decemberists were just starting to get a buzz around them. In fact he references his girlfriend who is now his wife) makes this a very personal account about his childhood and his exposure to this album (and others) from his uncle. So this book is a lot more about (young) Colin and his friend than the ‘Mats, but it’s obvious that the ‘Mats made Meloy who he is. There’s very little in the way of production information or “research” (until the end). Rather, it’s just a good story–from a future storyteller.The record came out in 1984 and Meloy talks an awful lot about what led him to buy that album circa 1984 (when he was in 8th grade).
So we meet the young Colin–living in Helena, Montana: shy, somewhat awkward, with a best friend, Mark.
The book opens with him telling the story of buying Let it Be–a momentous occasion for him (but apparently not for the record store clerk). When he and Mark danced around his room to the record and spray painted “punk rock” on a shed.
But the next few chapter back up to tell us the story that led to him buying the album.
It is a not uncommon story of a kid looking for non-mainstream entertainment while living in a small city without a lot of non-mainstream access. He points out at one point that very few bands bothered to come to Helena–they would hit some of the bigger cities in the Midwest and then fly over to Seattle.
Colin didn’t have a TV (that was an embarrassment) but his friend has cable so they spent time there. He learned about MTV and 120 minutes and he scoured the show for college rock.
It was his mom’s brother that got him excited about music. His uncle Paul was young and hip, he followed the Dead and played acoustic guitar. When he arrived at Colin’s house, he played Neil Young for them, but when Colin’s sister asked for Prince, he asked how you guys can listen to that crap? Colin also liked Chicago and Men at Work (the former band Paul dismissed as “I can’t believe they’re still together”; the latter, “they’re okay”).
But there was little in the way of alternative music there. He followed Wham! and Duran Duran on Top 40. But a highlight was buying his first punky record by Scritti Politti.
This led to Depeche Mode (while drawing elves and reading about Xanth by Piers Anthony).
And then he started sending Colin mixtapes. The first includes four songs by Guadalcanal Diary, Hüsker Dü, R.E.M. (the best band in the world) and The Replacements (these guys are gonna be huge). That song was “I Will Dare.”
Every time his uncle would call, Colin would make sure to be listening to a record that his cousin approved of.
When Colin asked about The Replacements, Paul told him they were from Minnesota and that sometimes the band played so drunk on stage that they could barely get through a concert (this happened to Paul when he saw them in Portland )
“They had insisted on going onstage wearing all of the clothes of the opening band on top of their own and they only played sloppy covers.” When they’re in bad form like that,” he explains, “they call themselves The Placemats or the ‘Mats for short.”
Colin wanted to start a band, so he bought a cheap guitar and got some guitar lessons (there’s an interesting story about the characters who offered lessons in Helena back then). Colin was growing more excited at the prospect of punk. He pegged his jeans–a huge statement for him–and no one noticed. Ha.
That summer his uncle invited him to hangout in Oregon for the summer and Colin leapt at the opportunity. He went to shows (even though he was underage) and really got to experience what he’d been missing out on.
It jumps forward to a tour with The Decemberists (the book isn’t about The Decemberists at all really), and their stop in Minneapolis where the club they played was full of picture of the The Replacements.
The last few pages talk about the album a bit–basically a condensed history of the ‘Mats in ten pages. How Paul Westerberg heard the other guys playing in a garage (the bassist was 12, his brother on guitar a little older) and they agrees to join forces. They were called Dogbreath. Paul suggested the name The Impediments. At their first gig, played in Church, the pastor didn’t like the name because it was anti-handicapped. They changed it to The Replacements right there.
Then fast forward through the praise for Hootenanny and then on to the photo shoot for Let It Be.
This isn’t the most “useful” book about the Replacements (actually I don’t know how many books there are about the ‘Mats, maybe this is the most useful one), but it is a fun read. I got a little bogged down about half way through but it picked up again. Plus Colin has become quite the writer, so it’s interesting to see one of his earliest pieces.
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