| Tim | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by The Replacements | ||||
| Released | October 1985 | |||
| Recorded | June–July 1985, Nicollet Studios, Minneapolis | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock, punk rock | |||
| Length | 36:29 (original) 58:46 (reissue) |
|||
| Label | Sire Records | |||
| Producer | Tommy Ramone | |||
| The Replacements chronology | ||||
|
||||
Tim is an album released in October 1985 on Sire Records by the alternative rock band The Replacements. It was their first major label release. It was also the last album made by the original line-up of the band: guitarist Bob Stinson was kicked out of the band towards the end of 1986.
Tim's mainstream commercial success, like its predecessors, was moderate at best, despite the critical acclaim it garnered. The album peaked at #183 on the Billboard Music Chart's Top 200.
Like its predecessor, Let It Be, Tim was highly praised by many critics upon its release.[1] Tim placed 136th on Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and it ranked #4 in the Alternative Press list of the Top 99 albums of 1985-1995.[2] Along with their previous album, Let It Be, it received the full five stars from Allmusic.
Contents |
Stylistically, the album shows Paul Westerberg's diverse influences, including Alex Chilton's Big Star on "Hold My Life," Roy Orbison and Duane Eddy on "Swingin' Party" and Chuck Berry and Nick Lowe on "Kiss Me on the Bus". Lyrically, the album is typical of Westerberg's style. The songs are an assortment of alienated narratives from a motley crew of low-lifes and losers, often tragically unable to function as responsible adults. The song, "Can't Hardly Wait", was originally recorded for Tim, but was not included in the release. It appears later on Pleased to Meet Me with one of the original guitar parts changed to a horn part.
The album also contains the song "Bastards of Young", which was given a now famous black and white video, consisting of mostly a single unbroken shot of a speaker. At the end of the song, the speaker is kicked in by the person who was listening to the song. Similar videos were also made for "Hold My Life" (in color) and "Left of the Dial" (minus the speaker-bashing).
"Left of the Dial" is a reference to college radio stations which were usually on the left side of a radio dial.[3] More than 20 years after the album's release, the song remains popular as a college radio anthem.
The band performed "Bastards of Young" and "Kiss Me on the Bus" on Saturday Night Live on January 18, 1986. It was the most television exposure the band had received up to that time, but the band's behavior on the show, including swearing during the broadcast, resulted in a lifetime ban from Saturday Night Live. However, Westerberg would later perform on the show as a solo artist.
The album was remastered and reissued by Rhino Entertainment on September 23, 2008 with six additional tracks.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [4] |
| Pop Matters | (9/10) [5] |
| Robert Christgau | (A-) [6] |
| Rolling Stone | [7] |
Like its predecessor, Let It Be, Tim was highly praised by many critics upon its release.[8] The album is frequently included on professional lists of the all-time best rock albums. Tim was ranked #4 in the Alternative Press list of the Top 99 albums of 1985-1995.[2] Along with their previous album, Let It Be, it received the full five stars from Allmusic.
The album was placed 136th on Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, with the following review:
| “ | Singer-guitarist Paul Westerberg once cited Tim's stylistic bookends to describe both the longevity of the Replacements' influence and their lack of mainstream success. "My style is ultimately both kinds of things," he said. "Sometimes you just love the little acoustic songs, and other times you want to crank the goddamn amp up, and those two parts of me are forever entwined." That cognitive dissonance — the Stonesesque swagger of "Bastards of Young," the unpolished reflection in "Swingin' Party" — became a crucial template for grunge, alternative country and, recently, the noisy introspection of emo.[9] | ” |
Pitchfork named this album #37 on their list of the Top 100 Albums of the 1980s. [10]
All songs written by Paul Westerberg, except as indicated.
|
|||||||||||||||||