Davey Moore

What a beautiful name for an album, and is my personal favorite album title, those three little words reveal oceans of meaning. In one aspect it could mean a bittersweet resignation, an end of an era, an acceptance of fate and the way things are and the way things will always be. Another aspect could be joyful defiance and a sort of shouted command, saying 'leave us the f*ck alone.' Both of these albums contain shades of those aspects.

Both of these albums also share mantle of 'masterpiece.' One of them is in a way, retrospective, looking back on the years and the bitter memories that come along with it. The other is living in the fraught years of being a teenager, yet containing the same joy and bitterness of the former. This duality is what makes these two albums by The Beatles and The Replacements so interesting.

NOTE: Because I couldn't find much Replacements online, I'll just give you an upload link of a playlist of the best songs from the album, choice cuts, like cocaine except it's in musical form.

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Two of Us and I Will Dare are both fantastic songs. Right off the bat, these two albums start off with a joyous, yet somewhat bitter view of the past.

"How young are you? How old am I? Let's count the rings around my eyes."
"Two of us riding nowhere, spending someone's hard earned pay. You and me Sunday driving, not arriving, on our way back home. We're on our way home."



Favorite Thing and Dig A Pony are both louder and harder than their preceding tracks. And they're both about the same thing, a longing for some love who is gone. "Allllllll I wannnnnnt is youuuuuu!"
"You're my favvvvvvvorite thing. BAR NOTHING!"



We're Coming Out builds off the speed and energy of the previous track and slingshots the album into the stratosphere. Across the Universe, however, slows the album down with a beautiful, transcendent piece of music that reaches up towards the heavens. "Nothin's gonna change my world...nothin's gonna change my world."



Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out once again feeds off the momentum and energy of the last song, building off of it. What makes this album great is it's 'breaks.' What I mean by that is there are a few, almost "throwaway" songs between the serious and emotionally wrenching songs, almost to give the band a break. This is a masterstroke of a decision because despite the heavy emotional nature of the album, it still gives it a sort of floating, whimsical quality, all along reminding the listener that the band isn't taking themselves TOO seriously, which is quintessentially punk. I Me Mine is another of Harrison's very good songs, and is his best contribution on an album where his contributions are lacking quantity like previous albums.



Dig It is the result of a cool eight minute jam. On the Album it is 50 seconds I wish it was longer. But hey, that's the way things go I suppose. Androgynous is one of the best songs on the album. It gives some insight behind the androgyny obsessed eighties fads. It's beautiful.

8 Minute Version


50 second album version


Black Diamond is one hell of a bitter, angry, fast, furious song. It's pure punk goodness. Mmmmmmm, can ya smell that fried(due to drugs) punk? And of course, how can you not talk about Let It Be, The Beatles' ballad of hope and the future. It's like ray of light in darkness.

This video is from the movie.


Unsatisfied is my favorite song by The Replacements, one of my favorite songs of all time, and well, god, it's just f*cking beautiful. Paul Westerberg is screaming his heart out, and my god is it touching. [i]"Look me in the eyes, then tell me, that I'm satisfied!" Maggie Mae is a rearrangement of an old Liverpool folk song that has to do with a prostitute.

Seen Your Video is mostly a jam, and at the end screams a very potent middle finger to the MTV philosophy [i]"Seen your video! Your phony rock and roll!" I've Got A Feeling is one of those split-up Lennon-McCartney songs, where half of it was a song Paul was working on, the other half was a song John was working on, and they decided to combine it. Paul wrote the 'I've Got A Feeling' part, and John wrote the 'Everybody had a...' section. I like the interplay between John and Paul's voices.

One After 909 was written by John Lennon in 1963 the band tried to record it in the same sessions they recorded 'From Me To You and 'Thank You Girl. They didn't get it right. Finally, they recorded it and put it on this album. It's a straight up blues song. Gary's Got A Boner is another of the silly interludes to give you a break between the serious songs. However, this doesn't make it any less cool or catchy. After listening to this song, nobody can doubt the extreme situation that Jimmy's boner presented.

The Long and Winding Road is the product of a piano ballad by Paul and the finishing touches of Phil Spector's wall of sound technique. Paul was pissed and mortified that he added an orchestra to the song. Without the orchestra, the song is sort of flat. With it, it's moving. Good job, Phil. Sixteen Blue is a heartfelt ballad to that infamous age, 16. It captures it perfectly. Speaking of Blue, For You Blue is a cool blues song by Harrison, straight up.

That leaves Get Back and Answering Machine. Get Back is one of the more popular Beatles tunes. I know why too, because it's catchy as hell. It's Paul's satire of the anti-immigrant state of mind in Britain at the time. I don't agree with putting it last on the album. It isn't a good climax, and it gives no sense of closure. Then again, it's a frustrating to end an album that, spawned from what was thought to be unsalvageable sessions, brought about the ugly truth in all the member's minds that, to quote John Lennon, "The dream is over."

Answering Machine, however, gives a brilliant sense of finality to the album, and has some of the best lyrics I've heard from a punk band. It's a lonely, raging and heartbreaking cry out. But who's there to listen? Just a f*cking answering machine.

In the end, what else can you do besides letting it be?

The Replacements - Let It Be - 10/10

The Beatles - Let It Be - 8.9/10

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Roygbiv

Let it Be by the Replacements starts off fantastic with I Will Dare, but everything else doesn't really come close to how rhythmic and accessible that song is. I haven't listened to Let it Be by the Beatles yet.

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iamnotacamera

Let It Be is vastly underrated within The Beatles catalog. Probably my third favorite of theirs.

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swim

I definitely disagree with you Roy. Tommy Get's His Tonsils out is super energetic, it's my favorite Replacements song. Favorite Thing is pretty catchy plus Unsatisfied, Seen Your Video and Sixteen Blue are all highlights. It's a great album all around the only track I don't really like is Gary's Got a Boner.
I've never listened to The Beatles-Let It Be.

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Roygbiv

I can nowadays agree with you. I started listening to Let it Be after "Unsatisfied" made it into Adventureland. I'm now in love with that album.

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arnottfigaro44

Album leaves us in the same way the Beatles did (at least for live concerts to the public). with Get Back. Groovy keyboards / organ and drums galloping beat George with his usual busy guitar playing is nothing short of brilliant. Pauls crooning over-the-top brings tears to my eyes, he finally was. The last voice we hear is a group of people to thank John and said: I hope to pass the test." Well John, you are gone, brilliantly.

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slimfire

great review, thanks!