Deluxe Edition 180g Vinyl LP & 3CD Set!
Original Album Newly Remastered + 29 Unreleased Tracks!
TAS Rated 5/5 Music, 4/5 Sonics in the February 2021 Issue of The Absolute Sound!
Pleased To Meet Me is the critically acclaimed fifth studio album by the American rock band The Replacements. Released in 1987 by Sire Records, Pleased To Meet Me is the only album recorded by the band as a trio, after original guitarist Bob Stinson acrimoniously left the band.
The making of Pleased To Meet Me was a transformative journey for The Replacements, one that began with the combustible Minneapolis combo on the brink of collapse and culminated in one of the definitive albums of the band's career. That transformation is chronicled in-depth on the group's latest set, Pleased To Meet Me (Deluxe Edition).
More than half of the music (29 tracks) on this Deluxe Edition set has never been released, including demos, rough mixes, and outtakes as well as Bob Stinson's last recordings with The Replacements from 1986.
The music is presented in a 12 x 12 hardcover book loaded with dozens of rarely seen photos along with a detailed history of the Pleased To Meet Me era written by Bob Mehr, who authored The New York Times bestseller, Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements.
Pleased To Meet Me was recorded over three months at Ardent Studios in Memphis with legendary producer Jim Dickinson before it debuted in June 1987. The collection opens with a newly remastered version of the original 11-track album along with a selection of B-sides and a version of "Can't Hardly Wait" that was remixed by Jimmy Iovine. All of the music included in this boxed set has been remastered by Justin Perkins, who remastered the band's widely acclaimed 2019 boxed set, Dead Man's Pop.
The second disc explores the creative process behind Pleased To Meet Me with 15 unreleased demos recorded at Blackberry Way Studios in Minneapolis during the summer of 1986. The first seven of these demos represent the last recordings made by all four original members of The Replacements. After those demo sessions stalled out, singer/guitarist Paul Westerberg, bassist Tommy Stinson and drummer Chris Mars made the painful decision to part ways with lead guitarist Bob Stinson after recording five albums together.
The disc's remaining eight demos feature the band as a trio and include "Shooting Dirty Pool", two versions of "Kick It In" and "Even If It's Cheap", whose opening line ("Pleased to meet me/the pleasure's all yours") would ultimately inspire the title of the album.
The collection's final disc features 13 previously unreleased rough mixes by studio engineer John Hampton that include the majority of the album along with non-album tracks like "Election Day" and "Birthday Gal". These rough mixes are also featured on the 180-gram vinyl record included in the set.
Rounding out the collection are several unreleased tracks (Westerberg's "Run For The Country" and "Learn How To Fail", Stinson's "Trouble On The Way") along with a selection of outtakes ("Beer For Breakfast" and "I Don't Know") that debuted on the 1997 compilation, All For Nothing/Nothing For All.
The latest in the band's series of expanded editions focuses on their second major-label record, the moment in which Paul Westerberg's punk impulses, pop instincts, and poetic soul came into focus as never before. Every Replacements record is extraordinary in its way, but none exemplifies their garbage-to-grandeur alchemy like Pleased To Meet Me, which rocks like early Kinks, swaggers like T. Rex, and pays tribute to their spiritual godfather Alex Chilton.
Rhino's new boxset of three compact discs and one LP celebrates the Replacements' magnificent prime with a welcome restoration of remastered material, demos, alternate takes, and 29 previously unreleased tracks... Spotlighting the 'Mats' patented blend of ferocity and vulnerability, Pleased to Meet Me reveals a blazing band on the cusp of stardom that never arrived; no matter, you can still hear their extraordinary powers here.
Features
- Deluxe Edition
- 1 180g Vinyl LP
- 3CD
- New remaster of the original album by Justin Perkins
- 1986 demo session with Bob Stinson - his last recorded Replacements performance, with his guitar tracks reinstated for the first time
- Additional 1986 demos with the band as a three-piece outfit (sans Bob)
- Previously unreleased rough mix of the album with alternate track listing
- Studio outtakes from the album recording sessions (Memphis, 1987)
- Rare single mixes
- 12x12 Hardcover Book
- Rare Photos
- New Historical Liner Notes written by Bob Mehr, author of Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements
- Made in the EU
Selections
CD One: Pleased to Meet Me (2020 Remaster) + Rare, Single-Only Tracks
- I.O.U.
- Alex Chilton
- I Don't Know
- Nightclub Jitters
- The Ledge
- Never Mind
- Valentine
- Shooting Dirty Pool
- Red Red Wine
- Skyway
- Can't Hardly Wait
- Election Day
- Jungle Rock
- Route 66
- Tossin' n' Turnin'
- Cool Water
- Can't Hardly Wait (Jimmy Iovine Remix)
CD Two: Blackberry Way Demos
- Bundle Up
- Birthday Gal
- I.O.U.*
- Red Red Wine*
- Photo
- Time Is Killing Us*
- Valentine
- Awake Tonight*
- Hey Shadow*
- I Don't Know*
- Kick It In (Demo 1)*
- Shooting Dirty Pool*
- Kick It In (Demo 2)*
- All He Wants To Do Is Fish*
- Even If It's Cheap*
CD Three: Rough Mixes, Outtakes & Alternates
- Valentine*
- Never Mind*
- Birthday Gal *
- Alex Chilton*
- Election Day*
- Kick It in*
- Red Red Wine*
- The Ledge *
- I.O.U.*
- Can't Hardly Wait*
- Nightclub Jitters*
- Skyway*
- Cool Water*
- Birthday Gal
- Learn How To Fail*
- Run For The Country*
- All He Wants To Do Is Fish
- I Can Help (Outtake)*
- Lift Your Skirt*
- 'Til We're Nude
- Beer For Breakfast
- Trouble On The Way*
- I Don't Know (Outtake)
LP - Pleased To Meet Me: The Rough Mixes
Side One:
- Valentine*
- Never Mind*
- Birthday Gal*
- Alex Chilton*
- Election Day*
- Kick It In *
Side Two:
- Red Red Wine*
- The Ledge*
- I.O.U.*
- Can't Hardly Wait*
- Nightclub Jitters*
- Skyway*
- Cool Water*
* previously unreleased
