The Replacements opt for reissues over reunion

By Wes Orshoski

NEW YORK (Billboard) - With 1982's "Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash," Minneapolis' famously ragtag band of misfits, the Replacements, began an inspiring, influential and ultimately anti-climactic journey that has come to embody the very spirit of rock 'n' roll.

Or, at least, the romantic notion of an American rock'n'roll band: four kids in a van making a play for fortune and fame. If they never really achieved either, the band's legend lives on, and has become bigger than ever.

Stoking that flame are archival specialist Rhino's new, outtake-laden reissues of the Replacements' first four albums ("Sorry Ma," "Stink," "Hootenanny" and their 1984 tour-de-force "Let It Be"), to be followed by reissues of the band's four major-label successors later this year. In rare interviews, frontman Paul Westerberg and bassist Tommy Stinson look both back and forward.

WHEN YOU LISTEN TO THESE REISSUES AS A BLOCK, WHAT DO THEY

SAY ABOUT YOU GUYS AS A BAND AND AS FOUR YOUNG GUYS?

Tommy Stinson: We weren't afraid to do anything in particular, and that was the beauty of it. And I think the outtakes kind of show that. Even though they're going to kind of bum Paul out, having his solo cassette demos out there, I think they really tell a part of the story, too. It really shows where he comes from and what he might have been thinking on his own, but was too scared to try with us as the band, because it was too naked, or whatever.

OF THESE FOUR, IS THERE ONE ALBUM THAT MAYBE MEANS A LITTLE

BIT MORE TO YOU THAN THE OTHERS?