This compilation was the first of five unrelated tribute albums to the Replacements. Five separate tribute albums and counting for one band, with just one top-40 hit to their credit no less. Wow. By my estimation, only the Beatles have outdone the Mats in this category. ...Forgot to Let Out the Cat not only has the distinction of being the only tribute comp doubling as a benefit album (for the Athens Area Humane Society), but sadly, it's also the weakest of the five (you can read up on this one and some of the other tribute albums here).
Any highly localized compilation is governed more by geography than genuine talent (or lack thereof). With the long-running Five-Eight being the lone, remotely recognizable name here, you'd be hard pressed to entice anyone with the exception of Mats diehards to come within earshot of this joint. The 17 participants here are no doubt well intentioned, and while some are fairly competent many are woefully deficient, particularly in the vocal department. No one listening to this is holding out for a lead singer on par with Paul Westerberg, but please, be able to carry a tune to do Minneapolis' finest some semblance of justice, for God's sake. Thankfully, most of Cat is relatively tolerable, but a couple of contributions were so grotesquely butchered, namely Harvey Milk's mutilated way beyond recognition "Don't Ask Why" and Five Minute Major's ska-inflected hack job of the classic "Shiftless When Idle," I was tempted to edit them out completely. At any rate, give it a whirl - warts and all. Be on the lookout for another out of print Replacements tribute in the near future.
02-Swing - Alex Chilton
03-The Martians - When It Began
04-Vaudeville - Androgynous
05-The Stonesouls - Mr. Whirly/Can't Hardly Wait
06-Five Minute Major - Shiftless When Idle
07-The Germans - Seen Your Video
08-Addison Blue - The Ledge
09-Napoleon Dynamite - If Only You Were Lonely
10-Baby Fishmouth - Kids Don't Follow
11-The Woggles - Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out
12-Harvey Milk - Don't Ask Why
13-The Earthworms - I.O.U
14-The Labrea Stompers - I Will Dare
15-A Mercy Union - Unsatisfied
16-Five-Eight - Answering Machine
8 comments:
Man, I gotta figure out a way to download this one (.rar files won't work on my computer).
I wanna hear that Harvey Milk song. Harvey Milk is awesome!
Hi,
Never heard of this Replacements Tribute ! Thanks !
...and thanks also for all the good things I have found on your blog like The Dreams So Real "Nocturnal..." , The Blases , Dramarama , etc...
Thanks for posting this! I bought "Forgot to Let Out the Cat" in the summer of '95 right before I started my sophomore year of college at the University of Georgia. I liked some of the songs but sold the CD back in '98, I think, and ever since I wished I still had it, partly because of nostalgia for my three years in Athens.
One more thing -- when I bought this tribute album in '95 I hadn't moved to Athens yet, so when I looked at the band's names on the back cover I thought, "I wonder if I'll see any of them live once school starts." As far as I know Napoleon Dynamite was a one-off created for the album by one of the organizers (when the movie came out four years ago "Forgot to Let Out the Cat" came to mind first -- I didn't know it was a nickname for Elvis Costello until later), and some of the other bands may have been one-offs as well. I don't remember many of them playing shows during the '95-'96 school year.
Hey, wow, talk about resurrecting a post...
I was in 5 Minute Major. Really. I'm not sure what we were thinking. I don't think any of us had ever actually heard The Replacements before this. Anyway, yeah, sorry about that...
I was on this trib (The Stonesouls) and it's pretty hard to find. It sold well in Athens, GA when it came out and got a mention in Rolling Stone. Our version of Mr. Whirrly / Can't Hardly Wait is available on itunes
Thanks for the repost!
Super late to the party here, only just discovered this today. Any chance we could get a new link? I tried but it's dead :(
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