|
Post by teddinard on Sept 22, 2023 9:29:13 GMT -5
Cool article, thanks. I would pay five dollars to see Westerberg's face when he reads the part about him having "matinee-idol looks."
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Jun 21, 2022 7:22:03 GMT -5
Yeah it's no longer a "pending transaction" on my card—just gone. So be it.
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Jun 18, 2022 15:47:45 GMT -5
Well, maybe it's wishful thinking on my part to trust czeskleba when he says, without equivocation, "it is authorized." But I don't think he'd say that about the Grant Park thing.
I will let you know what it looks and sounds like if and when my copy from Popmarket arrives. I'm not convinced it will—backordered everywhere, with vague predictions of date of availability. We shall see.
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Jun 18, 2022 9:04:43 GMT -5
Well, the thing posted by czeskleba on Hoffman says "it is authorized" and it's "sort of like an authorized bootleg."
I trust czeskleba's information. He's worked on Replacements projects before, is cited in liner notes of them, etc. What he says here has been carefully stated by someone involved in this project, and in the absence of other information, I'll believe it, as far as it goes.
He also says "but not all interested parties were fully on board with the idea, so a decision was made" for a limited release. And "a decision was made" is a nicely passive construction. It leaves unclear who made the decision.
So this release seems to be in a very specific kind of gray area. The phrase "not...fully on board" is the sticky one. It could mean someone, let's say PW himself, said "I'm not crazy about this, I don't like it, but whatever, go ahead, as long as it's not a big thing." Or it could mean something less affirming than that.
Then again, "not...fully on board" does imply "at least a little on board," i.e. not willing to raise a stink or a big objection. So that puts this in a different category from the weird unauthorized things that pop up on Amazon from time to time.
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Jun 16, 2022 7:35:17 GMT -5
Just bought the thing.
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Oct 13, 2020 9:24:07 GMT -5
There should be a private Mats concert for people who were stiffed by Rhino shipping to make up for it! I can hear PW now: "Suckers!" P.S. I'm one too, still waiting.
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Apr 3, 2020 9:51:29 GMT -5
In the new TV series version of High Fidelity, there is an episode (I think somewhere in between episodes 5 and 7) that features two Replacements songs. The first is a cover of “Rattlesnake” (no idea what band is doing it) during a chase scene. The second is the Mats’ recording of “Skyway,” which one character is putting on a mixed tape he’s making for a potential love interest. Ha, in my diminished life, my wife and I have been watching this show (and actually liking it OK), and I've been thinking "these are the sort of people who would put on the Replacements now and then." We're just on the verge of episode 6, I think. Something to look forward to. I love "Rattlesnake" so much, and it's a bit odd to think of anybody bothering to cover it. It's perfect, spontaneous, and inimitable.
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Mar 21, 2020 11:10:14 GMT -5
As long as we have coffee, books, music, and love we should weather this. I could add a couple of things to this list! But yeah, those for sure. Good to see you guys on the board. Family and I are safe, hunkered down, and working from home. Lots of records and reading. Take care, all.
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Feb 11, 2020 16:18:36 GMT -5
Some shit on the needle. Like your record. I always thought that was phono needle i.e. stylus. Like the ball of dust/crap that gathers and makes the record sound like crap. Then I take him to be saying "but your record sounds crappy anyway." But maybe you're right, could be a hypo.
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Feb 6, 2020 8:01:33 GMT -5
Always reminded me of Dylan’s “I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes/you’d know what a drag it is to see you” Yeah except the scenario in "I'll Be You" is totally without the typical Dylan nastiness. In fact, it's the opposite. I take the whole song to be a development from complete self-absorption to finding himself able to turn to, and even turn into, another person. It's all "I I I, me me me" through the first part. He talks about being lonely, and we don't get any sense that there's even anybody else around. He seems to be obsessed with his career or just his aimless life ("searching for something to do" etc.). We get "I'll break down just in case" as his way of coping. The turn comes with "let's hold hands just the same." The song acknowledges another person is there. Even though I'm lonely, and my life is aimless, all the same, you're here, we can physically connect. He thinks about some soul purge, but then realizes that relying on the other person for redemption is a better way. It's a bit of an odd reliance on the other person, though, because instead of simply saying "let's be together" in a sappy, sentimental way, he imagines switching identities with her/him. So it's interesting to wonder if the switch makes him any less isolated than he was before by the end, or not. I think a lot of Westerberg's songs are about being deep inside himself and then realizing that he needs other people, even if in an odd way. It's a great song in this vein.
