The Replacements
All Shook Down (Sire/Reprise 26298)

Depending on why you like the Replacements, All Shook Down is either a great delight or something of a disappointment. It has none of the drunken, energetic tomfoolery that characterizes some of their earlier albums, but on the other hand, it's got some really brilliant songs on it.

As the final Replacements album, it makes little sense, since it bears virtually no resemblance to the band that offered the loud slop of Tim and Let it Be. This one is power pop with much the same maturity that the last few Mr. T Experience albums have had. I guess punk kids ultimately get old and have to break out the acoustics so they don't wake the baby.

Is that such a bad thing? Not really. In fact, the real rockers on this CD are easily the weakest tracks, like "My Little Problem," which is a song wrapped around a non-riff and trying to pretend it's better than it is by featuring Johnette Napolitano on co-lead vocals.

And "Someone Take the Wheel" is better when you think about it later than when you're actually hearing it. But the soft and slow moments on this album are pretty fucking marvelous. The skippy frivolity of "Attitude," the one-more-before-I-go-to-bed acoustic tenderness of "Sadly Beautiful," the winning jaunt of "Nobody," the pure hook of "When it Began" – some or Paul Westerberg's finest songs.

"Merry Go Round" was the single, and probably still gets heavy airplay on Chicago's WXRT, which never knows when to retire a song. Is that so bad? Of course I would mock that station if I heard this song on it, but I probably wouldn't turn the dial.

Similarly, I probably would not buy All Shook Down (I sold it back years ago and borrowed this copy to review after looking at the track listing and saying "Wow, hey, that's a really strong album!") – but I wouldn't make you change it if I walked into your house and it was on the stereo. I would, however, make you stop fucking my fucking wife.

Some of the songs sort of recall early 90s Bruce Springsteen ("Happy Town" especially), but overall this is a pretty good testament to Westerberg's still-underrated songwriting talent. The world truly passed that guy by. I guess that's what you get for making Alex Chilton one of your idols. Myself, I'm setting my sights on Barry Manilow, and I won't settle for anything less than international fame, or at least a gig in a bathhouse.

As a final remark, may I say that calling this band "The 'Mats" by now is just purely out of the question? Please stop doing it, all you pretentious critics. And while I'm at it, let me voice once again my opposition to the word "natch." That just makes me shiver with embarassment.

I think most critics learn their vocabularies from other critics. I, on the other hand, evidently learn mine from the circus, because I say The Replacements are "three rings of thrills and superhuman entertainment for the whole family." I suppose one does sacrifice accuracy when one goes for originality.

Loud Bassoon rating scale

Review by Wimpempy Tarlisle