The Replacements

Westerberg sidelined his band for studio musicians and yet the album feels stripped-down instead of over-produced. Too polite and controlled for many 'Mats fans but there are some real beauties here -- the title track included. This sounds an awful lot like the melancholy 1970s power pop that the indie rockers who hated this album would copy 10 years later.

America's best band is back where it belongs: the garage. After almost a decade of raw,
piercing albums about uncertainty and growing disenchantment, the Replacements scored
a commercial breakthrough with last year's toned-down, shined-up Don't Tell a Soul. Critics
lined up to praise the album before hearing a note, but this is the record the Replacements
should have made. Though even mellower than Don't Tell a Soul, All Shook Dow... More >