New Release: ‘Mats Twin Tone Vinyl

As legendary as The Replacements are, never before have the albums recorded by the band during their gloriously ramshackle early years been compiled into a vinyl box set. Oh, sure, just about everything else has been compiled into some set or other, but we double-checked, and we’re relatively confident that The Twin/Tone Years is the first time that the ‘Mats’ first three LPs and the Stink EP have ever gotten this particular treatment…and if by some chance we’re wrong about this (even though we’re pretty sure we’re not), it’s definitely the first time these albums have enjoyed a vinyl pressing over two decades.

If you’re new to the Replacements’ back catalog, then you’re probably wondering, “Say, you mentioned the Stink EP, but what are those first three albums?” Well, allow us to fill you in.

Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash: As Pitchfork observed when they looked back on the ‘Mats’ debut album in 2008, “For a supposedly sloppy and tossed-off record, Sorry Ma comes across as weirdly majestic and strikingly consistent.” You can’t beat an opening track like “Takin’ a Ride,” but “Shiftless When Idle” and “I Bought a Headache” are pretty damned good, too.

Stink EP: Even more shambolic than the band’s debut album, this EP is arguably the most rough-and-tumble effort in the band’s catalog, which means that your mileage may vary if you prefer the more melodic side of the ‘Mats, but it’s still a classic in its own right.

Hootenanny: The brilliant thing about this album, wrote Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic.com, “is that it teeters at the brink of maturity but never makes the dive into that deep pool.” In other words, Paul Westerberg might be growing as a songwriter, but not that much. Thankfully, it was enough to produce classics like “Color Me Impressed” and “Within Your Reach,” two of the greatest songs in the early Replacements canon.

Let It Be: Don’t be surprised if you find some ‘Mats fans who view this Let It Be to be more of a classic album than the one by the Beatles, and don’t write it off as being a ridiculous premise, either, because A) this album wasn’t ruined by overly-gloppy Phil Spector production, and B) it just straight up rocks. It’d be worth buying solely for “I Will Dare,” of course, but the whole thing is brilliant.