The Replacements
The Complete Studio Albums 1981-1990
(Rhino)
The ’80s dealt some major blows to rock ’n’ roll. Not only did the synth gain a measure of ascendancy in a genre that had, ’til then, been primarily about the ragged tones of the electric guitar, something really weird happened to hard rock. Somehow, much of metal turned into something far more inexplicable, with tough guy strutting turning, sans irony, to androgyny wrapped in day-glo spandex. It was easy to give up hope for the unfiltered passion and punk DIY aesthetic that had made rock feel so alive. But if you listened closely, you’d find, somewhere beyond all the studio gloss and over-production, a group of bands making rock as vital as anything that came before. A major force in that movement was The Replacements, a Minneapolis band led by the rough-edged vocalist and guitarist Paul Westerburg. The group courted mainstream success, but famously undermined itself with lackluster performances (apparently on purpose).
This collection of all The Replacements’ ’80s albums reveals a clear progression in the band’s music, from the early albums’ punk bombast, to the open, airy balladry of later albums. Unlike many a box set, this one holds up remarkably well to straight-through listening. There are consistencies that make nearly every tune listenable: Westerburg’s melodies, while seldom the hook-filled stuff of most pop, wind through comfortably, pulling you along with an aching rawness, no matter the tempo or feel.
Likewise, the turned-up guitars remain central, even when the band seems to be backing off from punk sounds to reach for radio-friendliness. The beauty of The Replacements is in part that, no matter how far the band goes toward a poppier sensibility, there’s an off-kilter unpredictability, a sort of half-baked nonchalance that holds the proceedings back from radio polish but makes them feel direct and effortless. They couldn’t, thankfully, be anything other than an alternative voice in an era that demanded a sterile perfection. There’s little here that sounds distinctly ’80s, and plenty, even these decades later, that feels as gripping and gorgeous as it was back then.•
