Hoo boy. A while back (almost a month!) The Replacements' Pleased To Meet Me turned 25, and I meant to post about it, but Timothy Bracy And Elizabeth Bracy did such a good job of it here it seemed unnecessary. However, I wanted to post all of the songs without making you open new links, and I really wanted to do something because the album still seems to be in the shadow of Let it Be. I think this one is just as good or even the band's best, but maybe that's just because Let It Be is so revered it almost over-hyped for me. Is Let it Be so much better? No, it's possible people love the cover, the title, the fact it didn't come out on a major label, the time it came out, and so on. For me, Pleased to Meet Me is the bee's knees. Alex Chilton? Skyway? Can't Hardly Wait? Vslentine? I defy
anyone to proclaim any 'Mats album has 4 greater songs.
Note - the tune below is not the exact one on the album - I couldn't find it online for you, this is a
demo version, but it still shows how good the song is.
Wanna disagree with Scruffy?! Leave a darn comment!
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2 comments:
As much as I love this album, it is missing one crucial component, holding it back from being the Mats best: Bob Stinson isn't on it.
I feel I can hear Paul trying to compensate for his absence on this album, almost as if he's trying to keep the band just as crazy sounding while at the same time changing it's sound more in his own direction.
And it's a shame, because after he left the band was never really the same. BUT Pleased to meet me still has the sound of the old band, and if I was a new listener, I'd probably assume Don't Tell a Soul was the first post-Bob Stinson album.
As time passes I find myself slowly appreciating Hootenany more and more. While it used to be my least favorite, it really is the point where the old trash-roots meet the Westerberg song-writing machine, and the fact that none of it's songs are as popular or "important" as anything they've done since makes me love it anymore.
As for your challenge of 4 songs as good as anything on PTMM, I present "color me impressed", "hayday", "run it", and for #4....I dunno maybe a tie between "within your reach" and the title track. Maybe I can only come up with 3...
HOWEVER, the one DEFINITVE recording of "Can't hardly wait" remains the live version from "The Shit Hits the Fans". Hell if it counts, that whole tape is REALLY the ultimate Mats album.
Hey Mr. Enemy, you have the distinction of providing what is possibly the most intelligent and informed comment ever left on this blog, I salute you. Thanks!
Had to pull out Hootenanny, which I admit I have not played a lot. I can go with Color me Impressed, maybe Within Your Reach. For me, Hayday is a good example of how the band could incorporate ragged hardcore whenever they felt like it, but it is not as great as most songs on PTMM. I always thought of the title track as a pissed-up joke - if you cannot get past this one, maybe you do not deserve the real songs, a typically twisted take on Mats middle finger attitude. I wonder if outtakes like Aint No Crime and Johnny Fast are not as good as those two tracks.
I have never taken The Shit boot as serious as you, I do not even know if I have it anywhere, I will have to do some searching. I am curious to hear if you cared at all for Dont Tell a Soul or All Shook Down.
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