Vinyl Me, Please Unboxed – The Replacements ‘Hootenanny’

Good things comes in 12 inch packages. Delivering limited edition vinyl pressings of new and classic albums directly to your doorstep, VMP operates under a simple philosophy: The Album Lives! With a carefully curated catalog of new and hard to find releases, the subscription service is more than just a record club, it’s a lifestyle choice for folks who wish Record Store Day could happen every month… in their living room.

Here’s how it works. You send Vinyl Me, Please some of your hard-earned money (a 3-month membership will set you back about $119) and they send you one carefully selected album they feel is Essential to any record collection. Yes, it truly is as easy as it sounds. You even get FREE SHIPPING. Each custom pressing (often on colored vinyl!) also comes with killer extras like original artwork and informative listening companion booklet.

You’ll have membership privileges in the VMP store too, which means you can grab a copy of previous VMP selections from the archives – including their already sold out reissue of Black Sabbath’s heavy metal marvel Masters of Reality – or choose from a slate of super-limited releases pressed exclusively for Vinyl Me, Please. The store is open, and Team VMP are dropping fresh new selections to their stock every single week. Do not miss out.

Word to the wise, while the store is open to the public, subscribers are privy to reduced “Members Pricing” as well, so joining the club definitely has its rewards. If you’re peckish about relinquishing control of your record collection to complete strangers, know that VMP’s Swaps Program is in full effect. That means you can flip any VMP pick you’re not interested in for a past featured album from any track (including Essentials, Country, Classics, and Rap/Hip Hop). My advice? Don’t overthink it. Do your turntable a favor and sign up today.

As for February, I swapped back into the VMP Rock track to pick up their reissue of The Replacements’ sophomore album, Hootenanny. Here’s a look.

For The Love Of Vinyl, Please DO NOT BEND

Okay, so Vinyl Me, Please’s Essentials selection for February is Fleetwood Mac’s celebrated self-titled album from 1975. While I’d say Fleetwood Mac is not the most interesting pick VMP has made on the Essentials track, I certainly cannot argue with the album’s stature in rock and roll history. Of course, that means the album has been pressed about a million times over the years, and is not at all hard to find in the vinyl wilds.

Just like many other collectors, I already have a first-rate copy of Fleetwood Mac in my collection, so I didn’t feel the need to double-up or even trade-up with the VMP version. But if you’ve yet to pick up Fleetwood Mac yourself, rumor has it VMP’s pressing is as solid as any out there.

The good news for me is that February’s VMP Rock pick is The Replacement’s Hootenanny, which is an album I absolutely adore, but have somehow never picked up. And yes, that made the decision to swap as easy as it’s ever been for me.

Anyway, if you’re not familiar with The Replacements, there are few bands in the history of the Midwestern rock and roll scene whose name is spoken with quite as much reverie. Likewise, their “devil may cry” attitude and DIY ethos essentially made them the mold from which countless other indie rock bands have been cast.

The band earliest iteration formed in the late 70s, with Paul Westerberg, Bob Stinson, Tommy Stinson, and Chris Mars coming together as Dogbreath. They rebranded as The Replacements after Dogbreath after a series of raucaus live shows left them banned from certain venues in their native Minneapolis, MN. By 1981, The Replacements’ live sets were the stuff of legend, with the band regularly playing to equally raucous crowds that were only getting bigger with each show.

The Replacements released their debut album the same year, with the punk and hardcore influenced Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash hitting stores in ’81. Hootenanny found its way to record bins two years later, and it’s safe to assume the portion of the band’s following that relished their punk rock panache was taken aback at what they heard. On the other hand, those who turned up to revel in the band’s increasingly impressive song craft were no doubt delighted as Hootenanny found The Replacements testing the limits of what they could do in the studio, cranking out a collection of songs as fun and flighty as they were genuinely moving.

To call Hootenanny a pivotal record in The Replacements oeuvre would be an understatement. Simply put, there was The Replacements before Hootenanny, and The Replacements after. And upon shedding their “snotty young punks” persona with their wonderfully offbeat sophomore release, they’d go on to record era and genre-defining albums like Let It Be (1984) and Tim (1985).

Even if Hootenanny less revered than the albums that followed, it happens to boast a couple of the best songs The Replacements ever recorded in “Color Me Impressed” and “Within Your Reach.” Those songs alone make the album a must-own for The Replacements fans. Sandwiched between the album’s giddily irreverent rockers, head banging rambles, and surf rock sojourns, they help make Hootenanny as perfect an introduction to the band as you’ll find. And yes, I’d stake my reputation on the fact that this vinyl pressing will hold up against any version of Hootenanny that’s ever been pressed.

Cover Matters

There’s a pretty interesting story behind the cover art for Hootenanny, which was indeed designed by Hüsker Dü drummer, and fellow Minnesotan, Grant Hart. You can read all about it in VMP’s Hootenanny companion booklet if you’re interested.

There’s a few pics of the band members on the back, as well as album credits and, of course, the VMP Rock foil-stamp that forever tags Hootenanny a rock & roll record worthy of every collection.

It lieu of a proper Public Service Announcement, I should tell you that it appears Vinyl Me, Please releases will no longer come with hype stickers. Instead, an album’s vital stats will come emblazoned on the OBI strip. This may seem minor change to some, but there are no doubt a few diehards out there that are already missing their hype stickers. C’est la Vie, I suppose. Anyway, here’s a pic of the new look OBI, which still includes a brief exerpt from the companion booklet.

As for that booklet, it was penned by none other than Bob Mehr, who stands as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the wild world of The Replacements.

If you’re wondering about the wax, this pale blue beauty is fit to rip-it-up on up any turntable around.

But I gotta say it looks particularly dazzling in contrast to the red here.

Give Vinyl Me, Please a Spin

How’s it sound? Like one of the greatest garage bands in history suddenly realized there were styles worth playing outside of the garage rock realm, and promptly decided to play them all. In all honesty, you’d be hard-pressed to find a single album that so completely captures a young band in transition. For that reason alone, Hootenanny is a legitimate touchstone album for any fan of The Replacemements. And if you don’t yet count yourself among that crew, Hootenanny is a solid an entry point as any album in their catalogue. Rest assured, it’s never looked, or sounded better than this Vinyl Me, Please reissue.

A big THANK YOU to our friends at Vinyl Me, Please for sponsoring this subscription. Don’t forget to check out the Vinyl Me, Please website and sign up to get some choice wax delivered right to your door each and every month! Be sure to check back next month to see what vinyl treasure Team VMP sends our way!