I often say my three favorite Replacements record are "Boink!!," Paul Westerberg's "14 Songs," and Bash & Pop's "Friday Night Is Killing Me." I'm not completely serious, though I do play these records a lot more than the rest of the 'Mats catalogue...which brings me to Perfect.
A few years after the Bash & Pop release, Tommy Stinson went back into the studio, this time it was Ardent in Memphis, reuniting with one time 'Mats producer, the legendary Jim Dickinson. His band, now called Perfect, recorded ten songs, and then, that was that. The record never came out, unless you count 3rd generation, somewhat hissy bootlegs.
Cut to 2004, and "Once, Twice, Three Times A Maybe," remixed and remastered, with a slightly altered track list, gets an official release through Rykodisc. I completely forgot about this power pop gem until yesterday.
Short story, earlier in the week, I had a hard drive, iPod catastrophe. I was without my entire library of music for 72 hours. To most, that might be a small hiccup in their lives. I heard my spine snap. But then a dear friend pretty much saved my life and I was back in business, after 16 solid hours of reconstructing the library. That was when I found the Perfect record, among other seemingly lost miracles of music I didn't realize I still had, including a very cool Paul Westerberg collection that I am setting up for tomorrow's Weekend Mix.
But back to business at hand, "Once, Twice, Three Times A Maybe" is a killer. It's a solid 33 minutes of bashin' & poppin', with Stinson delivering hook after hook over crunchy guitars, and beats that play fast and hard. I can't believe I have lived without this record for 20 years. It's as good, if not better than "Friday Night Is Killing Me." It is now my fourth favorite Replacements record.
6 comments:
Wow -had no idea about this record! Like you I love Bash & Pop. Saw B&P about 10 years ago open for the Furs and they were a lot of fun.
I know Westerberg is a bit of a recluse these days but would be nice to hear some new stuff from him.
Thanks for the intro, Sal! Went to stream album on Apple and discovered an EP from 1996, When Squirrels Play Chicken. Thanks again, sir. This promises to be an outstanding day :)
Another revelation - thanks so much. I will need to locate a copy old school.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_naQk48C7BWfh6uAPZajg7-p2dHmw2JIn8&si=0eYiq5gGH4kUKU6Q
What a scary technological nightmare. Hope everything is backed up twice now! By the way, if you ever get caught short without your music library, just call me up and I'll sing to you over the phone. I take requests.
Just purchased this Perfect from quobuz some day ago!
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