The Replacements Album: “Tim”

Among Mats fans in Houston Tx, this was regarded as their crowning jewel by unanimous account! Recognizing its brilliance, feels like having seen Van Gogh for a genius before the world took notice, and then seeing the bandwagon begin.

Westerberg achieved high art when he expressed the sorrow and pain and joy of growing up, all at once. So complex for such simple songs here.

My favorite line of all time 'little girls keep growing up, playing makeup and wearing guitar'. Was that not growing up 'punk rock' before it became a shopping mall fad?

In the summer they played a show in Galveston, if 'played', =30 minutes of missed bar chords before PW crashed into the drum kit. Shows over punkers! Wow, what a privilege to experienced this moment in history, the beginning and end of American underground rock, and this their crowning jewel.

It is so good, any cool 15 year old can pick it up and instantly get why it is brilliant.

It is timeless, like any great work of art, music or otherwise.

I finally got around to listening to this album nearly 10 years after it came out, and all I can say is: What a difference a DECADE makes. By the summer of 1995, the 'Mats had long since parted ways, of course, and Paul Westerberg, then as now, wasn't at all on the path to commercial stardom -- although he'd still become a credibility staple on "music revolution"-era MTV and on various soundtracks (including the one for "Melrose Place," if I recall). At the time, the whole "alternative rock" genre was undergoing a sort of transitional phase that, in hindsight, can really only be labeled as the start of its decline: Grunge was dead; "nu-rock" still hadn't rolled over in its cradle; the hot new band of the moment was . . . SPONGE?

I got this CD, in fact, at a kind-of-a-chain record store in the 'burbs that was hosting an in-store with some of the DJs (none of whom are still broadcasting here) from the local "alternative rock" station. I put my name in a drawing for some prizes that they were giving away and then lost interest in their self-promotion after about five minutes. Hell, they may have even called my name, too, for all I know. By then, I'd gone through the aisles and found something by a band that, according to everything that I'd been told in the '90s press, absolutely NOBODY had ever seen or heard of while they were around. And I was much too busy wandering through the music to care about scoring a free bumper sticker.

"Tim" is definitely easy to get lost in, too. The only thing that keeps this album from being one of the all-time great headphone albums of the '80s is just acoustics: About half the songs are loud, sloppy and occasionally snotty little rockers that the band members played while almost certainly drunk and in a slightly more focused and direct manner than at those concerts that nobody (blink, blink) showed up at. The other half are acoustic-based jaunts with this weird echoic quality that almost makes them sound as though you're listening to them from the other end of a long, empty hall (not unlike the one depicted on the bottom of the cover). The more accurate title, then, would probably be Best Album to Listen to Alone While Sitting on the Edge of Your Bed. After all, contrary to what most big rock stars of any age would claim, that's about the only part of the bed where the music usually means anything anyway.

As for the songs themselves, there's just about no way to describe them that a simple listen to them wouldn't far surpass. "Left of the Dial" is a fairly heartfelt ode to, technically, the underground music scene of the time -- and the guitar riffs do beat the spandex off most other mainstream "power rock" ballads of the '80s. (It made me immediately forget all about "And We Danced" by the Hooters -- another song that was oddly stuck in my head 10 years after I accepted it as given.) "Bastards of Young" needs no description whatsoever, except to say that it obviously made for one of the few videos in history that actually didn't ruin the song (in fact, ENHANCED it) and should be required listening for any high school or college graduate -- or, these being the Replacements, enlightened drop-out -- without a plum job, car or relationship (of ANY kind) on the near horizon. I imagine that the CD version of "Tim" slightly diminishes its effect, though, because that opening guitar salvo and Paul's drunken yell can't WALLOP you from the very start of a Side 2, just as his sigh and the slow, laid-back feel of "Swingin' Party" can't come to a good rest at the end of a Side 1. And to call "Here Comes a Regular" a great piece of literature doesn't convey the meaning and poignancy of it at all: Even if you're not an alcoholic and don't shed tears too easily, that song will just touch you every time. It never fails.

