MP3: The Replacements - Here Come ...Some Regulars (?)
There's no doubt that The Replacements were one of the best, most influential and yet now unknown bands of the 80s. They were definitely as important as REM or The Smiths in influencing current musical trends, and yet the poor quality of a lot of their recordings and the scarcity of reissues of their albums (which are also spread over a bunch of different labels) has often meant that they're not listened to in the same way those other mentioned bands are. Thankfully the wonderful Rhino have just released a great hits compilation featuring songs from all of the bands labels as well as two new tracks (which I've yet to hear but are apparently very good). It's a damn good compilation, and the only downer about it would be that if you're not a fan, after buying and hearing this you probably will be and then will have to shell out on some of the same songs again when you buy all the albums, but then I guess thats the same for most greatest hits packages. If you're not a fan, here's a few songs to hopefully influence you to go and check out
that compilation. First up is a rare(ish) version of the song Can't Hardly Wait, which was featured on the bands 1987 album Pleased To Meet Me. However this mp3 is an early version of the song recorded for the earlier classic Tim, and only otherwise available on an older greatest hits compilation called All Or Nothing. Second up is an album track, again from Please, the quite great Alex Chilton. Enjoy.
posted by Jamie Summers at 8:39 am
7 Comments:
That flier is real cool! I was less than a year old when they played that show.
The new retrospective just makes me want to listen to their full albums.
Poor recordings??? I would respectfully disagree with this assessment. Even their first record which had a garage rock feel to it is perfectly listenable. The later records were quite nicely produced IMO. I wouldn't even call it lo-fi. Also, they recorded for two labels. If thats your idea of "bunches" then...okay. Does this comment sound angry? I'm not, I just disagree with your post a little bit :).
matt: hmm i dont know sometimes it seems like the recording quality is ok, but even on stuff like alex chilton i just cant hear some of it s clearly as i like. hootenanny i feel would be a lot better if it was a little bit easier on the ear. i'm a lo-fi fan but for some reason i've always wanted the mats to not be so lo-fi, even tho thats obviously where a lot of their charm comes from...
and yeh you're right, i thought it was three labels but it was only two. i just wish they'd get their acts together and make all of the albums a bit more easily available. really both should just hand all the rights over to rhino for full remasters with bonus tracks, liner notes etc.
Just as a point of fact: this Replacements album is being heavily promoted on at least one of the two alternative rock stations in San Diego- they've been playing the new songs for a month or so and a dj has been playing multiple tracks from the album during the morning drive- which is rare indeed on american radio. This seems to be the same kind of process the Pixies went through a couple of years ago.
Ah, "Alex Chilton." I'm in love with that song...
FiL
There will be both reissues and a box set later this year/2007.
in response to the comments about lo-fi recordings -
the replacements had good producers working with them. the problem was they would often neglect giving a song the proper patience with recording. this was a conscious decision - well, they just didn't care. it resulted in music which sounded live and raw which is something many people enjoy about the earlier recordings while bob stinson was still in the band - including me.
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