The Ledge #586: Replacements' Tim Box Set
How to talk about the new box set dedicated to one of my favorite records ever? I really can't, to be honest, as there are tons and tons of articles floating around right now that I could never attempt to better. But let's just say that Tim by The Replacements is certinly a record that I've never gone long without listening to since it's release in 1985.
Yet I must be honest when I say that my all time favorite Replacements record is actually the previous album, Let It Be, but I'll concede that Tim is a better collection of songs. How is that possible? Let It Be had a powerful sound. Tim has always suffered from a thin, muddy mix that was certainly fine enough that it didn't afffect my overall love of the record. I just preferred the beefier Let It Be.
That opinion may now change thanks to the release of this new box set. Tim (Let It Bleed Edition) rights the wrongs of the record I've loved for close to 40 years. Ed Stasium, who was supposed to mix the original record, was hired to finally work his magic. And it's wonderful. The drums are front and center. Tommy Stinson's bass can actually be heard, and there's little elements in each and every song that are heard for the first time. Hell, I even now sort of like the lesser tunes such as "Dose of Thunder" and "Lay It Down Clown"!
But that's not all that's in this set. There's a disc of outtakes and alternate versions, including tracks they recorded with Big Star's Alex Chilton. There is also a fantastic show from January of 1986 that showcases Bob Stinson's incendiary guitar. It's obviously going to be my favorite box set of the year.
After sampling much of this box set, it's only natural that I fill up the show with more of my favorite Minneapolis music from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, including early tracks from the Suburbs and Flamin' Oh's. There's a tune from the just-released reissue of the classic Loose Rails album, Red Turns to Green. And I certainly can't do a show like this without the likes of Soul Asylum, Husker Du, and The Magnolias!
As for the "52 weeks of Teenage Kicks" series, I did have to take a detour out of Minneapolis. This week I headed to San Francisco with a 2004 cover from an interesting band called The Grannies. As their future label, Saustex Records, noted when they signed them for a later record, "The Grannies story began on a hot July night in 1999, as five grown men dressed as old ladies crossed 11th Street in San Francisco and hit the stage at the Paradise Lounge. 15 years, 8 Jack Endino-produced albums, 3 European tours, more than a few beer soaked houses dresses...are still at it."
As I do every week, I must again plead with y'all for more versions of "Teenage Kicks". If you are a musician, or have any contact with artists that could record their own take on the classic, please contact me!
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SHOW!
1. The Grannies - Teenage Kicks
2. The Replacements - Hold My Life (Ed Stasium Mix)
3. The Replacements - Waitress in the Sky (Ed Stasium Mix)
4. The Replacements - Swingin Party (Ed Stasium Mix)
5. The Replacements - Lay It Down Clown (Ed Stasium Mix)
6. The Replacements - Little Mascara (Ed Stasium Mix)
7. The Replacements - Nowhere Is My Home (Alternate Mix)
8. The Replacements - Can't Hardly Wait (Electric Demo) (Alternate Mix)
9. The Replacements - Kiss Me on the Bus (Studio Demo)
10. The Replacements - Bastards of Young (Alternate Version)
11. The Replacements - Having Fun
12. The Replacements - Color Me Impressed (Live at the Cabaret Metro, Chicago, IL, 1/11/86)
13. The Replacements - I Will Dare (Live at the Cabaret Metro, Chicago, IL, 1/11/86)
14. The Replacements - Borstal Breakout (Live at the Cabaret Metro, Chicago, IL, 1/11/86)
15. The Replacements - The Crusher (Live at the Cabaret Metro, Chicago, IL, 1/11/86)
16. The Replacements - Nowhere Man (Live at the Cabaret Metro, Chicago, IL, 1/11/86)
17. The Magnolias - Tear Up This Town
18. The Magnolias - Complicated Fun
19. The Suicide Commandos - Weekend Warrior
20. The Hypstrz - All Or Nothing
21. The Flamin' Oh's - I Remember Romance
22. The Pistons - She Got Sex
23. Curtiss A - I Don't Wanna Be President
24. NNB - Uruguay 1983
25. The Suburbs - Urban Guerillas
26. The Suburbs - World War III
27. PHONES - Modern Man
28. Crash Street Kids - Mystery Girl
29. Hüsker Dü - Sorry Somehow
30. Soul Asylum - Sometime To Return
31. The Mighty Mofos - Mindreader
32. Loose Rails - Tell Me Now
33. Loose Rails - Teenage Kicks
Comments
As for your question as to whether it's been done before. Well, yes, but maybe not to such a fabulous extent. The recent remixed L.A.M.F. by Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers is certainly fantastic, but I guess the changes aren't so dramatic. And I'd say some of those Bob Dylan Bootleg Series sets have established that maybe some of Dylan's lesser periods (Self Portrait, early 80s, etc.) weren't quite as awful as biographers would have you believe. But then again, those periods were proven to be better by the use of outtakes, so that's a different animal. so yeah, i guess you're spot on there!