- Release Info -------------------------------------------------------------- -
Artist: The Replacements
Album: Pleased To Meet Me
Label: Rhino / Rykodisc
Playtime: 70:52 min
Genre: Alternative
URL: http://www.rhino.com
Rip date: 2008-09-26
Street date: 2008-09-23
Size: 101.94 MB
Type: Remastered
Quality: 190 kbps / 4410kHz / Joint Stereo
- Release Notes ------------------------------------------------------------- -
Remastered with bonus material.
"All things considered, Tim was an easy transition to the majors for the
Replacements, at least as far as the making of the album goes: things went
wrong after the release, as the band botched big showcases like its Saturday
Night Live spot, leading up to the dismissal of Bob Stinson at the conclusion
of the Tim tour. The dust hadn't settled when the 'Mats headed down to
Memphis to record Pleased to Meet Me with producer Jim Dickinson at Ardent
Studios -- or to phrase it in Alex Chilton-speak, to record with Big Star's
3rd producer at the studio where all three Big Star albums were made. All
this fanboy worship perhaps naturally led to a full-blown mash note to Paul
Westerberg's idol, who also turned up to play a couple of licks on a finally
finished "Can't Hardly Wait," which initially was attempted with Chilton as a
producer before Tim, but Pleased to Meet Me didn't resemble either the
crystalline pop of #1 Record or the narcissistic black hole of 3rd. Dickinson
gave the Replacements a full-blooded, muscular production, cranking up
guitars, hauling out an upright bass for Tommy Stinson, and bringing in horns
-- even strings -- to flesh out Westerberg's songs. This was the Replacements
as professionals and, ever the contrarians, they strained against it --
albeit only sporadically and underneath the surface -- with Westerberg's
outsider stance calcifying into the invigorating bitterness of "I.O.U." and
"I Don't Know." These two proto-slacker anti-anthems -- quite the inverse of
the call to arms of "Bastards of Young" and "Left of the Dial" -- are the
only times the group's self-sabotage surfaces here, as the bandmembers pretty
much give themselves over to Dickinson's studio savvy, leading to the ominous
pulse of "The Ledge" and the brilliant, shining power pop of "Never Mind,"
"Alex Chilton," and "Valentine," along with such left-field twists as the
mock jazz of "Nightclub Jitters."
This kind of colorful, almost cinematic production -- even the greasy rocker
"Shooting Dirty Pool" is enhanced by the sound of breaking glass -- was
unheard of on a Replacements record and it all came to a head on "Can't
Hardly Wait," which was glossed over with swelling strings and the Memphis
Horns. All these fancy accoutrements would seem like the antithesis of the
Replacements' spirit, but Dickinson's grand production merely blows the 'Mats
up to epic scale, leaving their essence intact: Westerberg even gets a lovely
fragile acoustic moment in "Skyway" and there are down-and-dirty rockers like
"Shooting Dirty Pool" and "Red Red Wine" that feel like throwaways, but are
necessary to the spirit of the record. The Replacements never sounded better
with a bigger production than they did on Pleased to Meet Me, so it's hard
not to see it as the one that got away, the record that should have been the
breakthrough, especially in the year when fellow American underground rockers
R.E.M. leaped into the Top Ten (but, it's also true that "The Ledge" may not
have been the best single choice, as songs about suicides don't often provide
entry into the Top 40). Then again, the Replacements don't make sense as a
success story, so the failure of the gleaming, glistening Pleased to Meet Me
winds up making its polish kind of heart-rending. As it turns out, this was
the last time they could still shoot for the stars and seem like their
scrappy selves and, in many ways, it was the last true Replacements album."
- Track List ---------------------------------------------------------------- -
01. I.O.U. ( 2:59)
02. Alex Chilton ( 3:15)
03. I Don't Know ( 3:22)
04. Nightclub Jitters ( 2:45)
05. The Ledge ( 4:13)
06. Never Mind ( 2:50)
07. Valentine ( 3:36)
08. Shooting Dirty Pool ( 2:23)
09. Red Red Wine ( 3:01)
10. Skyway ( 2:06)
11. Can't Hardly Wait ( 3:21)
12. Birthday Gal (Studio Demo) ( 4:39)
13. Valentine (Studio Demo) ( 4:09)
14. Bundle Up (Studio Demo) ( 2:59)
15. Photo (Studio Demo) ( 3:46)
16. Election Day ( 2:56)
17. Alex Chilton (Alternate Version) ( 3:38)
18. Kick It In (Studio Demo) ( 3:33)
19. Route 66 ( 2:57)
20. Tossin' N' Turnin' ( 2:20)
21. Can't Hardly Wait (Alternate Version) ( 3:00)
22. Cool Water ( 3:04)
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