A long time ago in a galaxy far away (unless you happen to be reading this in Minnesota), there was a band called the Replacements. They played loud and not particularly coherently. The band's songs generally sounded like they were one snare beat from collapse. Live shows were, um, hit and very miss.

They were almost very certainly the greatest band of the 80s.

Bleeding Hearts Riches to Rags (Bar/None)

So great, in fact, that the high school in the movie Heathers was named after Paul Westerberg. Anyway, the band splintered, Westerberg had a middling solo career and all of the other guys recorded as well. For my money, Chris Mars had two of the best post-'Mats albums. Tommy Stinson's Bash and Pop had its moments. This one fights its way into that company.

Bob Stinson didn't make it to the end of the Replacements. His well-catalogued drug issues got him booted before the band's ill-fated major label sojourn. He played very sparingly after exiting the band, and he died in 1995 at age 35. But somehow he recorded this fever blister in 1993 with Mike Leonard (who is pretty much a dead ringer for Westerberg), Bob Hebers and Rob Robello.

Not surprisingly, Stinson got fired at the end of the recording process. More surprising is that the album never saw the light of day. Until Record Store Day 2022.

All of the press notes talk about how songwriter Leonard was obsessed with the Rolling Stones. But he was from Minneapolis, which is probably why this sounds so much like Let It Be. While not as mannered as the Sire days, this shows significantly more craft than early 'Mats. But, geez, there's no getting away from that influence.

I have no idea why this sat on a shelf for three decades. It's a worthy release on its own merits, and the historical asides are intriguing as well. But really, just play it loud. If your eardrums aren't bleeding, it's not loud enough.

Kids, if your parents were cool, this is the sorta thing they listened to back in the day. One more reason why things were so much better in the good old days (please note my wink).

Jon Worley