SOUNDTRACK: THE REPLACEMENTS-Don’t Tell a Soul (1989).
With this disc, the ‘Mats finally scored a hit. “I’ll Be You” actually made the Billboard charts! And why not, it’s a delightfully catchy, far more mature version of the ‘Mats now-adult-alternative music.
In my head, this is where the ‘Mats sold out entirely. But, I listened to the disc the other day and I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed it. I was probably still really into Pleased to Meet Me when I first got Don’t Tell, so the trip from point A to B isn’t quite as drastic. I guess maybe grown up me enjoys it more than college-aged me did.
The allmusic review is very harsh about the disc, especially the production. I can’t say I noticed anything about that. I was just listening for the songs. And, in addition to being their longest disc to date, it only features 2 songs shorter than 3 minutes!
What you see is Paul Westerberg maturing as a songwriter, for better or worse. And, as far as his craft goes, it’s certainly better. As for indie rock, well, not so much.
The songs still maintain the rocking style of older Replacements, but they have more proper structure (verses and choruses, repeat). They also play with the loud/soft dynamic that would really come to the fore with Nirvana…although The ‘mats version was more of a rocking/acoustic juxtaposition. Almost all of the tracks on this disc feature an acoustic guitar somewhere in the mix. In fact, I thought that the disc was a lot less rocking than it actually is.
There’s a couple of clunkers on the disc, “We’ll Inherit the Earth” seems a bit off somehow. But for the most part, the songs sound like a grown up version of the teenage ‘Mats from just five years ago.
By comparison to general pop music, “I’ll Be You” still maintains some indie cred. And, it’s really hard to resist the catchiness of it (from the break to the slightly off-kilter guitar solo that ends the song). “Achin’ to Be” is another coulda been a hit, although perhaps more on a folk/country side of things. And “Talent Show” and “Back to Back” are sort of gentle rockers that speed up at a few points. Only “Anywhere’s Better Than Here” has the really distorted rock sound of yore.
Even though I did enjoy listening to the disc, it suffers from a lack of fun. As I said, it’s a pretty shocking maturation over the span of eight (or even five) years.
[READ: June 12, 2009] The Eternal Smile
Sarah received a copy of this book, and as soon as I realized it was by the guy who did American Born Chinese, an amazing, amazing graphic novel, I was excited to read it.
This is a collection of three short stories: “Duncan’s Kingdom,” “Gran’pa Greenbax and the Eternal Smile,” and “Urgent Request” I’m not sure if Kim and Yang collaborated or if one did one story and not the others. But regardless, the art is fantastic in each. I love the effortless style shifts in “Duncan” from the simple lines in the fantasy sequence, to the very very dark style in the nightmares. “Gran’pa Greenbax” is so cartooney, so “childlike” in its style, that the violent avarice in the middle comes as quite a shock. And “Urgent Request” is simply beautiful from start to finish. It’s a great looking collection. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 