As we celebrate the Ed Stasium remix of The Replacements album ‘Tim‘, we thought gathering other music lovers’ thoughts would be a great way to stop and consider the impact of this record. Our first ‘Revisit’ comes from our friend, Jim Doherty known as DJ Calc on WRKC Radio Kings College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

One of the joys of parenting my children as they move through their teen years has been re-engaging with music I have loved and falling in love with records all over again. This has happened a number of times when I manage to convert my kids into being fans of music that matters to me. Sometimes, however, falling in love all over again does not involve my kids. Sometimes it is just me and an album I thought I knew.

One band that I have not converted my kids, or my wife, to is The Replacements. In some ways, I see this as a failure of parenting. In some ways, though, this means that I get to lose myself in Paul Westerberg’s world without sharing that with anyone else in my house. Twice now in the past three years, I have fallen head over heels in love with a Replacements album that has already been part of my life for decades. A couple of years ago it was the Matt Wallace remix of Don’t Tell a Soul. This week, it is the Ed Stasium remix of Tim.

I started working at a record store in my college town in 1984 and one of the slew of miraculous albums that came out then was Let it Be. That album began a lifelong love affair with The Replacements. When Tim, their major label debut, came out in 1985 I was predisposed to love it and love it I have for decades now. But that love was always tempered a bit by the sort of soggy sound of the record. Tommy Stinson and Chris Mars, a dynamite rhythm section that roared on the earlier records by the band seemed neutered on this album. The guitars did not ring with the same power I was used to from the ‘Mats. It was easy to blame this on the record being their major label debut and the finger generally got pointed at the corporate label that wanted to tame the band. As with most stories, this was way too simple a reading of the situation.

Listening to this new remix almost feels like I am listening to some lost chapter of the band. The rhythm section kicks, and there is space for the guitars to ring, especially Bob Stinson who is still somewhat of a ghost on this album. The outro to ‘Little Mascara’ is a revelation. Westerberg’s voice – especially on ‘Little Mascara’ and ‘Here Comes a Regular’ – is just heartbreaking in its emotional depth. For a person whose public character was that of a person who could not be bothered to care (a favorite lyric of his is “One foot in the door, the other foot in the gutter. The sweet smell that you adore, yeah I think I’d rather smother”) it is sure clear in his singing here that he is deeply invested in these songs and in the characters being portrayed.

You can hear Jim’s radio programs on Mixcloud