Hey Kevin: I’ll bet you thought Hazel English was from the UK because her name is...English! At first I thought Billie Eilish was from England because her name looked like “English” and so did she. Sometimes these mnemonics betray us, or just occur because they seem obvious.
Why have horns on "Finest Working" when you have Mike Mills' heavenly harmonies?! Love Eponymous as it was a nice gateway into their IRS years when I was a youngin getting into REM. Also that setlist, my god. So cool you got to see them in those years!
Trying to get into Plains cos I love all the components but it's just not holding my attention outside of the singles. Loved the last Waxahatchee but also starting to miss indie Katie Crutchfield. Glad they got this passion project in, though!
I'm a total sucker for horns. And looking back, I feel really fortunate that I got to see this show. NRBQ opened, but they were lost on probably 95% of the crowd. And I got to go with my best friend, which just made it all the better.
With Waxahatchee/Plains, I'm the opposite. Never really got into her, but something about this record just caught me.
Being a Replacements fan, I've always been fascinated by the "rivalry" with R.E.M. Peter Buck of course contributed the guitar solo to "I Will Dare," and Westerberg has said the reason R.E.M. was more successful commercially was because The Replacements refused to play the corporate game. (Plenty of evidence of that.)
"Eponymous" and "Dead Letter Office" could be seen as (and likely were) cash grabs by IRS, and it surprised me that Twin Tone didn't try to do some of the same with The Replacements when they signed to Sire. I've always sort of viewed "Document" — I saw that tour, BTW, too, with The DBs opening — as akin to "Let It Be" because it got all the acclaim necessary for R.E.M. to sign with Warners.
I've seen Crutchfield open twice for Jason Isbell as Waxahatchee, and I agree with your assessment about Plains. I don't see it as circumventing their day jobs, but you never know. She's been leaning this way live when I've seen her.
And finally, about Fleetwood Mac... I see Tusk as their version of The Clash's "Sandinista" — several great songs but a lot of esoteric bloat. I like the list you linked to, but I would switch the order of the top three. For me, the self-titled album is the revelation, then you have "Rumours" followed by "Tusk."
I'm also surprised Twin Tone didn't try and do that with The Replacements. And tbh, I would've totally bought it. R.E.M. w/The DBs sounds like a fantastic show! I wrote about "Spy In the House Of Love" here earlier in the summer.
Tusk= Sandinista might be the best analogy I've seen yet. One of these days, I just want "Mirage" to top someone's list.
Hey Kevin: I’ll bet you thought Hazel English was from the UK because her name is...English! At first I thought Billie Eilish was from England because her name looked like “English” and so did she. Sometimes these mnemonics betray us, or just occur because they seem obvious.
I'll bet you're right!
Why have horns on "Finest Working" when you have Mike Mills' heavenly harmonies?! Love Eponymous as it was a nice gateway into their IRS years when I was a youngin getting into REM. Also that setlist, my god. So cool you got to see them in those years!
Trying to get into Plains cos I love all the components but it's just not holding my attention outside of the singles. Loved the last Waxahatchee but also starting to miss indie Katie Crutchfield. Glad they got this passion project in, though!
I'm a total sucker for horns. And looking back, I feel really fortunate that I got to see this show. NRBQ opened, but they were lost on probably 95% of the crowd. And I got to go with my best friend, which just made it all the better.
With Waxahatchee/Plains, I'm the opposite. Never really got into her, but something about this record just caught me.
Fun fact about the Mighty Mighty BosstoneS: I went to school with one of the band members (saxophone ) in Alaska. His name is Kevin too!
Ha! No way! That's awesome.
Lot to comment about on this one...
Being a Replacements fan, I've always been fascinated by the "rivalry" with R.E.M. Peter Buck of course contributed the guitar solo to "I Will Dare," and Westerberg has said the reason R.E.M. was more successful commercially was because The Replacements refused to play the corporate game. (Plenty of evidence of that.)
"Eponymous" and "Dead Letter Office" could be seen as (and likely were) cash grabs by IRS, and it surprised me that Twin Tone didn't try to do some of the same with The Replacements when they signed to Sire. I've always sort of viewed "Document" — I saw that tour, BTW, too, with The DBs opening — as akin to "Let It Be" because it got all the acclaim necessary for R.E.M. to sign with Warners.
I've seen Crutchfield open twice for Jason Isbell as Waxahatchee, and I agree with your assessment about Plains. I don't see it as circumventing their day jobs, but you never know. She's been leaning this way live when I've seen her.
And finally, about Fleetwood Mac... I see Tusk as their version of The Clash's "Sandinista" — several great songs but a lot of esoteric bloat. I like the list you linked to, but I would switch the order of the top three. For me, the self-titled album is the revelation, then you have "Rumours" followed by "Tusk."
Great read...
Thank you!
I'm also surprised Twin Tone didn't try and do that with The Replacements. And tbh, I would've totally bought it. R.E.M. w/The DBs sounds like a fantastic show! I wrote about "Spy In the House Of Love" here earlier in the summer.
Tusk= Sandinista might be the best analogy I've seen yet. One of these days, I just want "Mirage" to top someone's list.
I can see why you would pick “Mirage.” That one just missed my top 3.