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Jan 27, 2020 19:02:34 GMT -5
Love both of those. You can back up a little from the above, too. I always thought "monkey on the mirror" was a quite brilliant way to refer to cocaine—playing, of course, on the "monkey on my back" of smack addiction. It draws out the coke-narcissism connection with his usual witty economy. Love this! What do you mean by “coke-narcissism connection,” though? Is it a well known fact that narcissists are more prone to abuse cocaine? Or are you just saying cocaine makes you act narcissistically? Yeah, it's been my experience that an effect of the drug is people getting an elevated opinion of themselves. Like "I'm so great, I'm so charming, I can do anything! I have PER-sonality!" You don't have to be a narcissist to do cocaine, but often you end up that way, for as long as it lasts!
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Jan 21, 2020 20:29:41 GMT -5
Love both of those.
You can back up a little from the above, too. I always thought "monkey on the mirror" was a quite brilliant way to refer to cocaine—playing, of course, on the "monkey on my back" of smack addiction.
It draws out the coke-narcissism connection with his usual witty economy.
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Jan 9, 2020 15:57:14 GMT -5
Love a good weird list. For instance:
116: "Wake Up" 108: "We Know the Night" 84: "Nowhere is My Home"
50: "Shooting Dirty Pool" 43: "Red Red Wine"
I love the latter two and defend them every chance I get. But for heaven's sake.
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Dec 8, 2019 11:21:55 GMT -5
....I'm not a fan of anything else. Not in this way, at least. See something, buy something, no hesitation. I envy that. I've got a couple dozen it seems. I'll buy anything Cheap Trick, Keith Richards, DBT, Lucero, Hüsker Dü/Mould, on and on. At the same time, I passed on the last two reissues of the Replacements stuff. I had everything on vinyl and CD, most CDs original and the first remasters, which had the bonus tracks.
Yeah, and I have to be honest. There are things I see, on ebay for instance, that I don't buy but want. I'd really like to have a first press of Sorry Ma, with original liner notes, like this: www.ebay.com/itm/Replacements-Sorry-Ma-Forgot-To-Take-Out-The-Trash-LP-Twin-Tone-1st-Press/113938021726?hash=item1a873c3d5e:g:cZAAAOSw-d5a4215But I won't be spending $110 for it today. And if the LP reissue sets were to come out again, but with free decoder ring or something, I wouldn't spring for them again. Still, the Stereo/Mono LP was an easy buy for me (apart from the Black Friday mall struggle).
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Dec 6, 2019 10:41:14 GMT -5
Yeah, there's nothing new here, no new artwork in the gatefold, no goodies or tidbits, same little spiel from PW ("What you have here are songs...") that's in my copy of the double CD.
Still, I'm glad I bought it. For one thing, I like records and listen to them.
More importantly, I just like buying Westerberg/Replacements material. When it comes out, I buy it. I'm a fan, I suppose.
I'm not a fan of anything else. Not in this way, at least. See something, buy something, no hesitation.
It's actually kind of a relief. I don't have any irritating consumerist doubts, like I have with everything else. Should I buy it? Should I not? Is this the best deal? Will something superior come out later?
This is the one little area of my life as an abject shopper where I don't have to ponder and second guess. I just do it. I enjoy that experience. And I like thinking that PW might get a few extra bucks out of it, too.
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Dec 2, 2019 8:16:16 GMT -5
I paid $38 in a suburban mall chain-store west of Boston.
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Nov 29, 2019 20:54:29 GMT -5
OK, just listened to Stereo.
The first thing to say is damn, what a great group of songs this is. I really find them as moving as just about anything he's done. I mean lyrically, though there's the requisite tension and release in the guitar parts that make them work. And the subject matter—approaching middle age, friends dying young, marriage not quite working—well it has the power to choke me up, and has since I first heard it.
We sure are lucky that our favorite rock star isn't just some dummy, whose dumb songs we have to put up with. Rhyming "Valentino" with "seen him though"—I mean, come on. Clever but perfectly natural and casual. "One thing I love I can no longer stand" is about the best line anybody's ever written about a difficult marriage. It's kind of sad that more people don't know how good these songs are. But fuck 'em, who cares.
Oh yeah, as for the vinyl, my copy was flat and dead quiet, so I'm glad I picked it up. The sound was good. Something about flipping it over and playing side two held the whole thing together for me.
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Nov 29, 2019 17:12:29 GMT -5
I worked up the resolve to go to the mall. Nasty place on any day, today like a scene out of Dante.
But I got it. Hope PW makes enough from my purchase to buy a cup of coffee, at least. Will report later on sound and pressing quality.
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Nov 28, 2019 11:56:20 GMT -5
Yeah I want it.
Too bad our Record Store Day source is in the mall. Can I brave that?
Maybe in the evening when the yahoos have left.
|
|
|
Post by teddinard on Oct 27, 2019 12:24:07 GMT -5
I could love Paul Westerberg more than now,,.;[ I'm sorry, I'm probably being dense, but do you mean you think the song denigrates Sylvia Plath, or otherwise seems unpleasant or offensive? For what it's worth, I've always taken it as a homage and an attempt at understanding.
|
|