Johnquest- #6 - Pleased to Meet Me by The Replacements

PLEASED TO MEET ME | THE REPLACEMENTS

The Replacements.. aah, The Replacements. Good friends to all new wave buffs. I've dabbled in their discography from time to time but have by no means made a hobby of listening to them. They're good! I mean, everyone says they are and I’ve liked what I’ve heard. Apparently this one’s more power pop than punk, which rocks. Both are excellent genres (I say, as if a Non-excellent genre could possibly exist.) I’m still decidedly a Replacements casual. I enjoyed their first album. Mayhaps I shall enjoy this one as well. Who can say.

Usual rules on bonus tracks and extras here. Just the first release.

OVERALL VERDICT:

What an album. It’s got it all! hate songs love songs breakup songs odd mixing normal mixing abrasive shit standard but good shit. Not much of a mixed bag, despite this. These folks have a sound and a sort of deal that makes its way into everything. How do I put this. They’re eclectic but it never feels like you’re suddenly listening to a completely different album. And the album that you ARE listening to is a good one. I’ll likely come back to this one. Up there with Pixies and GcD in terms of my personal rankings (which, I’ve decided, will be included at a special end-of-year update. fun!). I dig this one. Ten stars out of ten. Excellent.

TRACK BY TRACK:

1. I.O.U. is grimy and somewhat folksy. It’s got a nifty washed out sound and half-intelligible vocals. I dig it. I SUPER DIG IT. It harkens back to Come On Pilgrim, in a lot of ways. But gnarlier and gnastier. The mixing is WONDERFUL, it is PERFECT. It is a song of few lyrics, it is decently short but HOLY HELL it rocks. It’s wonderful. I’m a classic punk enthusiast and while this is definitely flavoured with its era, the influence is there. It’s a tad subdued but I like it anyways. And most of that is the mixing and the vocals. The guitar? Good angry shit. Hell yeah. Folk-punk 5ever

2. Alex Chilton Bares the name of the musician, of course. I’m mostly familiar with him from Cubist Blues (which was good.)(Vaguely familiar with Big Star Too. Never listened to an album though.) And I’m decently certain Amy Chilton of JOHN ALLISON’S SHIT is named after him. I have similar theories about a handful of others. It is catchier and poppier and I don’t know how much of it specifically pertains to Real Man Alex Chilton because I don’t really know anything about Real Man Alex Chilton. Is he from Venus? Mars? Any of the stars? Who knows. It has infinite levels and it sounds wonderful on all of them. I really like the washed out guitar here. It reminds me of that kind of post-cry full body exhaustion. I want to cry? I could cry to this.

3. I Don't Know (not the Sheepdogs song) Features dry, uninterested vocals that wouldn’t make it big til’ like, the 2010s? You can tell this isn’t a Sheepdogs song because it sounds good, anyhow. It’s ahead of the curb, at least, even if those “I don’t know”s are background sound to more typical lyrics. I like them anyways. I dig it. I think it’s great to do new and interesting thing and by god are these guys doing that. I like the repeated lyrics. I like the sounds. I like the mixing. I like music that is good and this is music that is good! There is probably more to say somewhere but I’m not sure what to say. Oh, also- Horns. Lord knows I love horns. And this song has them.

4. Nightclub Jitters Is… Jazz? We’ve got jazz here? Okay. Gotta love some white guy Jazz on the pop-punk album. I jest. This is welcome and nice. And it carries the last song’s resignation and distaste over into depression well. I quite enjoy it. It’s smooth and calm. It is a song of a quiet night despite discussing a location of Maximum Loud Night (a nightclub). It is nice! Some wording is slightly clunky but it just comes across as normal-voiced Tom Waits. I do enjoy it. It’s a lonely song that doesn’t sound lonely. It is balmy and humid and we can’t do a thing about it. Unbreakable and melting. Glorious. Also. Eyah. Horns, again.

5. The Ledge (Not the Fleetwood Mac song) is about suicide! Suicide with meaning? Perhaps? Suicide that’s happening anyhow. Suicide by a suicide who knows they are loved but who leaves anyways. It is a captivating slice of a full life. One which we are not privy to. The guitar is cutting and the vocals calm. In terms of FwM songs, I’d say it’s more in “I’m so afraid territory” But who am I to say these things. The stretching guitar really truly reminds me of The Cure. In an excellent way. It is expansive and good. Mr. Replacements is not that good at screaming but it’s okay because everything else sounds Amazing enough to Make Up For It.

6. Never Mind IS ABOUT A DISTRAUGHT RELATIONSHIP! He says, and dons his black “Sickos” turtleneck. I love a good upbeat sounding breakup song. They have always been something I’ve loved and this is no different. It is a gloriously destructive (of the self and others) song and I am just. So enthusiastic about such things. They delight me to no end. I like them! I love a good morally confused breakup song I love a good happy breakup song I love when the cracks of Maybe Don’t Do This Like This start to bleed through but only as cracks and they don’t even seem to notice. Or, better, notice and GET WORSE! And the vocals are good and determined and angry and needed and wonderful.

7. Valentine Is driven and determined and it’s ABSOLUTELY A ONE NIGHT STAND SONG and it is GOOD and NICE and while it errs on the side of UNINTERESTING the sound is SO GOOD that I don’t caaaare. The guitars are wonderful. Listen to that drummer do their thing. Percussive as fuck. This one has really nice vocal mixing as well!!! Ourgh. I love good music. Have I mentioned that recently? Well here is a reminder.

8. Shooting Dirty Pool IS NASTY AND HARD AND EVERYTHING I WANT! It’s got that good catchy lyrical sensibility and great layering… It is about lying and, while kind of the opposite of a different genre of song I am an outspoken enthusiast of, I also love its general “genre”. It is about a guy who sucks so much. I love songs about being a guy that sucks and hating a guy that sucks. I love when a song is about a guy that sucks. And the main dude’s vocals are doing some crazy shit here. It’s wonderfully rough. I thoroughly enjoy it.

9. Red Red Wine ALSO shares a name with another popular song! Which one other song on this album shares in (Not I don’t know. The Sheepdogs don’t matter in any way.) You could argue it’s about communion but it’s definitely just taking that and flipping it. And they’re onto something. I mean, I wouldn’t get drunk the day before a workday but hey what do I know? I’m not in the replacements. It’s an apathetic song, but not one without ability to have good fun. It’s a good song! I’m sure you’re all tired of me saying that by now but it’s fun to express so I don’t really care.

10. Skyway tones it down again. To the same place as Nightclub Jitters, albeit folksy instead of jazzy. This group’s good at making music that’s calm but not shit. This one’s extra pensive and thoughtful. A song to relax to, a song to cry and drive to. That sort of deal. Physical and emotional distance. Good shit, real good shit. Helpless but not necessarily passive (not that the singer knows that.) good shit.

11. Can't Hardly Wait Gets back the energy and the foggy mixing. It’s a good closer. Hopeful in sound and somewhat in lyrics. A travelling song. I’d say it sounds the most of its time of all the songs in this album. It’s got horns and maybe even synth. It is airy! It is cinematic and has a spiritedness to it. And it is good. Of course it is good.

If you like this Album, you might also like: FRIENDLOVERPLANE by THE BLUE AEROPLANES or ANOTHER WASTED NIGHT by GANG GREEN…. Y’know what’s hell? Wanting to put an album in recs but knowing it’s on a later JQ year. Sigh!

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