The Replacements Album: “All For Nothing/Nothing For All”

This collection is an absolute must have. If you went to high school in the late 1980s, Paul Westerberg (rivaled by only Gordon Gano of the Violent Femmes) was the voice of teen angst. What makes Paul & the Mats stand out is that they never patronized or even catered to the young adults. They didn't care who listened---or who didn't. They gave the finger to everybody, while playing like the final moments of a house party. This collection, although stunted by the lack of anything from the Twin Tone years, is a handbook for anyone who wants to start a band. Flush all pretentions down the toilet and just write and play great songs. Enough of this sociological banter. Three words--ADD TO CART! Don't be surprised if you find yourself playing Alex Chilton over and over again until your ears bleed!

Although maligned in some quarters for documenting only the Mats' career following their leap to major label status with Sire/Reprise Records (and thereby neglecting what many consider to be their `Hayday' [pun blatantly intended]) there are virtues that All For Nothing/Nothing For All possesses that - given the comparatively limited availability of material (both audio [live recordings, outtakes, etc.] and literature) from a band who in commercial terms are little more than a footnote in the barren echelons of the 80s mainstream - the more recent and, to an extent, more comprehensive Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? sorely lacks.

Thus, the first available Replacements greatest "hits" (released in 1997) omits the raucous, youthful, ramshackle Twin/Tone delights of Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (1981); Stink (1982); Hootenanny (1983) and Let it Be (1984). Naturally, any band's supposed "best of" would be impaired by the absence of the likes of `Kick Your Door Down', `Go', `Within Your Reach' and `Sixteen Blue' (and the rest), but that said, All For Nothing stands up remarkably well without them - unremarkable when considering the calibre of songs represented.

Taking four tracks apiece sequentially from each of the band's four Sire releases: Tim (1985); Pleased to Meet Me (1987); Don't Tell a Soul (1989) and All Shook Down (1991), All For Nothing holds together cohesively for a compilation album, showcasing the band's formidable rock n' roll prowess and almost unparalleled versatility. Songs such as `Left of the Dial'; `Bastards of Young'; `Here Comes a Regular'; `Can't Hardly Wait' and `I'll Be You' have since become canonical tracks of the era - for those who have even HEARD of the `Mats that is - bearing testament to the band's now-legendary "beautiful loser" underdog reputation of hard luck, self-sabotage, refusal to compromise and sheer pigheadedness.

One minor complaint is that - although they are all highly sophisticated tracks, and in some instances, classics - the disc's final sequence includes `I'll Be You'; `Achin' to Be'; `Merry Go Round'; `Nobody' and `Someone Take the Wheel', punctuated only by 3 markedly different tracks, which renders all of these songs rather similar - whereas they could be judged far better on their own merits were they segregated accordingly. The record's chronological order however, dictates and enforces this homogeneity.

For many people though, All For Nothing will be merely a companion piece to the real attraction here, the second disc: Nothing For All. Comprised of embryonic versions and alternate takes of future favourites, outtakes, a solo offering each from Chris Mars (drums) and Tommy Stinson (bass), an irreverent cover of Bob Dylan's `Like a Rolling Stone' (entitled `Like a Rolling Pin'), a blistering live performance of The Only One's `Another Girl, Another Planet', and some intriguing forays into blues and jazz territory.

The outtakes for the most part are identifiable as the kind of tracks that would never quite seriously threaten a place on a `Mats LP, and whilst some are of negligible value to The Replacements' mystique, the majority steer clear of the usual tossed-off drivel that would make up this kind of set. The brilliant barroom triumvirate of the infectiously up-tempo `Till We're Nude', the sardonic drawl of `Election Day' and the bizarre cover of `Jungle Rock' all showcase influences ranging far beyond the predictable.

Paul Westerberg's famed cock-eyed take on existence is apparent in most tracks here and the more self-consciously humanist tracks - the gorgeous, soaring ballad `Who Knows' and the near-nocturne `We Know the Night' shimmer in amongst the other beer-soaked originals, with `Birthday Gal' a classic laughing/crying Westerberg signature ("Her hair falls down around her eyes that close/She might wear them earrings but she won't wear the clothes/She'll hang `em up with all the ones that don't fit no more.")

