#394/1030
October 14 1985
The Replacements
Tim
Genre: Alternative
4 out of 5
Highlights:
Bastards of Young
Left of the Dial
I’m gonna get killed here.
I’m bored. The whole first side is just uninteresting to me.
“Hold My Life” feels like it’s 9 minutes long. It’s cleaner than previous ‘Mats stuff, but all that means to me is that they, like X on Ain’t Love Grand, sound like they’re going for radio play.
I know I’m supposed to extol this, worship it as one of the greatest records of the era but…I don’t get it.
“Kiss Me on the Bus” is so over produced, with SO MUCH ECHO it doesn’t really sound like that ramshackle bunch of drunkards that I actually adored on Pleased to Meet Me. Or, it does, but it’s more like they sobered up juuuuuuuuust enough to record and then producers got their hands on it and mixed the shit out of it until it was an American Rolling Stones record circa 1985.
All that said, “Bastards of Young” is one of the great alternative tracks of the era and the album deserves a point just for that one. And I do believe all of what’s come with Nirvana and all the grunge bands can be found in “Left of the Dial”.
Boy do I wish anyone other than Tommy Ramone produced this one. And I kind of think Westerberg should just buy a bar somewhere and play his songs every once in a while, serve some regulars and live out his life in a corner there, handing out the tips to the staff.
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