Pleased To Meet Me (studio album)
by The Replacements

From slatsheit 11/09/2024 02:18 | #305946

An extremely underrated album in general, but especially among Replacements albums. Let It Be and Tim are great, but this one's the best. It seems that the underrating comes from many listeners' underrating of tracks 6-9. To me, all four of those tracks are unstoppable rock 'n' roll for the '80s, much as "I.O.U." and "I Don't Know" are on side one. In my opinion, "The Ledge" is clearly the weakest track, and it's still great. One of my 50 favorite albums of all time.

Pleased to Meet Me is the strongest set of songs by The Replacements.

The attitude on Let It Be and Tim were sloppy and bratty, with some really brilliant tracks and a handful of throwaway tracks, but everything comes together on Pleased to Meet Me: Mature performances, excellent heartfelt songwriting, cleaner power-pop chords and acceptable production. It is clean and structured enough to allow for the ragged edge to work this time around.

I really appreciate the Memphis-soul horns on this one. It's a nice touch that you rarely see on alternative rock albums and it makes this LP distinctive.

The twin pillars here that bookend the album are Alex Chilton and Can't Hardly Wait. Some really solid tracks also include The Ledge, Never Mind, and the excellent ballad Skyway. Standard rockers that are fairly decent are I.O.U and Valentine. Pleased to Meet Me has some experimental tracks on Side A, Nightclub Jitters and I Don't Know, the weakest track on the album. Side B includes two anthems that work fairly well. Shooting Dirty Pool has the swagger of Rolling Stones and Red Red Wine is almost anthemic, with its sing-along chorus.

Pleased to Meet Me showed the world that hardcore music could be sentimental and charming. Before this, hardcore was mostly a wild, untamed animal, with no emotional undertones. The Replacements, and particularly Paul Westerberg, showed the public that you could play hard rock in a bittersweet way: heartfelt and soulful.

Condensed to a 7" Single:
A-Side: Can't Hardly Wait
B-Side: Skyway

From Larcx13 11/17/2020 12:14 | #260942

First couple of songs and last couple of songs were great. The rest of the album is decent.

From Brad1770 06/15/2018 09:03 | #216801

2008 Re-Issue Additional Tracks Reviewed

(1) Birthday Gal: excellent track that could have and should have been included on the album , out "Nightclub Jitters" and in "Birthday Gal" TICK

(2) Valentine (Demo Version): stripped back version worth checking out TICK

(3) Bundle Up (Demo): rambling track highlighted (low light ?) by stoned band laughter throughout the track CROSS

(4) Photo: so/so track not surprisingly left off CROSS

(5) Election Day: great track that could have and should have been included on the album proper . Out "Red Red Wine" in "Election Day" TICK

(6) Alex Chilton (Alternate Version): stripped back version TICK

(7) Kick It In (Demo): not too bad , just not quite good enough though CROSS

(8) Route 66: cookie cutter cover probably the worst track here CROSS

(9) Tossin'n'Turni': interesting cover of Bobby Lewis song TICK

(10) Can't Hardly Wait (Alternate Version): must hear for all Replacements fans TICK

(11) Cool Water: country and western tinged cover of obscure Marty Robbins track , strange way to close things TICK

From Brad1770 06/15/2018 06:42 | #216799

I absolutely adore The Replacements & this is just about my favourite of their stellar catalogue which says it all IMO

"Skyway" is my personal favourite ( a Skyway is an indoor travelator in Minneapolis to transport walkers inside a heated building ) and sits right beside "Here Comes The Regular" as my all time favourite Replacements track

"I Don't Know" is a dead set classic and sums up this band perfectly - slacker / I don't give a fuck lyrics and the magic line: "One Foot In The Door The Other One In The Gutter " , yep that's The Replacements , the band that could have been but would rather be in the gutter

Then there is the really good in "I.O.U" , "Alex Chilton" ( who played on this album) , "Shooting Dirty Pool" and of course "Can't Hardly Wait "

And what would be a Replacements album without the obligatory miss fires in "Nightclub Jitters" and "Red Red Wine"

Paul Westerberg is either the greatest song writer known to man or he's the luckiest , I recon the truth lies some where in the middle

I'm so glad I met you ....Pleased To Meet Me is a triumph

75 "OK That's It's" Out Of 100

From planetneutral 01/07/2018 17:05 | #204824

Never really got into The Replacements, but this was a fun enough listen. Not real memorable though.

From junodog4 04/28/2017 03:43 | #189950

Not as good as Tim or Let it Be, but still strong. Much better than the two albums that come next, at least.

I know I'm in a huge minority, but this is the album I come back to,
More than the previous 2. Let it be and Tim are fine albums,
But this one gets me juiced more. Alex chilton and can't hardly wait
Are two of my favorite songs of all time, and skyway is just emotionally
Gorgeous

A strong follow up to Tim, this is the last great album the Mats would make. This set is bookended by a pair of clear late career highlighs; one of Paul's strongest rockers, the scorching I.O.U. and his most lonesome ballad, Can't Hardly Wait.

VERY good album