Replacements: Don't Tell a Soul LP

Along with Prince and Husker Du, The Replacements put Minneapolis on the rock map in the 1980s with their endearing imperfection. Among America's greatest all-time alternative acts, the 'Mats rose from chaotic noise-makers to polished craftsmen, leaving a handful of masterpieces in their wake.

Fans were expecting a record of radio hits and radio was expecting more punk rock antics with the Replacements' second major label record Don't Tell A Soul, originally released in 1989. They were both right somehow, and sadly this record, like many great and creatively expansive albums was over looked upon its initial release by the dedicated fan and the new comer. Your screaming, yelling and falling to pieces drunken brothers now added sleepy melancholy, violins, waves of layered guitar, something that sounded like a "real" recording and a bit if not a lot of personal vulnerability to the mix. 

The list of albums that were once dismissed thoroughly only to be coveted later is as long as the history of contemporary music itself and includes albums by every group imaginable from Pink Floyd to The Stooges to The Beach Boys to Fela Kuti. The Replacements Don't Tell A Soul certainly fits into that history comfortably. However, over 30 years later most fans and critics agree that songs such as "Achin' to Be," the haunted "Rock 'n' Roll Ghost," the sweetly self-mythologizing "Talent Show," and "I'll Be You," are among the best of their era.