The Replacements are my son Chris's favourite band. An unruly mess of characters from Minneapolis, they were contemporaries and frequently shared the bill with another great local band Husker Du. I vacillate in terms of which of these bands I like best. Think it depends on what mood I am in and what album I am thinking of or playing. Minneapolis must have been interesting at that time as its music has probably never been better represented with Prince, Husker Du, The Replacements and The Jayhawks all making waves at the same time with quite different sounds and approaches.
I first heard The Replacements (and Husker Du) for that matter in about 1988 when we had a visit in Nelson by Lawrence and Grant (aka The Coat) friends of my brother who came for a weekend of serious drinking and music. Chris, one at the time must have picked up their vibe then :-).
Let it Be and Tim are for me the peak of their output and two of the best sloppy rock and roll records you could hope to hear. They capture the band at their peak as they transitioned from local twin tone records to the big time with Warners' Sire Records. Paul Westerburg the songwriter behind the band had the ability to write completely dumb fuck songs as well as perceptive pieces. Lurking in there is an alternative country band wanting to break out!
For every Bastards of Young there is a Here comes A Regular, for every Left of the Dial there is a Swinging Party (Check out Lorde's version?!?) for every Gary's Got a Boner there's an Androgynous, for every I will Dare there is an Unsatisfied . Chris ranks Westerburg as the best rock song writer of all time and I while I do not quite agree I can see his point - an incredibly talented and self destructive person. The band eventually imploded with from what I understand (apart from Bobby Stinson) more booze than drug problems but they remained revered by a
I have all their albums and while I struggle with the roughness of some of their first two albums I find something of merit on all the rest.
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