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CD Reviews

Replacements | Rhino Reissues

Tim + Pleased To Meet Me + Don’t Tell A Soul + All Shook Down | Rhino (2008)

By ZETH LUNDY | October 1, 2008

3.0 Stars

Rhino’s second and concluding batch of Replacements reissues (the first four albums were released earlier this year) charts the Minneapolis band’s Great Descent from the heights of rock-and-roll nihilism to the pit of MOR blah. Between the release of Tim (1985), the ’Mats’ greatest record and a raggedy piss-take on success, love, and post-whatever, and All Shook Down (1990), a Paul Westerberg solo album in everything but name, lead guitarist Bob Stinson was made a scapegoat for the band’s chemical indulgences and fired, and Westerberg’s songwriting became boring. That said, Pleased To Meet Me (1987) remains a potent, if polished, rock record, whereas Don’t Tell a Soul (1989) boasts some of the best examples of Westerberg’s ready-for-prime-time revamp (“Achin’ To Be,” “I’ll Be You”). Rhino’s editions sound fantastic, shining up “Kiss Me on the Bus” and putting the knuckles back into Tommy Stinson’s bass. PTMM has the best selection of bonus tracks, like the dunderheaded raver “Bundle Up” and the disheveled wail ’n’ blooze “Election Day.” DTAS, a more sober affair by ’Mats standards, gets the last laugh with a hidden rehearsal snippet of a cover of a certain dead-ape song by one of their contemporaries. Westerberg, still snotty and entitled, hollers, “If the Pixies are seven, then the ’Mats are eight!”