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Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. I.O.U |
| 2. Alex Chilton |
| 3. I Don't Know |
| 4. Nightclub Jitters |
| 5. The Ledge |
| 6. Never Mind |
| 7. Valentine |
| 8. Shooting Dirty Pool |
| 9. Red Red Wine |
| 10. Skyway |
| 11. Can't Hardly Wait |
Product Description
From Amazon.com
While some continue to champion the Replacements' Don't Tell a Soul and All Shook Down exit albums, Pleased to Meet Me truly represents the last vital effort of a great band beginning its descent. The first album released after founding lead guitarist Bob Stinson's official departure, Pleased nevertheless retains plenty of the Mats' innate punky drive, albeit here more focused and tempered. Group avatar Paul Westerberg feuded with Memphis producer Jim Dickinson (brought in because of his production of Big Star's melancholy classic Third/Sister Lovers) over what he considered Dickinson's civilizing touches. In retrospect, however, the brass-and-string flourishes on the catchy coda "Can't Hardly Wait" and the more disciplined drumming of Chris Mars make Pleased a more comfortable reconciliation of the group's raw roots and musical maturity. --Steven Stolder
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Paul Westerberg, lead singer and songwriter, combines clever and punchy lyrics with memorable, pop-song hooklines throughout this album. Pleased to meet me sees the Replacements mature into a more relaxed outfit with the emphasis shifting from punk to more grown up rock and roll.Every song on this album is a classic from the tribute to Alex Chilten to the wonderful I can't wait.You will be singing the latter of these two titles especially with such lines as 'Jesus rides beside me but he never buys any smokes' Fantastic. The only downside is that the Replacements are no more, but catch Paul Westerberg's solo career
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Nowhere is the dichotomy of The Replacements more evident than on their second major label effort: Pleased To Meet Me.
A poisoned valentine to the music industry, the record's title and cover swipe at the kind of smug gladhanding they abhorred, and would go to often insanely self-destructive lengths to avoid, (from playing a crucial record company showcase at CBGBs too drunk to stand, to allegedly stealing and throwing the master tapes of their early albums into the Minneapolis River when they heard of plans to release them on CD format).
The pose of PTMM ranges from self-doubt, as on Nevermind, where frontman Paul Westerberg drily notes "I suppose your guess is more or less as bad as mine", to the all-out rejection of the mainstream of I Don't Know, where he disdains "The sweet smell that you adore... I think I'd rather smother." Yet the album is full of the kind of stadium rock anthems that surely deserved to make them one of the biggest bands on the planet.
Chief among these are Can't Hardly Wait, a gorgeous pop-rock strut which, mixed with Westerberg's trademark sardonic attitude recalls Randy Newman being backed by the E Street Band; and the soaring Alex Chilton, where Westerberg celebrates the eponymous Big Star frontman, painting him as a kind of indie rock Ziggy Stardust.
The Ledge comes on musically like U2's menacing younger sibling, and for it's dark tale of suicide, Westerberg proves he is ever-capable of switching wiseass attitude for emotionally direct, empathetic lyricism.
I.O.U., Shooting Dirty Pool and Red Red Wine all have a Stonesy clatter, while Skyway is more Beatles, a delicate, ethereal ballad. Nightclub Jitters provides the records other oasis of calm, as the 'Mats get smoky and seductive with a late night, jazz club affair.
Detractors of the album tend to focus on the absence of founder guitarist Bob Stinson, but while I can admire his playing, I don't really miss him on those later 'Mats records. While he was an important part of their youthful, chaotic makeup, he was basically a musical conservative who just wanted to keep kicking out the punk jams. The way the band parted company with him is undoubtedly tragic in hindsight, but I think keeping him around would have hurt what they eventually became. PTMM shows them as a band that can do it all.
There's enough good stuff in this special edition to make it worth a purchase, even if you own the original, I think. Birthday Gal is a melancholic, acoustically strummed pop gem, probably my favourite 'Mats non-album track. Election Day's raw blues is a protest song only they would write, (it sucks because you can't find anywhere to buy booze). Cool Water features a genuinely affecting vocal performance from Westerberg, full of yearning and unexpected country twang. Route 66 and Tossin' and Turnin' are sloppy takes on classic rock 'n' roll, almost certainly recorded while drunk, but also good fun.
A poisoned valentine to the music industry, the record's title and cover swipe at the kind of smug gladhanding they abhorred, and would go to often insanely self-destructive lengths to avoid, (from playing a crucial record company showcase at CBGBs too drunk to stand, to allegedly stealing and throwing the master tapes of their early albums into the Minneapolis River when they heard of plans to release them on CD format).
The pose of PTMM ranges from self-doubt, as on Nevermind, where frontman Paul Westerberg drily notes "I suppose your guess is more or less as bad as mine", to the all-out rejection of the mainstream of I Don't Know, where he disdains "The sweet smell that you adore... I think I'd rather smother." Yet the album is full of the kind of stadium rock anthems that surely deserved to make them one of the biggest bands on the planet.
Chief among these are Can't Hardly Wait, a gorgeous pop-rock strut which, mixed with Westerberg's trademark sardonic attitude recalls Randy Newman being backed by the E Street Band; and the soaring Alex Chilton, where Westerberg celebrates the eponymous Big Star frontman, painting him as a kind of indie rock Ziggy Stardust.
The Ledge comes on musically like U2's menacing younger sibling, and for it's dark tale of suicide, Westerberg proves he is ever-capable of switching wiseass attitude for emotionally direct, empathetic lyricism.
I.O.U., Shooting Dirty Pool and Red Red Wine all have a Stonesy clatter, while Skyway is more Beatles, a delicate, ethereal ballad. Nightclub Jitters provides the records other oasis of calm, as the 'Mats get smoky and seductive with a late night, jazz club affair.
Detractors of the album tend to focus on the absence of founder guitarist Bob Stinson, but while I can admire his playing, I don't really miss him on those later 'Mats records. While he was an important part of their youthful, chaotic makeup, he was basically a musical conservative who just wanted to keep kicking out the punk jams. The way the band parted company with him is undoubtedly tragic in hindsight, but I think keeping him around would have hurt what they eventually became. PTMM shows them as a band that can do it all.
There's enough good stuff in this special edition to make it worth a purchase, even if you own the original, I think. Birthday Gal is a melancholic, acoustically strummed pop gem, probably my favourite 'Mats non-album track. Election Day's raw blues is a protest song only they would write, (it sucks because you can't find anywhere to buy booze). Cool Water features a genuinely affecting vocal performance from Westerberg, full of yearning and unexpected country twang. Route 66 and Tossin' and Turnin' are sloppy takes on classic rock 'n' roll, almost certainly recorded while drunk, but also good fun.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is where it all came together for the band in my humble opinion. Armed with a swag sack of killer tunes they had the opportunity to lay them down with some sympathetic assistance, producing punchier, more polished arrangements but not losing an ounce of their freewheeling kick ass energy along the way.
Maybe too 'rock' for delicate indie ears at the time and just too early for the 'Nevermind' grunge generation, this is an album that just screams for some latent cult recognition. One of the truly great rock 'n roll albums period and perhaps the very best of it's time.
Give one a good home and crank it up - you'll not regret it.
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