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I’ve had the Replacements on my brain for the past couple days thanks to that new Let It Bleed edition of Tim. I heard about the release ahead of time, but didn’t know much about it. I didn’t even order any copies for the store. Box sets are a tough sell for a store like ours… my theory is that if you’re spending $100+ on something like that, you’re probably going to shop around for the best deal, and thanks to the way the major label distribution network works, Sorry State is never going to be your best deal on a major label box set. However, the release came up on Friday’s episode of What Are You Listening To? when Sorry State’s own Eric Chubb chose the Replacements’ All Shook Down as one of his picks. The panelists had favorable things to say about it, then the next day I came across Pitchfork’s review. Not only did that review better explain what was on the release than anywhere else, but it was over the top in its praise, giving the reissue a perfect score (something they rarely do at Pitchfork) and claiming that the new Ed Stasium mix of Tim bumped it up to being the best Replacements album. Color me intrigued.
I had some time Saturday evening, so I dipped into the reissue digitally, but before I get into that, I should give you some background on my relationship to the Replacements so you know where I’m coming from. I went through a period in my early 20s (which would have been around the turn of the millennium) when I liked the Replacements a lot, but I confined my attention mostly to the Twin/Tone albums. Let It Be and Stink were my go-to’s. I had assumed, as one did in those days, that the Replacements’ major label years were uninteresting, so when I heard the best of compilation Don’t You Know Who I Think I Was?, later tracks like “Bastards of Young” and “Alex Chilton” knocked me on my ass. I played that best-of to death, and while I still prefer the loose and punky delivery of the band’s early catalog, it’s hard to deny Paul Westerberg matured as a songwriter and that the later albums contained his best work. I still haven’t spent much time with Don’t Tell a Soul and All Shook Down as at some point I just stopped listening to the Replacements, but I spent a good amount of time with Tim and Pleased to Meet Me and learned to like those albums too.
Now, back to this new Let It Bleed edition of Tim. I dialed it up on Apple Music, and when “Hold My Life” started, it took me aback. This really sounds different from the version of Tim we all knew (and many of us loved)! Before listening to this new version, I doubt I would have described Tim’s sound as cool and distant, but Ed Stasium’s new mix makes it feel like they’re playing right in front of your face, even inside your skull. The drums sound more driving (the original version, like so many records from the 80s, had reverb on the drums, while this version’s drums sound super dry) and the bass has a rich, lush bottom end that sounds modern and hi-fi. The focal points of the mix, though, are Westerberg’s vocals and rhythm guitar. The sculpted tones of every instrument and the strong separation between them mean you can turn your attention toward what any player is doing, but the lead vocals and rhythm guitars are un-ignorable.
The new mix changes my sense of perspective as a listener. It makes the sound so much more intimate, like Westerberg is singing and playing directly into my ear. There was always something detached and cooler-than-thou about the Replacements, and while that may have been one of their many achilles heels as far as appealing to a wider audience, it’s a huge part of their charm for people who like them. That sense is gone from this new mix. It’s like the band is trying… you can hear the effort and the feeling in Westerberg’s voice, and you can hear how much technicality was in the rest of the band’s playing, too. It’s great in some respects, but it feels kind of wrong to me.
Aside from the general sound of the mix, I have a few other nits to pick too. The Pitchfork review gushes about how “Little Mascara” extends for a full extra minute, making room for a Bob Stinson guitar solo on the outro that was trimmed from the final version of Tim. Tim is the last Replacements record Bob played on, though he only lent leads to a handful of tracks. The thing is, though, I don’t think his leads on the album are that good. I love his playing on the earlier albums, but they sound out of sync with the songs on Tim, lacking the sense of reckless abandon that made his earlier leads so great… he’s clearly aiming for a more precise playing style here, and that along with the harsher glare of the clearer studio production highlights their awkwardness. Aside from laying Bob’s faults more bare, I think Ed Stasium’s mix also loses some of the original’s dynamics. All of it sounds the same, and it makes me appreciate how the original mix had more of a sense of ebb and flow.
Pitchfork’s review also points out the version of “Can’t Hardly Wait” on this collection (an updated version of the previously released “Tim version” of that song, whose supposedly canonical version appeared on Pleased to Meet Me), saying it’s the single that would / should have been a hit and made the Replacements cross over to a mainstream audience. I don’t hear it, though. That version has all the pluses and minuses of the rest of Ed Stasium’s remixes, and it’s hard to imagine this super dry recording penetrating mainstream radio playlists in 1985. If there were some alternate universe where it got released in 1992 or 93, when recordings were sounding a lot more like this mix, perhaps something like that might have happened.
All that being said, some songs really benefit from this approach. “Little Mascara” sticks out for me in a way it didn’t before, and the more rocking tracks like “Dose of Thunder” and “Lay it Down Clown” get a boost from the beefier sound, channeling as they do the big gestures of classic rock. When I listen to a track like “Hold My Life,” though, I’m so transfixed by the drums, which never waver in their rhythm or dynamics, that it draws my attention away from the song’s emotional dynamics. Maybe it’s just that the new mix is more jarring on the tracks I’ve listened to more, and that effect will fade with time. It’s hard to say. It’s like watching an old movie remastered in high definition. It’s great to see and hear all kinds of new details in the background, but noticing those details pulls your attention away from what made you love it in the first place. It’s a double-edged sword.
The next time I want to hear Tim, I wonder whether I’ll go to the original version or this new mix. I honestly don’t know. There’s no telling what’s on the other side of this acclimation period, but if nothing else I’m impressed with how completely Stasium could reimagine this album. It appears these expanded reissues of the Replacements catalog are working their way through the band’s discography in reverse chronological order, so I’m curious to see if they do something with the Twin/Tone albums next.