Near the 40th anniversary of their fifth studio album and major label debut, 鈥淭im,鈥� The Replacements are releasing 鈥淭im: Let it Bleed Edition.鈥� The massive box set features a loving remaster of the original release of 鈥淭im,鈥� but the real value is in the live performance, the unreleased tracks, and the contributions of producer Ed Stasium.
Rhino Records has lately made a cottage industry of mining the alternative rock band鈥檚 sea of alternate takes and raucous live recordings. The 鈥淟et it Bleed Edition鈥� is a tightly focused snapshot of the band鈥檚 messy energy and sublime songwriting at a pivotal moment, as The Replacements teetered on the edge of stardom.
The remaster is a marked improvement over the 1985 release. Original producer Thomas Erdelyi, better known as Tommy Ramone, perhaps could have been a brilliant collaborator on the band鈥檚 punkier early albums, but this production fell oddly flat against the complexities of 鈥淭im.鈥�
The new remix by Stasium corrects some of the missteps. 鈥淗ere Comes a Regular鈥� and 鈥淪wingin Party鈥� make Paul Westerberg鈥檚 crackling lyrics sound like heartbreak and a million cigarettes. 鈥淏astards of the Young鈥� and 鈥淟eft of the Dial,鈥� cranked up loud, now sound more immediate than they did 40 years ago.
The spiritual heart of the box set is the concert segment, 鈥淣ot Ready for Prime Time, Live at the Cabaret Metro, Chicago, January 11, 1986,鈥� which was recorded just a week before their national television debut on 鈥淪aturday Night Live.鈥� The band cemented a passionate following with their chaotic live shows, and here, they deliver a characteristic roller-coaster ride.
The Chicago show progresses at breakneck speed through delta blues, hardcore, folk, and sludgy Rolling Stones and Beatles covers. The Replacements presented as punk, but at heart, their emotional content is more akin to The Smiths than to The Sex Pistols. Fans might be stagediving one moment and crying a little inside the next. It was a fully unique mood at the time, soon to be refined by Nirvana.
The alternate takes on 鈥淪ons of No One: Rare & Unreleased鈥� captures wildly different takes on the 鈥淭im鈥� track list. The best of them, such as 鈥淐an鈥檛 Hardly Wait (Acoustic Demo)鈥� highlight Westerberg鈥檚 brilliant delivery as a storyteller.
鈥淭im鈥� was adored by critics, but commercial success proved elusive. The mayhem of their 鈥淪NL鈥� appearance earned them a lifetime ban for on-air profanity. They refused to release videos in the heart of the MTV era. And guitarist Bob Stinson was soon to leave the band after ongoing battles with Westerberg and his own demons.
But just as in slushy upper Midwestern television programs such as and the found family sometimes holds its members down just as it keeps them alive, and it ends up all the more loved for it.
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AP music reviews:
Jim Pollock, The Associated Press
