Replacements Reunite and Record Two New Songs
 

Vocalist/guitarist Paul Westerberg recently reunited with bassist Tommy Stinson and drummer Chris Mars to record a pair of new songs, "Message to the Boys" and "Pool and Dive." They will appear on the new compilation "Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?: The Best of the Replacements," due in stores June 13 on Rhino Records. The 20-track disc will include the band's best-known cuts, including "Bastards of Young," "Left of the Dial," "Kiss Me on the Bus" and "Here Comes a Regular."

Westerberg wrote the two new tracks and recorded them at Ed Ackerson's Flowers studio in Minneapolis. Mars contributed vocals, with session drummer Josh Freese taking Mars' place behind the kit.Rumors of a reunion were first reported on Wednesday after a mysterious photo appeared online showing the three Replacements in the studio with Freese.

A Rhino publicist confirmed remastered versions of the Replacements' studio albums will follow the compilation later this year, with a comprehensive box set due in 2007.

you can download one of the new songs (Message to the boys) below

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=512A981651CEDDEE

It sounds like something off of Tim or Please To Meet Me

Cool. I love The Replacements. WE'RE COMIN' OUT!!!

Yeah I saw that. They are easily in my top 5 or so favorite bands EVER!!! How insane would a club tour be?......pretty insane I'd say. My favorite(s) are Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash and Tim equally.

man, i would love it if they toured, if just to hear westerberg sing and play mats' songs with a full rock band

I don't think I'd like to see them tour. I can't imagine them singing most of those songs now. It would just be lame.

Not for Replacements freaks like me who never got to see them. I'd eat it up with a spoon.

This is very good news...

I've been attempting to submerge myself into replacements culture; now it will be easy!

Words cannot express my indifference.
I liked that music as a teen, but it has not aged well.
Plus, living in MN, we get to constantly hear about how godlike they are, and we get to endure a public radio music station stuck in a mythical golden age of the 80s and early 90s.

I only saw them once...sadly it was for the Don't Tell A Soul tour though

I shouldn't tell a soul that part haha

Let it Be is my favorite & the only one I ever listen to except for every now & then I might wanna hear some Stink.

the critically acclaimed Tim & other stuff, I couldn't care less about...

I believe it.....must get annoying.

Yes it does.
I was around for it too, and the only things that were better were audience size at shows (strange, because there was very little radio support for local music compared to now) and about 15 really good indie record stores (there are 3 now).
Musically, the city is far more interesting now IMO.

Sounds fucking awesome! All these great underground bands are reuiniting! Mission of Burma, Dinosaur Jr, Meat Puppets, Pixies, and now the Replacements. Where will it end? Will Minor Threat be next?

recent Newsday article

Ain't it the truth! Also, Husker Du and Prince could be added to that.

reprint of the Newsday article for the click-challenged

BY KEVIN AMORIM
Newsday Staff Writer

June 7, 2006


Color us obsessed, but there's really no substitute for The Replacements.

Back when "alternative rock" was "college rock" in the 1980s, the ragged and glorious Minneapolis quartet sat at the head of the class. Sure, they were a little punk, very drunk and destined to flunk. It didn't matter. The Replacements were our very own Beatles - and not just because the Yanks put out their own incredible album titled "Let It Be" (Twin/Tone).

With next week's release of "Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?" (Rhino), a best-of with two new tracks, the band is back on our mind, even though thoughts of the group - singer-songwriter Paul Westerberg, original guitarist Bob Stinson, bassist Tommy Stinson and drummer Chris Mars - never waned. How could they?
Take for example, R&B kid Chris Brown's "Run It!" The Replacements have a "Run It," too. From 1983.

The Strays covered The Replacements' theme song, "Bastards of Young." (That's a popular tune; it's also the name of a DVD documentary and concert film about the rise of modern punk. It dropped yesterday.) Also out yesterday, Joan Jett's new album, which includes a cover of "Androgynous." And Ohio emo band Hawthorne Heights named its new album "If Only You Were Lonely" (Victory), which was the name of the B-side to The Replacements' first single, "I'm in Trouble."

This is nothing new, however. The Replacements, also known as the Mats, were part of the popular culture ages ago.

There was parody with They Might Be Giants' 1987 tune "We're the Replacements."

There was homage in the 1989 Winona Ryder flick "Heathers," which took place at Westerburg High, a nod to Westerberg, on whom Ryder had a crush. The movie also worked a Mats title into the dialogue: One of the Heathers utters, "Color me impressed."

There was pilfering. Tom Petty nicked a Westerberg line, "rebel without a clue," from the Mats' "I'll Be You" for the title-track of "Into the Great Wide Open," the 1991 Petty and the Heartbreakers album. It's not like Petty heard "I'll Be You" that much - the Mats only opened a tour for him in 1989. Coincidentally, that Petty album was released July 2 and the Mats played their final show July 4 in Chicago. (So, Tom, don't be so quick to sue the Red Hot Chili Peppers.)

There's more.

Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz sang "I Will Dare" in 1996's "Feeling Minnesota." An aside: Reeves also starred in the 2000 football film "The Replacements." Interesting.

"Can't Hardly Wait" wasn't just a song off the Mats' 1987 "Pleased to Meet Me" (Sire) album, it ended up as a Jennifer Love Hewitt movie in 1998. Bonus coincidence: The soundtrack also contains Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City" - guess who plays bass for Axl now? A Replacement named Tommy Stinson.

Just what we wanted.

The answer: Yes. The question: Any new Replacements song is a good thing, right? "Message to the Boys" and "Pool and Dive," the new 'uns on "Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?," were recorded at Christmas by Paul Westerberg, Tommy Stinson, Chris Mars and stand-in drummer Josh Freese. The tracks indeed are presents to the band's fans. That said, if these three-chord rockers showed up on, say, 1985's "Tim" (Sire), they may have gotten lost. But they're better than anything the Goo Goo Dolls can come up with.

---

The last sentence of the article ends with a prepostion...hmm, they must have skipped that class with a hangover.

Anyone remember when The Replacements were on 120 minutes & they all shaved off their eyebrows for the segment?

Them doing Bastards of Young on SNL is one of the best musical guest moments in the history of that program.

I never saw them on SNL. It's too bad they never play that performance again becuase of their behavior. Fuck NBC. They're dicks.

And fuck the FCC too!

I saw them a few times. Some of the best shows I've ever seen. You never knew what you were going to get with them.