happiest you've felt with a Mats/PW release

[pm]

I remember being stoked when i heard these:

Mats: Tim (changed my life, seriously)

PW: Stereo

still two of my favorites

[Philip Garcia]

49:00 really got me reenergized about Paul's music in general. I first got into him with Suicane, and got the others, but I really fell in love with 49:00, one of the best albums ever.

Phil

[nazareth]

Yeah the first time i heard Stereo/Mono I couldn't believe how great it was....still can't.

[DoseOfThunder]

Replacements - Tim
PW - Suicaine, Folker, all his Open Season songs
Grandpaboy - Mono

While everything by PW (with and without Replacements) has it's great moments, there are the 5 albums that I think are all killer no filler! (If we pretend ALL the Paul recordings of Open Season songs were on the soundtrack, in place of the other artists.)

[pm]

yeah, completely agree with phil's assessment of 49:00.

[bigbak]

Let It Be Twenty five years ago I bought Let It Be on cassette at Blue Meanie Records on El Cajon Blvd in San Diego. My vocabulary isn't up to the task of describing how much I enjoyed listening to it. I think there have been only five or six other moments I can think of that actually compare to how I felt the first time I heard Let It Be.

It was like reading Catcher In The Rye for the first time, or Childhood's End.

That's probably pathetically sad, but it's not like I've ever had kids or seen a Donkey Kong kill screen

[nazareth]

Feb 19, 2010 21:24:15 GMT -5 bigbak said:

Let It Be Twenty five years ago I bought Let It Be on cassette at Blue Meanie Records on El Cajon Blvd in San Diego. My vocabulary isn't up to the task of describing how much I enjoyed listening to it. I think there have been only five or six other moments I can think of that actually compare to how I felt the first time I heard Let It Be.

It was like reading Catcher In The Rye for the first time, or Childhood's End.

That's probably pathetically sad, but it's not like I've ever had kids or seen a Donkey Kong kill screen

Wow. Blue Meannie actually just closed down about 2 years ago. Sad to see all these old places go.

[kgp]

solo - Stereo, hands down.

Mats - Didn't hear any in "real time" save for Don't Tell a Soul and All Shook Down.
Neither would be my first choice.

Tim I guess, though I came to it years too late.

I didn't really know it was considered subpar by Replacements fans standards, either, so the shoddy production didn't really bother me.

[brianlux]

Feb 19, 2010 21:24:15 GMT -5 bigbak said:

Let It Be Twenty five years ago I bought Let It Be on cassette at Blue Meanie Records on El Cajon Blvd in San Diego. My vocabulary isn't up to the task of describing how much I enjoyed listening to it. I think there have been only five or six other moments I can think of that actually compare to how I felt the first time I heard Let It Be.

It was like reading Catcher In The Rye for the first time, or Childhood's End.

That's probably pathetically sad, but it's not like I've ever had kids or seen a Donkey Kong kill screen

That's a great analogy "Let it Be", the CATCHER IN THE RYE of the eighties.

I felt the same way about LIB. By 1984 I'd really had it with where rock had gone. Most of my 60's favorites (with a few exceptions like Neil Young) were coasting and I didn't care at all (putting it nicely) for disco. Rock and was was looking like a thing of the past. But bands like The 'Mats and REM came along and gave things a good kick start. LIB was right at the top for me- gritty but accessible , funny or sad or both, relevant/irrelevant, rough and smooth around the edges. A real breakthrough album for me.

[TomT]

Here in Chicago, WXRT radio has a feature called New Releases Thursdays and will feature new music coming out the following week.

I distinctly remember hearing Skyway on the radio back then and was really thrilled. I got PTMM the following week and just wore the shit out of that vinyl. I made a cassette for my car and let's just say I got very intimate with that album.

As for PW, 49:00 blew my mind. I never expected something like that for a meager 49 cents. Wow! He would be smart to properly release an edited version of this on cd.

[scoOter]

well, i came into the fold a little too late to get *that* into the release of asd (i got into them with dtas), but by the time i was in college, and asd had already been out for awhile, and they had broken up, i was snatching up old 'mats albums as fast as possible.

therefore, i was *most* excited by a mats/pw release for 14 songs. i was giddy up until the release date, and i wasn't let down by it. i still love it. it has some faults, and at least one song that i skip, but it is awesome to me.

my second most anticipated release had to be bash & pop's fnikm. i remember being slightly let down at the time because i thought it lacked enough "bash", but i have come to adore the album front to back.

[Placemat]

Mats-PTMM, first tour I got to see.

Solo-Mono. After SG I wasn't sure we'd ever get another. & Then Stereo right on it's heels & a kick ass tour to boot... Good time to be a fan.

[mrjohns]

Tim. Read the review in Rolling Stone, and with the recommendation of a friend in hand, went to the store and picked it up. Wore the grooves out on that record, and soon picked up all the earlier releases.

Didn't cut my hair for 9 years after that record!

When PTMM came out, I was there the morning the record store opened, and wore that sucker out as well......

[cford]

Feb 21, 2010 20:16:12 GMT -5 mrjohns said:

Tim. Read the review in Rolling Stone, and with the recommendation of a friend in hand, went to the store and picked it up. Wore the grooves out on that record, and soon picked up all the earlier releases.

Didn't cut my hair for 9 years after that record!

When PTMM came out, I was there the morning the record store opened, and wore that sucker out as well......

I recently found that 1985 Rolling Stone review of Tim..It was written before they started using the 'star' system so all you have to go on is the review text -- which is very positive. But the writing itself is sort of clunky. The author uses words like
"harmonic filigree" and stuff...If this was all I knew about the band and the record I doubt if I would have bought it.

CF

[brianlux]

Tim. Let it Be was a huge record to me and to be followed be another great one was further proof that somewhere out ther rock and roll was alive and well.

[worldclassfad]

Stink. Although I think Let It Be, Hootenany, Pleased To Meet Me and Sorry Ma are better albums, Stink really caught me by suprise. I had heard alot about it being sloppy and terrible and not even listenable, but it's just one non stop block of greatness from start to end. Best songs? Definatly 'White & Lazy' and 'Go'.

The happiest ive been with a Westerberg album is definatly Mono.

[grandpaboysfriend]

Mono - it restored my faith in rock'n'roll.

[A Regular]

maybe S/G. The album didn't make me "happy" but pealed off a layer of cover from the guy that wrote the album. I'll always love that album.

[thepogo]

PTMM changed everything!!!

[hudson99]

There's a big difference between which release I love the most and what made me the happiest. From Hootenanny on I eagerly awaited every album, and inevitably each became my most-played current release of that time.

But the biggest joy I felt on an album's release had to be when Mono came out a couple of months before it was paired with Stereo. Nothing had been heard from Paul for a few years (outside of the Grandpaboy EP), and the previous solo albums had been relatively quiet, at least compared to his 'mats work. So here comes this record of sloppy, Stones-y garage rock that caused me to smile for weeks. It was certainly no Tim or LIB, but after all these years he was back in snotty rocker mode.