Wednesday, January 30, 2008

All Over But The Shouting


"But the fact is, I think, is we were a great little garage band - and that´s what I want to be remembered for." So says Paul Westerberg, and he´s right of course. Although the late Bob Stinson maybe on the mark as well by debunking the whole thing in his typical fashion as "Replacements, shmeplacements". 

I just finished All Over But The Shouting, an oral history by Jim Walsh (Voyageur Press). A fun book I found impossible to put down, filled to the brim with remembrances and anecdotes on what was undisputedly one of the greatest bands of the eighties. It´s not definitive or perfect, but then again, the Mats themselves never were either, right? As it´s not a straight biography but more or less a rather fragmented collection of quotes it´s sometimes hard to know just where you are in the band´s history. Also, as the tons of people who contributed are all insiders you need to have at least a basic knowledge of Replacements lore to really enjoy it. 

If you´re a fan though, you´ll love this. Probably the funniest quote in the book is by the daughter of guitarist Slim Dunlap. She remembers: "The ironic thing is, when Bob Stinson left the band I was crushed because they were my favorite band, and in my mind they were disbanding. And then my dad joined them." Cool or what? So grab yourself a beer or two, crank up the stereo and start reading. And here are some personal faves by way of a soundtrack: Johnny´s Gonna Die is from Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash, Answering Machine from Let It Be, Here Comes A Regular from Tim, and If Only You Were Lonely is a b-side. "Somewhere there´s a drink with my name on it..." The Replacements: when they were good, they were very very good. And I´ll drink to that.

Replacements - Johnny´s Gonna Die MP3
Replacements - Answering Machine MP3
Replacements - Here Comes A Regular MP3
Replacements - If Only You Were Lonely MP3

3 comments:

Paul said...

Awesome! I love the Replacements. "If Only You Were Lonely" was about 33% of my drunken guitar strumming repertoire during the lost years of the 1980s. (The two that spring to mind are "Death Or Glory" and "Knockin' On Heaven's Door").

Paul said...

That should read, the OTHER two that spring to mind...

Our jam sessions were nothing to write home about, probably due to the Replacements influence (boozing).

Unknown said...

I just read this book, too.
Living here in Minneapolis, working two doors down from the former Oarfolk... (now Treehouse Records, by the way) and kitty-corner from the C.C club, it was kind of trippy, in a way.
And, after just the right number of drinks at the C.C. (one past enough), the drunken stumble home is invariably soundtracked with a 'mats song inside my head.