Dave was so amazing on the reunion tour, and wish I could thank him in person for the love and care he spent on the music on that tour. He did an impossible job perfectly, and his energy was so good. To me, that first show in Toronto was the way I'd always wanted them to sound.
He truly is. Our band recorded with him last month (and earlier this year), and it was a life-affirming experience in that there are still some REAL rockers out there.
5 stars to Dave for saying what so many Replacements fans don't want to hear. Don't Tell A Soul is a great LP. Sure, give me Tim, Let It Be and Pleased to Meet Me over Soul anytime and any day. But, there are some truly brilliant moments on the LP. Easy to slag, easy to forget for some fans. But every time I hear Darlin' One or Achin' To Be I'm blown away.
The high points on Don't Tell a Soul are some of the best stuff Westerberg ever wrote, but the lows... We'll Inherit the Earth, They're Blind, Asking Me Lies... complete crap. Fussy and clunky, they sound like they were written by someone trying to _copy_ Westerberg's style and doing a half-assed job of it.
@@rdrrr Yeah, I totally agree with you regarding We'll Inherit the Earth and Asking Me Lies. Just filler in my book. I do like They're Blind, however, but I'd get why others would not. I like the descriptors "fussy" and "clunky". Never thought of these tracks in that way, but it makes some real sense.
@@robertmcmanus9185 My favourite 'Mats album is Pleased to Meet Me. For me it's Westerberg at the height of his songwriting powers; even the filler on PTMM (Nightclub Jitters, Shooting Dirty Pool, Red Red Wine) is pretty good. Production-wise it strikes a nice balance; not quite as shiny as Don't Tell a Soul, but clean enough to let the music breathe. Don't Tell a Soul is _far_ from bad, though. More than half the songs are winners, and Achin' to Be might be the best song Paul ever wrote.
@@rdrrr Yeah. You know, there's some filler on almost every LP, right? But I love Jitters, Dirty Pool and Red Red Wine. My fave Replacements is Tim, but it's got way more filler than PTMM. For me Left Of The Dial, Little Mascara, Bastards of Young, Swinging Party, Here Comes A Regular and Waitress in the Sky take the prize, but obviously stuff like Lay It Down Clown is nowhere near the quality of the "filler" on PTMM. PTMM is definitely the more complete LP.
@@robertmcmanus9185 There really isn't a bad 'Mats studio album. My biggest complaint with _Tim_ isn't the filler (as you said, nearly every LPs got some) but the production. The mix is muddy and indistinct and it chokes the life out of a raw, energetic band. Sorta reminds me of Graham Parker's _The Up Escalator_ or Bowie's mix of _Raw Power_ . The material's so strong the LP's killer anyway... but there's an aftertaste of squandered potential. EDIT: To bring this full-circle... this conversation made me look up the Dead Man's Pop version of "They're Blind", and I realized the song itself is excellent and it's just the excessive studio gloss that turned me off it. So thank you for a great conversation and a neat discovery!
Great memories of being in the Living Room waiting for the Hoods to hit the stage. Around 1130pm here comes Dave walking thru the crowd jumping on stage, plugging in , feedback hovering over everything then him calling out 2 3 4 ...will never forget the electricity that band created on so many different nights and in so many different venues..
I loved ‘Don’t Tell a Soul ‘. Actually, the press-push for it was my first conscious introduction to the Mats. I mentioned the piece I’d seen on MTV to a friend who had had “Pleased to Meet Me”, and spun it for me. I was Hooked from the first-chords of IOU & ordered all of their records from Camelot Music the next day. They’re now my favorite American band - since 1989.
This is a great interview. I agree this man is extremely likeable person and a worthy occupier of Bobs spot. It would be cool if they decided to jam out some more.
" I'm a big fan of bands sellout records for for some reason, because i feel like uh you get glimpses into people at those times that can be not good, but you can also see that you know what i know you're trying awfully hard here to break the mold. and I'm championing your cause because of this and uh the songs were still great and um, it held as much sway over me because i felt like there was a guy as a songwriter coming through here uh making way through the the bombast and the chaos of what the replacements had become." Love this. And love Don't Tell A Soul for the same reason. Just like I love Pleasant Dreams by The Ramones.
What the Replacements did for Dave at the Rat (I was there that night as well-incredible show) Dave's band the Neighborhoods did for me a few years prior to that. I saw them from right in front of the stage at that Rat and their raw punk/rock energy and great hooks changed my outlook on music. My UFO and Yes records gathered some dust after that night (though I've since returned to them and knocked the dust off). The Neighborhoods were power pop/punk and a GREAT live band and Dave is a tremendous songwriter. I wish he'd gotten to play one of his own songs at those shows he did with Paul but that would have been asking a bit too much.
couldn't agree more about Don't Tell a Soul... it is a great record... the only time I ever saw the Mats was when they toured for that record and they stopped in Denver at the Paramount Theater.
Paul always had a “pop songwriter” strain in his persona. In a sense, I always felt that the raw and rugged “hardcore” side of the Mats…most evident in their earlier years…was “music school” from which a more mature but every bit as authentic music and songwriting artistry would emerge. It was almost like The Rolling Stones early years as essentially a blues cover band. You can’t write songs about drunk high school parties and stealing from your mothers purse forever. I discovered the Mats (1983) at a time in my life when I was really trying to mature as a person. I absolutely loved the energy, sound and authenticity but I’d been out of high school for 12 years. I kept asking myself “am I regressing as a person”. I was almost 30!
" you can't get to paul... he knows, he knows you're all sick people at this point." I too, heard the stories from those who were there on the ground. I'd love to hear more about Otto's & the Blue Hippos. While Husker Du & the Replacement were killing it, there were a bunch of bands who've never made the doc/mention circuit. A band out of St. Paul(?) I believe, the Baby Astronauts rocked my teenage world at the time.
One of my favorite stories I ever heard about the replacements was how they came down to play Atlanta pretty early in their career and Bob got completely shit-faced drunk and passed out blocking the door of the apartment where some guy was letting the band crash. He was literally crashed out and no one could get in for an unspecified number of hours because he was too heavy and comatose.
This is a great, fun interview. he seems like a really cool dude. but the funniest part of the interview is that he raves about DTAS, but can't name a single song off the album. 2 times he struggles to think of a song title from an album that he clearly loves. classic.
Absolutely! So funny.... but, I'm sure many of these musicians know so many LPs that it's impossible to keep it all straight. I am checking out this man's band, given the quality of this interview.
I don’t think Bruce or Paul were ever another generations Bob Dylan. The difference between Dylan and the others is Dylan was literary. Paul and Bruce wrote folksy Everyman lyrics. Also a popular band influenced by the replacements, is Green Day. I don’t think Kurt heard the replacements, other bands were into the feedback stuff long before.