The handsomely presented package is further enhanced by the CD's inlay booklet comprising some twenty four interesting anecdotes from journalists, writers, contemporaries, onlookers, celebrity fans and people that got closer than many dared, that bear out the band's myth, as well as some lovingly candid photos.

The Enhanced CD features promotional videos for `The Ledge' and `I'll Be You', as well as the infamously derisive `Bastards of Young' MV - all of which is comparatively redundant now with the rise of Youtube.

The crowning glory of the whole set for me however, is the alternate (original) version of `Can't Hardly Wait' from the Tim sessions, in that anyone who thought that there was no forethought in the band's work should listen to how good this version sounds and imagine how difficult it must have been for them to stay true to the vision they had for the song and NOT include it on Tim - preferring instead to commit it to their following album (Pleased to Meet Me) in a style that truly befits it. Conversely, it is the All For Nothing version that stands as The Replacements' true masterwork.

If you like the Replacements, or even have never heard them before, this collection is a great way to get their best tunes all at once. The Mats have such a timeless sound. A lot of their songs sound like they should be on today's radio stations! Paul Westerberg is a master of songwriting, and some of his best works are featured on this cd. All of the songs are so different, some are ballads, some have a punk-sound, some are funny and some just flat out rock! If you want a CD you can listen to over and over again and never get sick of it, this is it!

For my money, "Portland" and the alternate version of "Can't Hardly Wait" are their two best songs, which is odd because they were never included on any of their albums. Westerberg must have a problem with track selection when tackling a new album. His solo career is full of songs on other albums, imports, soundtracks and under other names that together would probably be his best album ever and far outshine any of his three solo albums.

It seems odd that some long-time Replacements fans -- the ones who saw their shows, who converted their tapes to CDs back in the 80s, and who already know the b-sides by heart, would criticize this compilation as providing nothing new. These two discs (one a "greatest hits" compilation, the other an "odds and sods" compilation) aren't really for that type of fan.

I have bought all of the CDs, but I never did see them play, and only heard about some of the songs that are on the b-side disc ("Nothing for All"). A lot of it was new to me, and to anyone who might have come across the band in the last ten or eleven years would find this a decent one-stop place to start in learning more about them and their music.

As has been mentioned earlier, the "All for Nothing" disc only contains tracks from the last half of their discography. There is a definite difference in the songs that appear on this disc and those songs on their earlier albums; as far as the album tracks go, they (or, if you will, Paul) appear to take themselves a lot more seriously than in their earlier work.

That's not the case on the "Nothing for All" disc, however. For me, a fan who never got to see them play and only heard by reference about such songs as "Beer for Breakfast" and "Until We're Nude", this disc is a treat. A lot of the songs show how loose the band could get, and it ranges all over the place in style. "Can't Hardly Wait" from the "Tim" sessions is scorching, "Jungle Rock" and "Date to Church" both sound like band goofing off and making good music. "Portland" is probably the best polished song on the disc. While some of the tracks I have to skip ("Election Day" is a case of slide guitars gone out of control, "Satellite" is a song Paul tries to sing in too high a register). But this disc has a lot more good than bad to it, and complements the almost stodgy arrangement of the studio tracks on the other disc.

A note about the other materials. There is a thick booklet of anecdotes about the band by fans, writers, and people in the music industry who knew them. For whatever reason you want to conjecture, there's no content from the band itself. Also, the videos on the second CD work on my fairly old computer, even if the two they selected -- "The Ledge" and "Achin' to Be" -- aren't the two famous "anti-videos" in protest to the MTV behemoth. (I still would have liked the joke -- "Look! A Quicktime movie of one-third of an amplifier that goes on for 3 minutes!")

My suggestion for someone who has an interest in the Replacements: buy this CD, buy "Let it Be", and maybe buy the rest at your discretion.