Tim
by The Replacements

From Brad1770 TOP 100 COMMENTER 04/22/2018 11:03 | #213402 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

The Tommy Ramone produced "Tim" is everything you'd expect from a Replacements album -

There's good tracks in 'Hold My Life' , 'Kiss Me on the Bus' & 'Left of the Dial'

There's stinkers in 'Dose of Thunder' and 'Swingin Party'

There's quirky in 'Waitress In the Sky' (written about Paul Westerbergs flight attendant sister)

There's Great in 'Bastards of Young' and ' Little Mascara' and

There's the down right sublime in 'Here Comes a Regular'

The tracks on this album work their way into your psych after a few listens , and never leave

And I would definitely recommend listening to the 2008 "Tim" reissue which is also remastered , the production on the original album sounds incredibly distant & the remaster finally brings all the tracks to life

Shambolic Bliss

70 Mats Out Of 100 (Edited)

From Mercury TOP 100 COMMENTER 11/09/2013 18:57 | #91476 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

This album is at times sloppy. The production sounds strangely out of wack. There are some complaints that can be levied against this album. The thing is that this album is So Goddamn Good despite any of that bullshit that it doesn't really matter!

The lyrics of Paul Westerberg stand tall on here. He really took his songwriting chops to another level for this album. The lyrics to songs like "Bastards of Young" and "Swingin' Party" clearly express youthful anger, unrest and basic Fear. He does this with amazing coolness and nonchalance. Yet this album for me gets so emotional sometimes I can't take it. I think that's because the words cut so close to the bone. Westerberg really nails the basic feelings of youth on many of the songs here. He also knows how to write a love song with the best of them. There is something so romantic and romanticized about these songs - witness "Kiss Me On The Bus" and "Hold My Life" and "Little Mascara". Also this album does not take itself so seriously throughout, with such playful songs as "Waitress In The Sky" an the hard rocking track "Dose of Thunder".

And when it comes to good rock and roll with really great songwriting, great hooks, and some excellent variety, this album really delivers. There's not a bad track on here. And the brilliance of the songwriting throughout is phenomenal. "Bastards of Young", "Left of the Dial" "Swinging Party" "Kiss Me On The Bus" "Hold my life" and of course the painful and haunting "The Regular" are so incredibly well written.

The reasons why this album is so important and great in my eyes is very subjective. But I think almost anyone can listen and be blown away by how both Cool and Powerful this band was in their prime.

"If being wrong's a crime, I'm serving forever.
If being strong's your kind, then I need help here with this feather.
If being afraid is a crime, we hang side by side.
In the swingin' party down the line." (Edited)

The 2023 Ed Stasium remix is exactly the facelift this album needed. Gone is the God-awful tinny drums, reverby vocals and guitars that sound like they were recorded in the hallway on the front cover. Hidden in the masters all these years was a brilliant set of mature, vulnerable songs that sound as fresh today as they were in the studio in 1985. The intentional sloppy grit that was the band's trademark remains in place, it was just buried under a terrible original mix.

The live set also includes several essential songs that the band had recorded up to this point, making the Let It Bleed edition a decent introduction into the band for unfamiliar listeners wondering what all the fuss is about.

It is clear that Tim was the band's moment to shine, and shine they did, but only a few years later the ends frayed and the band came apart. (Edited)

From Mercury TOP 100 COMMENTER 02/01/2013 18:05 | #63593 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

This is an excellent record! The songwriting is just amazing. Very romantic at times and very sad at times. The rock of the record is very straightforward. But just track to track this album has damn near no weak points! I have always felt it was more consistent than Let It Be and should be thought of as at least equal to that record. There are literally some of the greatest rock songs I've ever heard on here. "Bastards of Young" "Left of the Dial" "Kiss Me On The Bus" "Swinging Party" and of course "The Regular" are just genius. The record is also so subtly varied. Just listen to those 5 songs I named, they're all completely different and unique and well realized.

From buzzdainer TOP 100 COMMENTER 11/21/2019 21:42 | #245060 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I was fourteen years old when Tim was released, and I believe it was a review in Rolling Stone that drew my attention to it. It was the first Replacements album that I ever heard, and that's often the factor that makes me love one album by a particular artist more than all the others. I don't remember hearing an album before Tim that had such pathos: such world-weary wisdom mixed with insolent, adolescent rage. I especially love "Kiss Me on the Bus," which somehow perfectly captures the gossipy, whispering qualities of peer pressure, young love, and first kisses. And "Left of the Dial" is straight-up one of the greatest songs of the eighties.