- Release Info -------------------------------------------------------------- -
Artist: The Replacements
Album: Tim
Label: Rhino / Rykodisc
Playtime: 58:47 min
Genre: Alternative
URL: http://www.rhino.com
Rip date: 2008-09-26
Street date: 2008-09-23
Size: 85.68 MB
Type: Normal
Quality: 194 kbps / 4410kHz / Joint Stereo
- Release Notes ------------------------------------------------------------- -
Remastered plus bonus material.
"Moving to a major label was inevitable for the Replacements: they garnered
too much acclaim and attention after Let It Be to stay on Twin/Tone,
especially as the label faced the same distribution problems that plagued
many indies in the mid-'80s -- plus, the 'Mats' crosstown rivals, Hⁿsker Dⁿ,
made the leap to the big leagues, paving the way for their own hop over to
Sire. The Replacements may have left Twin/Tone behind but they weren't quite
ready to leave Minneapolis in the dust, choosing to record in their hometown
with Tommy Erdelyi -- aka Tommy Ramone -- who gives the 'Mats a big, roomy
sound without quite giving them gloss; compared to Let It Be, Tim is
polished, but compared to many American underground rock records of the
mid-'80s (including those by the Ramones), it's loose and kinetic. The
production -- guitars that gained muscle, drums and vocals that gained reverb
-- is the biggest surface difference, but there aren't just changes in how
the Replacements sound; what they're playing is different too, as Paul
Westerberg begins to turn into a self-aware songwriter. A large part of the
charm of Let It Be was how it split almost evenly between ragged vulgarity
and open-hearted rockers, with Westerberg's best songs betraying a startling,
beguiling lack of affect. That's not quite the case with Tim, as Westerberg
consciously writes alienation anthems: the rallying cry of "Bastards of
Young" and the college radio love letter "Left of the Dial," songs written
with a larger audience in mind -- not a popular audience, but a collection of
misfits across the nation, who huddled around Westerberg's raw, twitchy
loneliness on "Swingin Party" and "Here Comes a Regular," or the urgent and
directionless "Hold My Life."
These songs are Westerberg at his confessional peak, but instead of
undercutting this ragged emotion or hiding it away, as he did on the
Twin/Tone albums, he pairs it with the exuberance of "Kiss Me on the Bus" --
an adolescent cousin to "I Will Dare" -- and channels his smart-ass comments
into the terrifically cynical rockabilly shuffle "Waitress in the Sky." All
this eats up so much oxygen that there's not much air left for any of the
recklessness of the Twin/Tone LPs: there's no stumbling, no throwaway jokes,
with even the twin rave-ups of "Dose of Thunder" and "Lay It Down Clown"
straightened out, no matter how much Bob Stinson might try to pull them
apart, which is perhaps the greatest indication that the Replacements were no
longer the band they were just a couple years ago. Some 'Mats fans never got
over this change, but something was gained in this loss: the Replacements
turned into a deeper band on Tim, one that spoke, sometimes mumbled, to the
hearts of losers and outcasts who lived their lives on the fringe. If Let It
Be captured the spirit of the Replacements, then Tim captured their soul. "
- Track List ---------------------------------------------------------------- -
01. Hold My Life ( 4:21)
02. I'll Buy ( 3:25)
03. Kiss Me On The Bus ( 2:54)
04. Dose Of Thunder ( 2:18)
05. Waitress In The Sky ( 2:03)
06. Swingin Party ( 3:53)
07. Bastards Of Young ( 3:38)
08. Lay It Down Clown ( 2:25)
09. Left Of The Dial ( 3:43)
10. Little Mascara ( 3:36)
11. Here Comes A Regular ( 5:06)
12. Can't Hardly Wait (Outtake-Acoustic) ( 3:53)
13. Nowhere Is My Home ( 4:01)
14. Can't Hardly Wait (Outtake-Electric) ( 3:09)
15. Kiss Me On The Bus (Studio Demo) ( 3:00)
16. Waitress In The Sky (Alternate Version) ( 2:00)
17. Here Comes A Regular (Alternate Version) ( 5:22)
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -