Back in June, SPIN reported that the Replacements’ Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson were back in the studio working on a covers project for their old guitarist Slim Dunlap, who suffered a stroke last winter. Apparently they had a good recording run, so much so that Westerberg is considering keeping it going.
“Tommy and I strapped on guitars, not a word was said, and bang — we still rock like murder,” Westerberg told Rolling Stone. He later added, “Playing with Tommy last week, I was thinking, ‘All right, let’s crank it up and knock out a record like this.’ I’m closer to it now than I was two years ago, let’s say that.” That’s saying a lot.
The seminal Minneapolis punk rock band hasn’t released an album since 1990’s All Shook Down, and even that was barely a Replacements record. Westerberg had intended it as a solo release, and made it with mostly session musicians. And Stinson has been writing and playing bass with Guns N’ Roses and Soul Asylum.
But the two made it into a local studio last month and, with help from outside drummer Peter Anderson and guitarist Kevin Bowe, recorded four covers: Dunlap’s “Busted Up,” Hank Williams’ “Lost Highway,” Gordon Lightfoot’s “I’m Not Sayin’,” and “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” from the Broadway musical Gypsy.
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The new songs will arrive by the year’s end in limited 10-inch form, with each of the 250 copies going up for auction. According to Westerberg, Dunlap was excited about the project: “When I mentioned this, it seemed like something he really wanted to happen. ‘You guys get together,’ he said in a whisper. ‘Go play a song.'”
How about this one?
https://youtube.com/watch?v=0rO062hjZpA
