The Replacements

★★★★ Pleased To Meet Me (Deluxe Edition) RHINO. CD/DL/LP Their last truly great album, from 1987, plus outtakes and previously unheard tracks. Often seeming less a band than a prolonged exercise in selfsabotage, The Replacements’ second Sire LP contained brilliance – the powerpop of Alex Chilton, the bruised soul of Skyway – as their chaos raged unabated, guitarist Bob Stinson exiting during the demo stages. This exhaustive reissue includes his final contributions, though the real gold comes in their studio sessions with Jim Dickinson. If the finished album trod a thin line between juvenile bloodymindedness and maturing profundity, these outtakes find the band flailing in both directions. The rockabilly vamps eventually outstay their welcome, but charming Kick It In, brooding Learn How To Fail and happy/sad Birthday Gal offer precious extra moments with a group that never again made such thrilling sense of their chaos and contradictions.