Post by headlightbeams on Jul 13, 2006 0:03:57 GMT -5
The Mats best-of has finally reached the wilds of Northwest Indiana. Here is a review from the Northwest Indiana News. His professed love for "Gary's Got a Boner" has gotta have something to do with Gary, Indiana ... right?
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It's now a decade and a half, and just a little past the day, since the Replacements bid adieu to regular duty at Chicago's Grant Park, and they're still struggling to put their career into some sort of perspective.
Their first try, 1997's "All For Nothing/Nothing at All," was bereft of the first half of the band's ragged-yet-glorious career due solely to conflicts with their former label. But fans of all degrees were given a full disc of outtakes and never-released material, which added, for better or for worse, to the band's legacy. We finally get full cooperation from both their maverick early days with the legendary Minneapolis-based Twin Tone and their struggling days with Sire on the single-disc offering "Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? The Best of The Replacements." But with only 18 offerings, it's bound that plenty would fall through the cracks even in the eyes of casually knowledgeable fans. Their sloppy and near band-defining classic, "Gary's Got a B***r," from masterpiece number one, 1984's "Let It Be," is nowhere to be found, nor are a couple worthy cuts from masterpiece number two, 1987's "Pleased to Meet Me," such as ravers "I.O.U." and "Shooting Dirty Pool."
The biggest news for this compilation was the inclusion of a pair of new compositions, "Message to the Boys" and "Pool & Dive," but they hardly live up to the legacy of anything both on this disc or even better songs that were left off. Regardless of all of this, "Don't You Know" is still the go-to for those who want to see where Goo Goo Dolls pretty boy Johnny Rzeznik lifted his career from, and despite the flawed new efforts, it's nice to see brainchild Paul Westerberg and the essential Tommy Stinson making nice with each other after all these years.
Hopefully, "Don't You Know" will lead to a more comprehensive look at the band's then-underappreciated, but always very satisfying, body of work, which hasn't fallen victim to age in more than two decades. And while the new material is lackluster, could a reunion tour be far behind? Fingers crossed that Axl Rose, under whose employ Stinson has been trying to create "Chinese Democracy" for years, has another meltdown, freeing him up to hit the road with Westerberg. Grade: B-
-- Tim Shellberg, Times Correspondent
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It's now a decade and a half, and just a little past the day, since the Replacements bid adieu to regular duty at Chicago's Grant Park, and they're still struggling to put their career into some sort of perspective.
Their first try, 1997's "All For Nothing/Nothing at All," was bereft of the first half of the band's ragged-yet-glorious career due solely to conflicts with their former label. But fans of all degrees were given a full disc of outtakes and never-released material, which added, for better or for worse, to the band's legacy. We finally get full cooperation from both their maverick early days with the legendary Minneapolis-based Twin Tone and their struggling days with Sire on the single-disc offering "Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? The Best of The Replacements." But with only 18 offerings, it's bound that plenty would fall through the cracks even in the eyes of casually knowledgeable fans. Their sloppy and near band-defining classic, "Gary's Got a B***r," from masterpiece number one, 1984's "Let It Be," is nowhere to be found, nor are a couple worthy cuts from masterpiece number two, 1987's "Pleased to Meet Me," such as ravers "I.O.U." and "Shooting Dirty Pool."
The biggest news for this compilation was the inclusion of a pair of new compositions, "Message to the Boys" and "Pool & Dive," but they hardly live up to the legacy of anything both on this disc or even better songs that were left off. Regardless of all of this, "Don't You Know" is still the go-to for those who want to see where Goo Goo Dolls pretty boy Johnny Rzeznik lifted his career from, and despite the flawed new efforts, it's nice to see brainchild Paul Westerberg and the essential Tommy Stinson making nice with each other after all these years.
Hopefully, "Don't You Know" will lead to a more comprehensive look at the band's then-underappreciated, but always very satisfying, body of work, which hasn't fallen victim to age in more than two decades. And while the new material is lackluster, could a reunion tour be far behind? Fingers crossed that Axl Rose, under whose employ Stinson has been trying to create "Chinese Democracy" for years, has another meltdown, freeing him up to hit the road with Westerberg. Grade: B-
-- Tim Shellberg, Times Correspondent