The Replacements ‎– Let It Be

One of the greatest repress of a outsanding record. Incredible sound to ears.

The Replacements and their unique brand of loud, brash, conversely pop-inflected punk had eluded me until a recommendation led me to acquire this album, their fourth, which offered them their first taste of mainstream recognition back in 1984 and went on to become regarded as one of the greatest records of the decade. A punchy, small-scale effort, the lyrical material ranges from heartfelt, funny, throwaway to offbeat, but the production and instrumentation is consistently marvellous, gritty sounding and perfectly suited to the high and low cultural hodgepodge of subject matter. In terms of sonics and production, I would rate it higher than the other 'Mats albums, but despite many of the compositions being haunting in their subtle power yet ragged and messy in their delivery, in comparison to the band's decidedly cleaner fifth record, 'Tim', 'Let It Be' stands tall above the rest purely on the merits of its breathless pacing alone.

'Let It Be' competently captures the rawness and adolescent angst of the early-to-mid '80s indie explosion and repackages it as ferocious, rhythmic punk rock, albeit with some elements of crass humour, furious rock and spartan folk instrumentation to achieve a more distinctive post-punk sound than their transatlantic counterparts. RATING OUT OF FIVE: *****
P.S. I purchased this 1993 CD pressing as the subsequent and widely available reissues are, by all accounts, rather compressed.

One of the few pressings of an album I regret selling.

Have the case, missing the tape. Looking to buy just the tape if anyone has the opposite issue. Thanks!

How come no one has pointed out that the blue label US versions of this album have the track listing wrong? The songs from side one are all listed on the side two label, and vice versa. If you're not looking at the track names and just play Side one, Unsatisfied is the first track, but really that is the first song on side two (as designated on the back of the jacket).

For those apprehensive about many of todays reissues, they did an incredible job with these. Excellent pressing quality, great mastering, affordable price...

All good. We can finally get a copy of this for $20 instead of $100.

My other version of the UK press has these matrix etchings too but not these zippo labels.

This has stuff etched into the run out grooves. Anyone else? I have porky prime cut on both & no hard posing & I'm sorry I'm not at home.