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Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash

The Replacements - Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash Audio CD

A fair review of the The Replacements "Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Replacements reviews here, or go back to the The Replacements tabs.

Band: The Replacements
Title: Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash
Rating:

Release Date: 2008-04-22
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Takin a Ride 2: Careless 3: Customer 4: Hangin Downtown 5: Kick Your Door Down 6: Otto 7: I Bought a Headache 8: Rattlesnake 9: I Hate Music 10: Johnny's Gonna Die 11: Shiftless When Idle 12: More Cigarettes 13: Don't Ask Why 14: Somethin to D� 15: I'm in Trouble 16: Love You Till Friday 17: Shutup [Live, 1980] 18: Raised in the City [Live, 1980] 19: Raised in the City [#][*][Demo Version] 20: Shutup [#][*][Demo Version] 21: Don't Turn Me Down [Live, 1980][#][*][Demo Version] 22: Shape Up [Live, 1980][#][*][Demo Version] 23: You Ain't Gotta Dance [Studio Demo][#][*] 24: Get on the Stick [Studio Demo][#][*] 25: Oh Baby [Studio Demo][#][*] 26: Like You [#][*][Outtake] 27: Get Lost [#][*][Outtake] 28: Toe Needs a Shoe [#][*][Outtake] 29: Customer [Alternate Take][#][*] 30: Basement Jam [Rehearsal][#][*] 31: If Only You Were Lonely [*]

Sheer perfection in a reissue series of misguided ideas and awful mistakes!
For the first time in digital format both Bob's and Paul's guitars are largely evident. Wow! This album is still as exciting as it was the first time I heard it. The first CD issue of the album had Bob's guitar virtually inaudible whereas both guitars are screaming from either speaker on the vinyl issue and again. . . finally here on this reissue.

The songs. Well, "Raised in the City", "Hangin' Downtown", "Somethin' to Dü", "Customer" and the debut single "I'm In Trouble" may be some the most exciting songs the band ever released. This is the 'Savage Young Replacements' (for want of a better comparison) and they were seemingly fully-formed and basically perfect from their outset.

The reissue. This reissue series is unfortunately pretty awful. Poor, uninformative liner notes, audio drop-outs, edited tracks, poor selection of bonus tracks, and no information from any band members on the sessions. Of the first four releases this is far and away the best.
There's a healthy amount of great bonus material (virtually the mirror opposite of Stink) and the sound quality of these recordings are great.
The only gripe is that there are other recordings from this era that could have been included here or on Stink, but were not.

However the same head-scratchingly corny/awful idea of having footsteps
and a slamming door preface the bonus tracks (seriously) is here as well as the other releases. And the choice to add an interview snippet on the end of "I'm In Trouble" makes no sense and is simply just asinine. It spoils the long-awaited appearance of such a good song on it's own individual track. I suppose we'll have to wait for someone else to license this material to do this correctly. The complete interview should have gone on it's own individual track. You have to wonder just who was responsible for all these consecutive bad ideas.

Thankfully this release bares little resemblance to the rest in the series.

Oh yeah and "A Toe Needs a Shoe" is awesome. .

Waste of Mr. Westerberg's voice.

I really think The Replacements sounded best on 'Tim', 'Let It Be', and, 'Pleased to Meet Me'. This album is just fine. They slowed it down a bit on those albums. And the result was a much better musical and vocal sound. Buy this album if you want to hear the history of The Replacements.

Their best record
The "Stink" EP is really good, too. And the only good one as far as I'm concerned. It would have been nice to have "Sorry Ma" and "Stink" on 1 CD and leave all the other extra crap off or put it on a box set for the fanatics.

I've never understood the whole "Westerberg is a genius" thing. Probably because I hate Bruce Springsteen and REM. You need a college degree (if not a masters) to enjoy their later albums. You don't even need a high school dipolma for this one!

Check out Mighty High. . . In Drug City. You'll probably hate it!.

Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash
When most people hear or think the Replacements, that assuming you even know who the Replacements are, they think Pleased To Meet Me, and Tim, or maybe if you are really know your stuff Let It Be. The Replacements-Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash ****

Released in 1981, Sorry Ma Forgot To Take Out The Trash was the debut from some of Minnesota's finest the legendary Replacements. Few people realize the band was around before Let It Be. To be clear this is not The Beatles Let It Be, oh no. Hootenanny, Stink, Sorry Ma all came out before. Now Sorry Ma is nothing like the bands later material either. It's much, much more raw. The production is not as clean but actually makes the album sound better over all then that of Tim and Pleased To Meet Me.

This is the earliest carnation of the band with both Stinson brothers. The fantastic Bob Stinson on lead guitar. Bob is one of the most underrated guitar players in all of rock and roll. Tommy Stinson on bass. At the time of this album Tommy was only about fourteen years old, amazing huh. Christopher Mars on the drums. The poetic Paul Westerberg on lyrics, rhythm guitar and lead vocals.

For some reason or another some people call this album along with Stink hardcore. Well that couldn't be further from the truth. The Replacements couldn't be hardcore if they tried. Tommy Stinson has been quoted as saying "In the eighties hardcore is what you wished your band was but you just knew that, that was not your band, like with us. " Yeah this is more punk then they would ever do again. Songs like 'Takin A Ride' 'Customer' 'Otto' and 'Shutup' are just straight up punk yes, but not hardcore. So sorry if you were looking for hardcore but this is not it, and for those of you later day Replacements fans who were afraid of this because you heard it was hardcore well fear no more. 'Johnnys Gonna Die' is more or less loosely based on lead guitarist Bob Stinson who aside from being eccentric on stage dressing in such things as dresses he was also a massive druggie and drunk which is why in the liner notes he is listed as Smokin' (and drinkin') Bob Stinson. 'I Hate Music' is classic Replacements humor as does 'I Bought A Headache. ' 'Raised In The City' the track which closes the album is tied with 'Takin A Ride' the song which opens the album for the strongest track. They are the two best songs by the band out of their first three albums, not till Let It Be would those track be topped.

Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash is the album that started it all. The Replacements were concidered by the time the disbanded one of the greatest bands of all time, and still today they are looked at that one, but more now than then as the legend has grown. It is both humbling and interesting to see where the band came from as well as rewarding. .

This is great, where it started
But anyway I had almost written the band off completely but decided to give them another chance and bought their biography "It's All Over But The Shouting" along with the album "Tim". I was having a very hard time getting into the band before, as before I thought "Let It Be" was supposed to be "one of the best albums ever" and before I didn't get it, now I do. When I heard "Tim" the band started to make a little more sense, as the rockers were much better and "Here Comes A Regular" might be the best being alone while drinking song ever (Take that Ryan Adams). So I started reading the biography.

The more I knew the more I became interested in the band instead of feeling they were just another hipster "These guys are really good so you should like them" kind of band. So then one day I saw Sorry Ma on the shelf and had to have it. The impulsive record buyer I am I got the album and listened to the whole thing (Bonus tracks included) that day, and wow wow wow this makes you forget how much you're supposed to like the Replacements and pins you down to the floor. I think the exact moment where I saw the light of how amazing The Replacements were is on "Don't Ask Why", like a great Pistols song (and I'm a huge Pistols fan). Okay that's a lie. It was "Taking A Ride", the first song on the cd, with razor sharp guitar riffs at ninety miles an hour that hooked me.

So would I recommend this? Are you kidding me? The amazing amount of bonus songs here is incredible, especially the demo of "Raised In The City" (About fifteen times better than the version on the actual album). So as far as scale, before I would have said Let It Be is 3/10 (Even though it's supposed to be one of the best ever, which after listening to it again I've. . . changed my mind and I've just written a new review for Let It Be), Tim is an 8/10, and in a reference to Spinal Tap I would say "this one goes up to 11".

Changes everything you think about eighties music, with more fire and passion than you can shake a stick at. If you like the Circle Jerks, Sex Pistols, Dead Boys, early Clash, or just good high octane music in general, then you should get this album now.

Edit: Since I've listened to Let It Be again, I've realized how incredibly stupid I was to say that Let It Be was bad. I have no doubt that it is their best album now and I take back the Let It Be bashing I made before. I definitely recommend getting Sorry Ma, but Let It Be is absolutely a must own.

You can see a complete list of all The Replacements discography, or go back to the The Replacements tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.