Our weekly podcast features in-depth analysis of the music we find great, exciting and just plain awesome. This week, Editor-in-Chief Puja Patel, Reviews Director Jeremy D. Larson and Editor-in-Chief Ryan Dombal discuss the impressive reissue of the Replacements' Hon, which was awarded a rare 10 in a recent review written by Larson. And stay tuned until the end of the episode, where the band's bassist, Tommy Stinson, talks about an album he considers the perfect 10.
Listen to this week's episode and read an excerpt below. Follow along The Pitchfork Review here.
Puja Patel: Let's talk a little about what makes this reissue of the Replacements' Hon a 10.
Ryan Dobal: It's a high number.
Jeremy D. Larson: It's quite high. In this case, it has a lot to do with a completely new mix of the record by producer Ed Stasium. Because one thing he was suffering from Hon because his entire existence was how he sounded and how he didn't capture the controlled chaos of the band. There was a lot of digital reverb on the vocals and drums, and everything sounded really compressed.
Now, let me say this: I don't think so Hon it's an album to talk about among other hi-fi albums like Steely Dan's Come on. It's an album meant to be listened to on a cassette in your '84 Pontiac Sunfire. What's really interesting about this reissue and this remix is this question: Is it really something that needed to be changed? And I was kind of, Yes, it had to change. This is a really good edit that makes it clear how great a band they were at the time.
