Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?: The Best of the Replacements

In the late 1990s there was a two-disc Replacements-compilation, 'All for Nothing/Nothing at All' - it was largely unsatisying, devoting its first disc to highlights of their releases on Sire-records (in effect missing the first part of their career on Twin/Tone) and its second disc to obscure fan faves. 'Don't You Know...' puts things right, offering a 20-track selection of their complete career - the last two tracks find some new 'Mats songs 'Message to the Boys' & 'Pool & Dive', suggesting they should reform soon (well it doesn't matter since Paul Westerberg's solo material is great).

The first 18 tracks stem from debut 'Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash' in 1981 to the Westerberg-solo-album-in-all-but-name, 1991's 'All Shook Down.' The 'Mats are probably one of the most influential acts of the last few decades, in their wake many acts have followed: Nirvana, The Lemonheads, REM, Whiskeytown, Ryan Adams, Jesse Malin, Soul Asylum, Guns'N'Roses, Wilco, The Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day and just about any emo-style act of the last 20 years (you know Sum141, Blink 182 and all that). Great, good, so-so and bad - a lot of it is in the wake of the 'Mats. Paul Westerberg has even influenced the film 'Heathers' (Westerberg High, the line 'Color Me Impressed' delivered by Christian Nicholson at the end) and the devotional song 'The Lonely 1' by Wilco (from their classic 'Being There' album). Certain alt-contry acts are indebted, an accidental blend of the Stones and punk the 'Mats delivered a key influence...

The first five songs are from their thrashy hardcore-related period in which they existed alongside Husker Du, Black Flag, Bad Brains and co. Surprisingly the tracks from 'Sorry Ma...', 'Stink', and 'Hootenanny' have all aged well, particularly 'Color Me Impressed', 'Shiftless When Idle' and the more adventerous 'Within Your Reach' - clearly there was more to the 'Mats than a drunken punk thrash up of rock'n'roll. That change came in 1984 with their classic album 'Let It Be', a key record that changed everything and showed that the band were capable of doing anything. A key 'college-rock' album and one nodded to by novelist Rick Moody and one that has even got its own 33 1/3 book devoted to it. Three tracks stem from that - opener 'I Will Dare' (a euphoric joy featuring REM's Peter Buck), the Stonesy-minimalism of closing track 'Answering Machine', and their anthem, 'Unsatisfied', which captures the ennui of the Reagan era alongside 'River's Edge', 'Repo Man', 'Garden State', and 'Less Than Zero.' Kind of a travesty 'Sixteen Blue' didn't make the cut, then again, how could you live without 'Let It Be'?

'Let It Be' changed everything for the band, who signed to Sire the following year - one of the first indie-alternative acts alongside American Music Club to sign to a major, they would be followed by Husker Du, REM, Sonic Youth, Nirvana & The Flaming Lips. There's a generous selection of the fantastic 'Tim' (1985) - Westerberg's acoustic classic 'Here Comes a Regular' (up there with 'Nebraska'-Springsteen), the charming 'Kiss Me on the Bus' (how wasn't this a hit???), a succesor to 'Unsatisfied' with the generational anthem 'Bastards of Young' & another college rock fave 'Left of the Dial' (whose title would be adopted by a Rhino box-set of the era a year or so ago). 1987's 'Pleased to Meet Me' was great also, the band almost being produced by Alex Chilton (who played & sang on the record), eventually settling on 'Sister Lovers'-producer Jim Dickinson. Alongside This Mortal Coil, the 'Mats were amongst the first to cite the culty Big Star, a band later revered by many acts - the catchy 'Alex Chilton' is an ode to their leader and one to put on a compilation next to the Jayhawks' 'Big Star.' Songs like 'Alex Chilton', 'Skyway', & 'Can't Hardly Wait' are the great dumb rock that Primal Scream have failed to make on their latest album, by the way...

The compilation towards the end just offers a few tracks from 1989's 'Don't Tell a Soul' & 'All Shook Down' - maybe due to the fact the band had shed members by this point and they felt more like Westerberg solo records. 'All Shook Down' only had one track with the surviving two original members bar PW on - the selected track 'Merry Go Round' isn't it (I think it was 'My Little Problem'). The lack of ASD-tracks is understandable, though people ought to track that down for the John Cale-featuring 'Sadly Beautiful', the stunning title track (the song the Mary Chain almost wrote), the spellbinding 'Torture' & the heartbreaking 'Nobody' - 'All Shook Down' is the 'Blood on the Tracks' for the 1990s, in case you didn't know...

'Don't You Know Who I Think I Was...' does what it says on the cover, taking in that brilliant career and suggesting there might be some more. The perfect primer to one of the key bands of the last 30 years, it all stands up (well apart from the flat 'Don't Tell a Soul' tracks) and seems as obligatory as certain Stones records, the New York Dolls debut, the neglected work of The Only Ones, Big Star's 'Radio City', or the first few Damned records. A very welcome compilation...so will Rhino release the definitive Husker Du-compilation we've been waiting for since 1988?????

Any Replacements fan will know why these songs have been chosen - if you're looking for an introduction to the best band of the 80s, look no further. True, everyone will have one or two favourites missing from the track lising (personally, 'Hold My Life', 'Anywhere But Here', 'Run It', 'Nevermind' and 'Shooting Dirty Pool') but this is more than made up with the addition of the two brand new tracks. I approached them cautiously, desperately hoping that they would be up to scratch and not the usual throwaway new songs that some bands put out on their 'best ofs'. Shouldn't have worried - both are fantastic and could sit nicely on 'Tim' or 'Pleased To Meet Me'.

If you've got the old songs already, buy it for the new ones. If you're new to the Replacements, buy it immediately and then buy all the others. Here's hoping that Paul, Tommy and Chris had fun doing the new songs and that it may lead to something more.

Though they'd probably never admit it, The Replacements were one of the greatest rock bands of the 80's. If you're new to the band, or indeed the 80's underground U.S. rock scene, this is the prefect place to start - "Answering Machine", "Kid's Don't Follow", "Alex Chilton" and the like are the kind of classics that most of today's bands couldn't write if they tried all day. Do yourselves a favour and buy this as soon as you can - then buy some Husker Du and Sonic Youth.