Over the last few years I've become more enamored of the Replacements & Paul solo and also what Tommy Stinson has done post Mats. The contributing factor has been that I've become more familiar with the Faces and Mercury-era Rod Stewart, and I can hear what devotees Grandpaboy et. al. are.
Nowhere is this fixation more apparent than on Tommy's first post Mats outing c. 1993. On one level, you hear the Replacements legacy, but the more I listen to this, the more I hear them English fellers. Tunes like "Hang Ups", "Tickled to Tears" and "He Means It" boogie in a very particular way, and even where the Faces are less apparent, you can still get that hit in the looseness and jauntiness of the way the band is jamming. That is not to say that this is a Georgia Sattelites clone; B & P are more romantic than that, prettier, even while being a funky, rockin' mess... I'd say 2 or 3 levels deeper than Dan Baird & Co. and way more rockin' than Westerberg's solo output in general.
This alb was so much better than people give it credit for, and the title track shoulda been all over the radio, that's what I think.
2 comments:
Good post. I agree this album should have been huge. But, you could say that about the Mats and everything Tommy and Paul have done since. If you haven't checked out Tommy's second post-Mats band, Perfect, and his solo album, I highly recomend them.
-Chuck
Hey, Chuck.
Yeah, I've heard some of VGH and I own the first Perfect ep, which also rawks. I regret that I don't know the latest one better, but I love Friday Night Is Killing Me. It may be my fave after Let It Be and All Shook Down. I wonder how long he had been saving songs for that record. I like some Paul solo better than other things. My favorite thing of his that I have is Mono/Stereo followed by Suicane.
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