The Replacements
Hootenanny
It's not Let It Be, that's for damn sure--but if there's one old chestnut that never gets tired, it's when you say "a bad Band X album is still better than a good one by Sting." It's a raucous, fuck-all-y'all album that sounds like a drunken compilation of the best wedding band you've ever heard. It's goofy, it's dumb, and if Mike Patton was singing, you'd think it was a garage version of Mr. Bungle--but instead it's the dulcet tones of Paul Westerberg, so it sounds even goofier. Unlike Let It Be, there's no flow to the Hoot--it's just a ramshackle group of songs, some good, some great, some that are just...well, still better than Fields of Fucking Gold, that's for sure. It also contains a song from the Say Anything soundtrack, which means it contains some of the DNA laced within every white guy with "feelings" that was born in the last 20 years. Basically, if you've ever worn out a pair of Converse All-Stars, you've heard something off this album. Don't worry if you don't remember--you were drunk at the time, and Erika Fedyk had just told you that you were too nice to "go out" with.
-Tucker Stone, 2007
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