Archives for July 2020

Certain Songs #1880: The Replacements – “Take Me Down To The Hospital (Maxwell’s 1986)”

July 31, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Live at Maxwell’s 1986
Year: 1986

. . .

I already used eight of my lives

Paul Westerberg is one hell of a rock ‘n’ roll singer. I might have mentioned that once or twice in these posts.

And while I was and am thrilled that For Sale: Live at Maxwell’s 1986 gave me fantastic performances of such major songs as “Hold My Life,” “Can’t Hardly Wait,” “Unsatisfied” and “Answering Machine” (at least after the full band kicks in), the song that utterly killed me was the scorching, blistering take of “Take Me Down To The Hospital.”

Certain Songs #1879: The Replacements – “Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out (Maxwell’s, 1986)”

July 30, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Live at Maxwell’s 1986
Year: 1986

. . .

Nothing to fear, it’s only murder

I was lucky enough to see The Replacements five times during their original run. And never once did I see one of their infamous disintegration shows. I’m sure they were sloppy and fucked up, but they always seemed like the greatest band ever.

But, of course, during the 1980s, they only put out a pair of live recordings: The Shit Hits The Fans cassette, and the Inconcerated promo-only CD release. And while I admired the story behind the former and the performances of the latter, neither had what I was looking for in a Replacements live album.

Certain Songs #1878: The Replacements – “Nowhere is My Home”

July 29, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Boink!
Year: 1986

. . .

Nowhere is where I’m from

The next thing we saw from The Replacements, however, wasn’t a brand-new album, but rather an U.K.-only compilation from Glass Records — which as also The Jazz Butcher’s label at the time — that was just flat-out weird.

Purportedly an overview of the band’s Twin/Tone years, it consisted of just eight songs, none of which were from either Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash or Let It Be, instead, going with three from Stink and three from Hootenanny, plus “If Only You Were Lonely” and an outtake from the early Tim sessions, produced by Alex Chilton.

Certain Songs #1877: The Replacements – “Here Comes A Regular”

July 28, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Tim
Year: 1985

. . .

Am I the the only who feels ashamed?

Given the breadth of the songs on side one of Tim, one might have been excused in thinking that, after four straight rock songs the sad acoustic guitar that started the final song would eventually give way to crashing electric guitars. At least that’s what I wrote in my journal the first time I heard “Here Comes a Regular.”

But, of course, that never happened, as for the second straight album, the Replacements closed with what was basically a mold-breaking Paul Westerberg showcase, a heart-breakingly sad song that I instantly thought of as the real theme for Cheers, cos it seemed to capture the other side of growing old in a bar.

Certain Songs #1876: The Replacements – “Little Mascara”

July 27, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Tim
Year: 1985

. . .

For the moon, you keep shooting

It takes a pretty strong song to not be totally crushed by being in the middle of “Left of The Dial” and “Here Comes a Regular,” but in a weird way, “Little Mascara” keeps from being being crushed by being the most normal Replacements song on Tim, with one huge exception.

It doesn’t have any acoustic guitars, it’s powered by a Stonesy riff it’s got a great Bob Stinson guitar solo and — here’s the exception — it’s not about Paul Westerberg spouting his angst all over the place. I guess “Androgynous” was kinda like that, too, though it was inspired by real-life events. But “Little Mascara” is more of a character study, about a character that he made up, but at the same time, you could also imagine the woman who is at the center of the story being somebody he knew in 1981 who got all settled down by 1983, and was already disliking it.

Certain Songs #1875: The Replacements – “Left of the Dial”

July 24, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Tim
Year: 1985

. . .

You grow old in a bar

“Left of the Dial” just might be the greatest song Paul Westerberg has ever written. Shit, “Left of the Dial” just might be the greatest song anybody has ever written, and I’m not even sure that it isn’t my all-time favorite song by anybody, and that includes “Answering Machine.”

Let’s put it this way: when the ‘Mats reunited to play Riot Fest in 2013, and people were putting videos up on the web (thank you!) of the show, the song that made me cry was “Left of The Dial.” That’s one. Also, there’s this: as a teenager, I always told people that if I had to explain to aliens exactly what rock ‘n’ roll music was, I’d play them “I Can See For Miles” by The Who. But now, I think it be “Left of The Dial,” a recording that never gets old, a song that never fails to bring up all the emotions and memories.

Certain Songs #1874: The Replacements – “Bastards of Young”

July 23, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Tim
Year: 1985

. . .

Trash that baby boom

This might be heresy, but occasionally I do wonder how much higher I would have rated Tim had it, you know, sounded better. You know, as good as Let It Be. That said, while it’s not as bad as the wall of fuzz Spot imposed on Zen Arcade and New Day Rising, it’s still kind of a shame that Tommy’s production detracted from some of the songs. Obviously, I didn’t need Tim to sound pristine — yuk! — but rather more in my face.

I think that was at the heart of my initial resistance to “Bastards of Young,” which is — rightfully — a lot of people’s favorite Replacements song. So before we get into it, let’s stipulate that I love “Bastards of Young,” otherwise I wouldn’t be writing about it, but I’ve always thought it should somehow be better. Like higher than my 6th favorite song on Tim. I wonder if I can figure out why.

Certain Songs #1873: The Replacements – “Waitress in the Sky”

July 22, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Tim
Year: 1985

. . .

Big deal, you get to fly

Does Paul Westerberg have a meaner song than “Waitress in the Sky?”

Given that most of his cheapest shots were usually at himself or his band, then one might argue that “Waitress in the Sky” is kind of punching down, a criticism that can be deflected on two fronts: he’s singing the song in the character and his sister was a flight attendant, so it was kind of an inside joke.

Certain Songs #1872: The Replacements – “Kiss Me on The Bus”

July 21, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Tim
Year: 1985

. . .

If you knew how I felt now, you wouldn’t act so adult now

Like a lot of teenagers who got their minds blown by the original cast of Saturday Night Live, I stopped watching the show between the time Bill Murray left and the time Eddie Murphy became a superstar, though I would tune in when say, the motherfucking Clash were playing. I mean, c’mon.

And I went all in on that season that featured Christopher Guest, Billy Crystal, Martin Short and Harry Shearer, because it was fun to see these ringers bring in pre-established bits in a different context. But that was only for one year, and I was once again, fully ignoring SNL when in January of 1986, NBC announced that the musical guest that week was going to be The Replacements.

Certain Songs #1871: The Replacements – “Hold My Life”

July 20, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Tim
Year: 1985

. . .

Time for decision to be made

So there I was, eager as all hell to hear the follow-up album to Let It Be — a record that hadn’t left my turntable for a year — a little bit worried about what the major label debut by The Replacements was going to sound like.