#67 - Seen Your Video
Early videos of the Replacements, from September 1981. The group is so fabulously adolescent and sophisticated at the same time, lyrical and raw, idiotic and refined. That mixture made them a special kind of entity, a kind of celestial heavenly punk rock chamber orchestra that could channel hell's shockwave fury and make it angelically soulful. The group careens in and out of control, leaning into and away from each other, wide-eyed innocent but with a growing edge of wizened cynicism too. They duck and dive, toss off masterpiece material with ease, a bit in awe of themselves, listening and watching, measuring their powers, but also not quite realizing fully how good they are becoming.
7 June 2005