Something Else #9 - Replacements / Springsteen

Taking three out of four in Detroit was good, but then things went completely off the rails in Minnesota and Baltimore. Poor relief pitching and cold late-inning bats = several very frustrating losses.

But now the Red Sox are back at Fenway. And before they put an obscene beating on both the Brewers and Royals, we need to clear our heads with some rock and roll.

First, we have 44 tracks recorded by the Replacements for their 1981 debut album -- Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash. Peter Jesperson, the band's former manager, on hearing the band's demo in 1980: "I could hardly believe my ears ... It sounded like a wild reinterpretation of the fundamentals of rock-like Chuck Berry, the Stones and the Sex Pistols all rolled into one." When you visit me on my desert island, this will be one of my 10 albums. Inspirational lyric: "I hate music / It's got too many notes". (Note: The first four Mats albums -- Sorry Ma, Stink, Hootenanny and Let It Be -- have been remastered and reissued by Rhino with several bonus tracks each.)

Then we have one of the most famous Bruce Springsteen concerts of all time: February 5, 1975 at the Main Point in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. This show was broadcast on WMMR and at the time was the longest (2.5 hours) of Springsteen's career. It has been bootlegged many times -- on vinyl as "You Can Trust Your Car To The Man Who Wears The Star" and then on CD as "The Saint, The Incident, & The Main Point Shuffle". This remastered version is titled "The Prodigal Son At The Main Point". Notes: This was at the same time Bruce was writing and recording the Born To Run album, so there's an early version of "Thunder Road" called "Wings For Wheels" and "She's The One" has a lot of lyrics that would later become part of "Backstreets". Also, Suki Lahav plays violin and adds backing vocals.