Review:
“By 1984, the Replacements had proved they could do sloppy drunk better than anyone, but on Let It Be” BL indie rock’s favorite fall-down drunks stand tall.” BL “They finally brought the tunes. They were still confused, bored, rude, disaffected, horny and, quite often, wasted, but for 34 glorious pop-savvy minutes, they sounded exactly like winners.” BL
“Kicking off with the country-rock shuffle of I Will Dare, the record explodes into a series of pseudo-hardcore ravers before hitting Paul Westerberg’s piano-driven rumination, Androgynous, one of four major ballads that cuts to the core of Midwestern suburban alienation. Sixteen Blue is one of the definitive teenage anthems of the ‘80s, while Unsatisfied rages in despair and Westerberg rarely was more affecting than the solo performance of Answering Machine. All four, along with ‘I Will Dare,’ form the core of Westerberg and the Replacements’ canon, and are enough to make Let It Be a cornerstone post-punk album, even if the rest of the record pales next to the songs.” STE
“All the remaining songs are convincing garage rockers, even if they reveal the Replacements’ former punk stance to be a bit of a pose – a cover of Kiss’ Black Diamond comes off as a tribute, as does the co-opting of Ted Nugent’s ‘Cat Scratch Fever’ for Gary’s Got a Boner. Furthermore, the original numbers lean toward the Faces, leaving the Ramones behind, and while everything except Seen Your Video, which now sounds as dated as a ‘disco sucks’ rant, consists of bracing rockers, they’re a bit inconsequential and point the way toward the band’s deadly fascination with classic rock.” STE
Review Source(s):
BLBlender Magazine’s 100 Greatest American Albums (10/08)
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