Track Listing

1. I Will Dare
2. Favorite Thing
3. We're Comin' Out
4. Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out
5. Androgynous
6. Black Diamond
7. Unsatisfied
8. Seen Your Video
9. Gary's Got a Boner
10. Sixteen Blue
11. Answering Machine

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #72367 in Music
• Released on: 1991-07-01
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Remastered reissue of their 'five-star' 1984 album. RestlessRecords. 2002.

Amazon.com essential recording
On their first releases, even amid all the smirking irreverence, the Replacements seemed to have more ambition than other post-punkers, but it wasn't until Let It Be that they actually realized it. There's still plenty of smirking here--"Seen Your Video" is a great snotty taunt--but there's also smartly-crafted pop like "I Will Dare" and not-quite-love songs like "Answering Machine," not to mention a rocking cover of uncool Kiss that's played perfectly straight. This is classic, all-over-the-board indie rock, especially the angst-ridden empathy of "Sixteen Blue," where Paul Westerberg, all of 23, remembers just how it is to be a teenager. --David Cantwell

Customer Reviews

If you will dare, I will dare!
Damn, man. Albums don't get any closer to perfect than this one.

"Let it Be" is so dead-on, it makes me want to cry. It's deeply satisfying, even as it throws curves at you from all sides. What kind of punk band opens their album with a pop song? What kind offers blistering hardcore, then slows the tempo and throws in a piano? What kind captures teendom better than John Hughes ever did (and Hughes is the MAN) with "Sixteen Blue?" Who else could make a punk mantra from the lines "Seen your video/You don't wanna know?" And who would end an album with a solo acoustic song - except that's no acoustic, it's a beautifully distorted Fender?

"Let it Be" is a truly transcendent album. The individual songs are all magnificent - not a sour track, or even a sour moment, among them - but there's something more. It creates its own energy, its own aura. These kids were making music in their early 20s that not only sounds brand-new and timeless, but it still speaks to this balding 33-year-old.

So much post-punk, including some work by the 'Mats, was and is monstrously overhyped. "Let it Be" cannot be hyped enough. It can't be labeled, either. It's music, rock and roll. In a legacy of outstanding and important albums by the Replacements and Westerberg, "Let it Be" is the best - which makes it one of the best of all time.

Doesn't get much better than this
Truly one of the greatest American rock bands of the 1980s, the Replacements spent much of their career just under the radar of the consciousness of the mainstream. While the band built up a loyal following throughout the Reagan years, the 'Mats never broke through the way other college favorites like REM or The Red Hot Chili Peppers did. While the band offered some of the best music of the decade and while they were later signed to a major label and even appeared on Saturday Night Live, true recognition and praise eluded them in their day. But while the band never managed to enjoy a real cross-over hit with the mainstream, they remained a cult favorite throughout their existence.

The `Mats early albums boasted raucous punk that was authentic and memorable, but a far cry away from the best work the band would offer. While the Minneapolis quartet's first three releases "Sorry Ma, I forgot to take out the Trash," (1981) "Stink" EP (1982) and "Hootenanny" (1983) showed much promise, it was the band's fourth album "Let it Be," (1984) that saw the band reach their full potential. The Replacements "Holy Trinity" of albums, "Let it Be," "Tim," (1985) and "Pleased to Meet Me" (1987) saw singer/songwriter Paul Westerberg blossom as a writer, churning out his most memorable work.

While "Let it Be" has the punk aesthetics of its predecessors, the songs are more refined and crafted. While "Let it Be" isn't overtly commercial or has any singles that scream "HIT" written on them, the album was up to this point the band's most assessable offering. To get right to the point, "Let it Be" is just a great album. Track after track, each song is memorable and well structured with an infectious hook, killer groove and keen sense of melody. Westerberg, Bob Stinson, (guitar) Tommy Stinson, (bass) and Chris Mars (drums) struck the perfect balance between finely crafted songs and anarchic, unrestrictive punk. The band is loose and hungry, but also meticulous, making sure the album is raw and organic, but without sounding sloppy.

With "Let it Be" Westerberg really honed in as a lyricist. Songs of alienation, dissatisfaction, frustration, and problems with interpersonal relationships are the prevailing themes. And while these are the prevailing themes with many, many bands, Westerberg sounds authentic and the listener can really sympathize with his plight. While he sounds genuinely distraught, he never indulges in self-pity or drains the listener. There is nothing forced or contrived about the feelings he is trying to convey. All the while Westerberg has a real sense of humor as songs like "Tommy gets his Tonsils Out" and "Gary's got a Boner" would suggest.

The opening mid-tempo "I Will Dare" is probably the album's best song, if not the greatest Replacements track ever recorded. Estrangement and unrequited love but with a sense of hope seem to be the prevailing theme. Tommy Stinson's sparse bass over the lush playing of Westerberg, Bob Stinson, and guest guitarist Peter Buck (of REM) make this song a triumph. "Favorite Thing" goes at an almost manic pace and has a real sense of urgency, as Westerberg tells of his affection for the one he loves. "Were Coming Out" may have been a contender for "Hootenanny" as this punk-rocker is somewhat chaotic, but without loosing structure. The light piano offers a nice touch. "Tommy gets his tonsils out" is also reminiscent of the Replacements early work, as this humorous punk number tackles the bassists' fear of going to the dentist. The album takes a complete left turn for the bizarre "Androgynous," a melancholy piano balled dealing with the issue of sexual identity and self-acceptance. A cover of KISS's "Black Diamond" stays pretty true to the original, while giving it a bit of a punk-make-over. Perhaps the most earnest song on the album "Unsatisfied" articulates the frustration one feels with the emptiness of an unfulfilled life. A poke at MTV, the mostly instrumental "Seen Your Video" shows the band cut loose and just rock out. Bob Stinson shows his fee-wheeling skills over this catchy little ditty. The humorous "Gary's Got a Boner" is somewhat like "Tommy gets his tonsils out" and is somewhat reminiscent of Ted Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever." A morose plight detailing teenage angst, "Sixteen Blue" is gentle and bittersweet, yet rough-around-the-edges. The almost exclusively guitar closing track "Answering Machine," while very sparse and stripped down, is quite effective. The song's theme, longing frustration, sums up the premise of the album in a nutshell and makes for the perfect closing number.

Released over twenty years ago, "Let it Be" has aged quite well. It sounds as good and as poignant today as it did in 1984. The themes of "Let it Be" are timeless. As long as there are humans on the Earth, people will long for companionship and meaning and be unhappy with their life. Bands like Green Day, the Offspring, and countless others owe a lot to the Replacements.

One of the best
I first heard this album as a college freshman back in the mid-eighties. At the time, I was still listening to my Scorpions and Whitesnake tapes because I didn't know any better. Thank God I had a roommate who turned me on to some great stuff. One listen to "Let It Be" and The Replacements shot to the top of my list of favorite bands. This music showed me how honest and true and powerful rock music could really be. I've lived with this masterpiece for fifteen years now. I'm still knocked out by the powerful bass line in "Favorite Thing." The mixture of beautiful melody and raw-voiced singing that make up "Sixteen Blue," "Unsatisfied" and "Answering Machine" still affect me deeply. I still smile when "Black Diamond" comes on and wonder what the hell they were thinking.

Is this CD perfect? No, but it's just about as close as anyone ever gets.