Of course, if you go by just Paul's lyrics (which just about no one who has this album would probably blame you for), you'll find that "Tim" isn't exactly the sunniest album ever reeled. The sentiments expressed here include co-dependence ("Hold My Life," "Here Comes a Regular"), female-directed derision ("Waitress in the Sky," "Little Mascara), loneliness ("Swingin' Party," "Left of the Dial") and self-dissolution ("I'll Buy," "Dose of Thunder," "Bastards of Young") -- and a lot of those can even be interchangeable in some cases. Hell, even "Kiss Me on the Bus," the album's single and the closest it comes to a "love" song, could be just as easily be about a guy trying to get laid before he gets off (the bus). But it's a real testament to the power and talent that the Replacements had that they managed to make these dark little slices of life sound so human -- AND kick your ass musically in the process.

Given the state of what "alternative rock" has since become in the past seven years, it seems that most people prefer their musical declarations not only with simpler lyrics but also simpler EMOTIONS -- as well as in videos that aren't grainy black & white, have more than one shot and don't feature the destruction of the machine that supplies the soundtrack (hissing and popping, no overdubs). Playing "Tim" for a room full of strangers will probably make you fewer friends now that it would have over the previous decade. But the ones you do make may well be turn out to be your friends -- if not edge-of-the-bed partners -- for at least a while.

Howdy !

'Tim' is one of the best releases of the 1980's and, in my very humble opinion,

the second best release by the Replacements, just a hair behind "Let It Be".

Every song on 'Tim' is either very good or classic !

"Waitress in the sky, Bastards of the young, Left of the dial, Swingin' party"

are all essential Replacements classics.

But my favorite is "Here Comes A Regular"

a sad song about losers in a bar.

One of my all-time favorites.

I remember Westerberg got some static about writing ballads but I

thought they were his best songs, like "Unsatisfied" from the previous album.

Not many can write about heartache the way Paul can.

I saw them on the "Don't Tell A Soul" tour and I wish I saw them more.

The album is a classic so buy it.

The bonus tracks are really nothing special.

Whatever. At least the cd sounds great and it is an upgrade.

Robert

My words cannot appreciate this beautiful piece of mid-eighties rock n' roll glory. This was my first Mats album and after becoming a big fan, I have noticed that Paul Westerberg has became this metaphysical saint-like figure in the audible cosmic atmosphere called "rock music." From talking to different sorts of people, I have noticed that Westerberg has activated two extremes within the hearts of folks who have heard the Mats or Westerberg's solo stuff... they love him or hate him. How on God's green Earth can you hate a genius like Westerberg? From those who adore Paul, they have noticed that Westerberg has the ability to write songs that are about what an individual has felt or is currently feeling or going through. This is done in such a deep way, his lyrics are connected online to the human heart, mind, and nervous system.

All these songs are good. "Hold My Life" kicks off the album and this particular track is one of those songs that I am attached to. The Replacements dive into a pool of diversity on this album, beautifully blending the elements of popular American music past and present. "I'll Buy" is a rockabilly/country rocker, "Bastards of Young" is an electric anthem that is timeless, full of distorted rage and the acne of innocent youth. "Kiss Me On The Bus" is a romantic ditty, placing the listener into a realm where you mystically envision a first kiss, or remember your own. Country, folk, rock,...whatever it is. The Mats took these genres and made them their own.

Tim is the last album to have guitar-wildman, Bob Stinson, and their first major label debut on the then-hot Sire Records. I should also mention the album is produced by Tommy Ramone.

Maybe someday, Sire or Warner Bros, will rerelease this album with bonus tracks, not to mention the rough version of "Can't Hardly Wait."

God Bless Paul Westerberg

tim is a classic album, and one of the few albums to survive the eighties. it ranks up their with the joshua tree and metallica's master of puppets as the greatest albums of the 80's. it was ranked #4 by alternative press's greatest albums from 1985-1995 list. tim is the replacements best, most consistent album, and doesn't have a bad song on it. tim has something on it for everyone from the power pop of "dose of thunder" and "lay it down clown" to the rockabilly of "i'll buy" and "waitress in the sky" to the rock anthems "bastards of young" and "left of the dial" to straight out rock tracks "hold my life and "little mascara." westerberg also writes the best ballads he ever wrote with "swinging party" and "here comes a regular." with "bastards of young," westerberg writes the perfect generation x anthem. when anyone mentions the replacements, most people usually say "how did they not make it big and sell albums." but tim influenced a generation of musicians from nirvana to the goo goo dolls, and their album sales are a testament to the greatness and undeniable influence of the replacements, perhaps the greatest band of the '80's.