Originally released in 1987 as part of the campaign for The Replacements‘ second big league effort, Pleased to Meet Me, this EP is half teaser for the LP and half outtakes that didn’t make the album. This time, as a 10″ EP, it’s been released for Record Store Day 2015 just as the band (re-formed with two original members) go out on tour in the USA. “Alex Chilton” blasts out of the speakers like an ICBM, thanks to a detailed mastering job by someone who must appreciate the band’s ramshackle brilliance. The song’s about a guy you may have heard of who once led the power pop underdogs Big Star (and was the teenage lead singer of The Box Tops), and it’s one of the best tunes on the aforementioned LP. Up next is “Nightclub Jitters,” another album track that’s loaded with Paul Westerberg’s reality-based observations on dating and a nice standup bass line. (It actually stands out nicely on the vinyl, even when you consider the tracks were recorded in the infancy of digital.)
Outtakes make up side two: “Election Day” is a slow blues with a powerful slide guitar lead that could have been on the album (which only had eleven songs) though it does feel slightly unfinished. Next the band covers “Route 66” in a throwaway piss-take complete with wrong lyics that’s pretty enjoyable but certainly not a vital part of the band’s legacy—it’s perfect for a B-side.
In all, a nice 4-song platter that makes a tasty appetizer for the record that was The Replacements’ greatest main course.
4/5 (Sire/Rhino, 2015)
NuDisc 