The Last Book I Read

I don't care what anyone else thinks, I consider the Replacements to be the quintessential eighties rock band. I think you have to go all the way back to the Beatles to find a four album sequence to match the quality of their string of Let It Be, Tim, Pleased to Meet Me, and Don't Tell a Soul (and those came after three earlier records pretty good in their own right). Jim Walsh's oral history of the group provides some great context for understanding the Minneapolis rock scene that spawned the band, though it's a far cry from a definitive biography or in-depth critical appraisal. Most of the commentary comes from friends of the band, managers and label folk, and of course fans. I'd call it a flaw that there's very little input from the guys themselves, and none at all from main songwriter Paul Westerberg (except excerpts from previously published sources); except that hardly seemed the point of the exercise, which was more about establishing what they meant to others. Hopefully, there's some other writer out there undertaking a more comprehensive look at the 'Mats-- heck, maybe Westerberg or Tommy Stinson will come out with a memoir of those years when they could alternate between being the greatest and most frustrating band on the planet over successive shows (I was lucky enough to catch them on one of the up nights back around '86 or '87 in Rochester NY). But in the meantime, Walsh has put together a good read for anyone who has fond memories of the Replacements, or for that matter any local music scene at a time when it was easy to believe that those four kids on stage were gonna be the next big thing.