I love it...but, I'm a kid who came to The Mats when Don't Tell A Soul was released, so that may impact my tastes a bit. For sure, I love the original Tim and I continue to listen to it, but when I listened to this, it felt like something had been recovered and brought to the surface. It felt like being let in on something, aurally, that had been hidden for years. I shared my opinion with a friend, and his first question was "is it less punk rock?" and intimated that the raw, ragged sound was what had been important and quintessential to him, and I get that too. I'm pleased with having both versions! #blessed, lol
I'm warming to it, particularly on songs where nothing was added. Tracks like "Waitress in the Sky," with extra backing vocals and such, just aren't doing it for me. I wish that, rather than offering a remastered version of the 1985 album, which I have in many formats, that they had used that disc to offer a version with the reverb removed and nothing added. Then, they could have kept the disc with the additions as a sort of "enhanced" version.
I’ve never been an early adopter when it comes to releases like this. When it’s the Replacements involved I’m even more cautious. The Mats are supposed to be loud, fast, and unkempt. The rough edges are their trademark and this exercise sounds like trying to sand a wood table with deep gashes in it. Give me more live recordings, outtakes, B-sides. The live shows reveal the true nature of the band. Live at Maxwell’s or a bootleg called The $hit Hits the Fan are what I want to hear. Westerberg once said something about the reason for their un-video for Bastards of Young is they always like to be a mystery. Why show them playing live when the best thing is to encourage you to see them live. Let It Bleed is the opposite of this mentality. I’m so stubborn about holding on to vision of the Mats’ past I didn’t see them at Midway Stadium just because I had never seen them live but I could imagine what it was like through the bootlegs - no matter how poor the recording of the sloppy, raucous and spontaneous performance was or how many Elvis covers there were. I may get to it in a month or so. Maybe my opinion will change. At least I have had you to prepare me.
I love it...but, I'm a kid who came to The Mats when Don't Tell A Soul was released, so that may impact my tastes a bit. For sure, I love the original Tim and I continue to listen to it, but when I listened to this, it felt like something had been recovered and brought to the surface. It felt like being let in on something, aurally, that had been hidden for years. I shared my opinion with a friend, and his first question was "is it less punk rock?" and intimated that the raw, ragged sound was what had been important and quintessential to him, and I get that too. I'm pleased with having both versions! #blessed, lol
I'm warming to it, particularly on songs where nothing was added. Tracks like "Waitress in the Sky," with extra backing vocals and such, just aren't doing it for me. I wish that, rather than offering a remastered version of the 1985 album, which I have in many formats, that they had used that disc to offer a version with the reverb removed and nothing added. Then, they could have kept the disc with the additions as a sort of "enhanced" version.
I’ve never been an early adopter when it comes to releases like this. When it’s the Replacements involved I’m even more cautious. The Mats are supposed to be loud, fast, and unkempt. The rough edges are their trademark and this exercise sounds like trying to sand a wood table with deep gashes in it. Give me more live recordings, outtakes, B-sides. The live shows reveal the true nature of the band. Live at Maxwell’s or a bootleg called The $hit Hits the Fan are what I want to hear. Westerberg once said something about the reason for their un-video for Bastards of Young is they always like to be a mystery. Why show them playing live when the best thing is to encourage you to see them live. Let It Bleed is the opposite of this mentality. I’m so stubborn about holding on to vision of the Mats’ past I didn’t see them at Midway Stadium just because I had never seen them live but I could imagine what it was like through the bootlegs - no matter how poor the recording of the sloppy, raucous and spontaneous performance was or how many Elvis covers there were. I may get to it in a month or so. Maybe my opinion will change. At least I have had you to prepare me.