When bands reissue albums that were already available on CD, it always makes be skeptical. Sometimes the sound is remastered, sometimes it's a bonus track or two, nevertheless it always seems like the record label has already exhausted the other avenues of cash grabs such as greatest hits, unplugged and live albums. One exception is the series of
Rhino deluxe reissues of the Replacement's final 4 albums (last year it was their first 4) that featured rare previously unreleased tracks along with the original song list. Even a hardcore Replacements fan like myself who thought he had every demo and unreleased song is surprised to find some unheard gems. The excellent sound quality sure beats the multiple generation tape hiss on a lot of my rare tracks that I have collected from bootlegs and traded shows.
The first time I listened to the Mats (
The Replacements) was back in the mid 80's, probably 1986, after the release of
Tim. A friend gave me a mix tape and the only bands I remember were Green On Red, The Beasts Of Bourbon and The Replacements. I think the Replacements tracks were
I'll Buy,
Kiss Me On The Bus and
Waitress In The Sky. To me this music was groundbreaking, the album,
Tim was amazing and the Replacements changed my life. When I visited Minneapolis later that year, I bought the back catalog,
Let It Be,
Hootanany,
Stink and
Sorry I Forgot To Take Out The Trash. This interest in Replacement's style of music led to the discovery (for myself) of bands such as Husker Du, Soul Asylum, Scruffy the Cat, Camper Van, Young Fresh Fellows etc...basically anything U.S. college radio.
If you're like me, you already have
Tim on vinyl, cassette, CD and mp3 formats, so you don't really need another version of the same thing, but these these reissues are almost worth it alone if only for the bonus tracks. For your downloading pleasure, just add these tracks to your existing
Tim music files and you'll have your very own deluxe version.
TIM Bonus Material
12. Can't Hardly Wait (Acoustic - Alex Chilton Sessions Outtake) *
13. Nowhere Is My Home (Alex Chilton Sessions Outtake) - One of my favourite all-time Replacements tracks. I can't understand how this song wasn't on the original album.
14. Can't Hardly Wait (Electric - Alex Chilton Sessions Outtake) *- This version is so much better than the version that appeared on Pleased To Meet Me. Much closer to how they played this live pre-87.
15. Kiss Me On The Bus (Tom Erdelyi Demo) *- Great rockin' version, I prefer it, but the album version had an unique groove to it that sets it apart from the regular Mats sound.
16. Waitress In The Sky (Outtake - Alternate Version) *
17. Here Comes A Regular (Outtake - Alternate Version) *
(*previously unreleased.)
Before he released his first solo album and just after his band Radish disbanded, Ben Kweller released a series of self-released ep's. They were mainly homemade that consisted of recordings from Radish's unreleased Discount Fireworks and demos that would eventually end up on his solo debut, Sha Sha. Many of these demos were recorded in his apartment on a laptop computer.
I knew about these ep's but have never heard or seen a copy until I stumbled upon 2 of them on a an outstanding blog, Wilfully Obscure. These are awesome recordings and are a must of any Ben Kweller fans, this kid displays his prodigy-like talent with these self-produced, self-financed releases without sounding amateurist or self-centered.
Bromeo features songs that are mainly exclusive to this release except for I Don't Know Why and Different But the Same that were re-recorded and included on later albums. Freak Out It's Ben Kweller...features songs that were more or less demos for Sha Sha, but they are different and altered recordings and in some ways more satisfying. Freak Out...apparently caught the attention of Evan Dando of the Lemonheads who invited him out on tour with him.
