Post by headlightbeams on Jul 23, 2006 23:35:37 GMT -5
The Malaysia Star reviewed "Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?" (... and to think I almost let my subscription expire!)
Look out for......
By Daryl Goh
AFTER the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr, the renewed interest for 1980s underground US rock heroes continues. Here’s another major name from the same era. Despite the devotion and praise from peers and critics, The Replacements, affectionately known as the Mats, never pushed its potential into the mainstream as far as it might have.
If it is any consolation, the cult reputation of the Mats remains undisputable. Alongside the Bob Mould-led Hüsker Dü, the Mats helped to map the US underground scene and was one of the driving forces to break out of Minneapolis. The band’s guitar-fuelled energy mixed punk redemption and small town desperation in equal measure while in Paul Westerberg the Mats had a swaggering frontman who always found himself either on the wrong end of relationships or wrestling personal demons.
Dyslexic heart or not, his lyrical vulnerability and road worn laments cannot be forgotten. This retrospective Don’t You Know Who I Think I Was? chronicles the vital music made by this bunch of hell-raisers, led by Westerberg, who drank heaps and blazed a garage punk trail across America in the 1980s before gradually losing steam in the early 1990s.
The death of guitarist Bobby Stinson in 1995 from a drug overdose dashed all hopes for a future reunion. As a timely reappraisal, this single-disc, 20-track set is the first-ever collection to piece together both the Mat’s Twin/Tone and Sire/Reprise years.
For some memorable bruised and tender punk moments, there are classics like Takin’ A Ride, Kids Don’t Follow and Answering Machine, before the roaring Big Star tribute on Alex Chilton and introspective Skyway remind us just how brilliant yet underrated the band’s Pleased To Meet Me album was. Deep cuts from the Let It Be and Tim albums dominate this compilation that also has two brand new cuts recorded in Minneapolis last December. The Mats took nearly 16 years to play together again, and the new songs Message to the Boys and Pool & Dive hold their own alongside the vintage material that set the alt-rock template.
Even after all the years, the Mats’ melodic sensibility and boisterous noise stirs up the soul with every listen. Yet Westerberg’s ragged voice, you feel, was never appreciated in the mainstream light, and it probably won’t be any time soon.
But if the poignant Here Comes a Regular doesn’t leave you with a lump in the throat, then you probably deserve your half-baked Goo Goo Dolls that ripped off everything that the Mats kick-started.
Look out for......
By Daryl Goh
AFTER the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr, the renewed interest for 1980s underground US rock heroes continues. Here’s another major name from the same era. Despite the devotion and praise from peers and critics, The Replacements, affectionately known as the Mats, never pushed its potential into the mainstream as far as it might have.
If it is any consolation, the cult reputation of the Mats remains undisputable. Alongside the Bob Mould-led Hüsker Dü, the Mats helped to map the US underground scene and was one of the driving forces to break out of Minneapolis. The band’s guitar-fuelled energy mixed punk redemption and small town desperation in equal measure while in Paul Westerberg the Mats had a swaggering frontman who always found himself either on the wrong end of relationships or wrestling personal demons.
Dyslexic heart or not, his lyrical vulnerability and road worn laments cannot be forgotten. This retrospective Don’t You Know Who I Think I Was? chronicles the vital music made by this bunch of hell-raisers, led by Westerberg, who drank heaps and blazed a garage punk trail across America in the 1980s before gradually losing steam in the early 1990s.
The death of guitarist Bobby Stinson in 1995 from a drug overdose dashed all hopes for a future reunion. As a timely reappraisal, this single-disc, 20-track set is the first-ever collection to piece together both the Mat’s Twin/Tone and Sire/Reprise years.
For some memorable bruised and tender punk moments, there are classics like Takin’ A Ride, Kids Don’t Follow and Answering Machine, before the roaring Big Star tribute on Alex Chilton and introspective Skyway remind us just how brilliant yet underrated the band’s Pleased To Meet Me album was. Deep cuts from the Let It Be and Tim albums dominate this compilation that also has two brand new cuts recorded in Minneapolis last December. The Mats took nearly 16 years to play together again, and the new songs Message to the Boys and Pool & Dive hold their own alongside the vintage material that set the alt-rock template.
Even after all the years, the Mats’ melodic sensibility and boisterous noise stirs up the soul with every listen. Yet Westerberg’s ragged voice, you feel, was never appreciated in the mainstream light, and it probably won’t be any time soon.
But if the poignant Here Comes a Regular doesn’t leave you with a lump in the throat, then you probably deserve your half-baked Goo Goo Dolls that ripped off everything that the Mats kick-started.