Dead Man's Pop (compilation album) by The Replacements

From Brad1770 11/15/2020 06:05

60 tracks and 3 hours 42 minutes wire to wire ‘Dead Man’s Pop ‘ is quite the behemoth. So who (A) Has the motivation and (B) Has the time to listen to the entire package? Twice !!!
Well I do and I did so I feel well versed to have an opinion

This package can essentially be divided into 3 chapters

Chapter 1 reveals the Matt Wallace interpretation of ‘Don’t Tell a Soul’ with a rawer less slick sound which could have and should have been the released album as opposed to the sanitised radio friendly platter we ultimately got. Well worth checking out

Chapter 2 goes back to the beginning with the aborted Bearville demo sessions for ‘DTAS’ and be warned these demos are rough... really rough and despite the novelty of Tom Waites appearance on several takes ultimately the entire demo section sounds simply like a bunch of drunken dude’s messing around because that’s exactly what it is

Last but not least is Chapter 3 capturing The Replacements live in 1989 - 28 tracks spread across 2 discs and for me the best part of the entire package. Essentially a greatest hits track listing the recording captures the band at their best (“Little Mascara” , “Colour Me Impressed”, “Left of the Dial” a cracking cover of The Buzzcocks “Another Girl Another Planet “ ) and worst (a complete butchering of the simply wonderful “Here Comes The Regular” and strange inclusion of “Cruela Deville” - yes that Disney song ) but we would expect nothing less from the greatest self sabotagers in the history of rock. Sound wise the quality is bootleggish yet that’s part of the charm

Is ‘Dead Man’s Pop’ essential? Far from it

Is ‘Dead Man’s Pop’ important for the fans ? You betcha

From HoldenM 09/27/2019 20:15

If this were just the remastered Don't Tell a Soul, it'd be the best album of 2019. That said, this is still very good.