I can't believe I'm giving this great album a bad review...but
It must be noted that I've been a huge fan of this band for just about twenty years. So these reissues were something to look forward to (as they have been supposedly in the works for ten years). But unfortunately it's been the blind leading the blind as far as these reissues are concerned.

The music. Okay so the original vinyl album was the first album that I bought by this band. It still sounds great. So does the majority of this CD actually. However, as I get to the awesomely dramatic "Willpower" I notice that the beginning of the song is chopped off!! The song has forever started with the guitar line and then a "bu-dum" tom-tom part. Now there's no more guitar line intro and just part of the "dum". I don't know how they (Rhino/Ryko) can make BIG mistakes involving the transfers/remasters on three out of the four reissues. Stink (drop-out on the intro to "White & Lazy") and Let It Be (several edited tracks!) have the same issues involving either head-scratching mistakes or blatant editing of tracks. The majority of people buying these don't want revisionist history lessons - just the material as it has existed for over twenty years.

Who thought it was even an okay idea to put the stupid preface on the index to the bonus tracks (of someone walking down a hallway, enters door, slams door and the bonus material commences)? Not only is it plain corny and needless but it bleeds onto the beginning of the following track! They couldn't even execute a bad idea properly!

The bonus tracks are iffy at best as they left off the full band studio version of "Don't Get Married" and "Shook Me, Kill Me" as well (both fine outtakes from the album). "Bad Worker" is fine but has no place on this as it's a home demo and not a studio outtake (this sort of material - home demos - is begging for it's own disc on perhaps a box set?). And the ten seconds (or so) bits from interviews at the end of these discs deserve better than fifteen seconds after the final track. While these may be awfully cute and all they don't deserve to be on the same track as say a classic such as "If Only You Were Lonely" (as on "Sorry Ma"). This sort of thing was almost still funny fifteen years ago. It's pretty pointless doing things like this now. Put the complete interview on it's own track - it won't detract from anything this way.

If you are already a fan of this fine band, you undoubtedly will have issues with several things on these releases. Reissues have been done very well for almost twenty years now (good example of a great reissue series - The Monkees also on Rhino). I highly doubt anyone was trying to break the mold here (it's obvious they wouldn't know how). I'm just shocked that these were so poorly handled on several levels, with so many (intentionally made or not) mistakes. The band and it's fans simply deserve better.

Hootenanny
The Replacements-Hootenanny *****

As for the original album itself, well it is easily one of the bands best ever. It's early 1980's punk that has the hardcore attitude but doesn't sound hardcore and still maintains humour and pop leanings. A notch up from the groups legendary debut Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash in every way, the vocals, lyrics, musicianship, and even performance are all just slightly better on Hootenanny than Sorry. Not to say Sorry was a bad album, as it was anything but. The goofy title track, the arrogant 'Color Me Impressed' the snotty 'Mr. Whirly' 'Buck Hill' and 'Treatment Bound' make Hootenanny one of the very best albums of the 1980's. Westerbergs lyrics are still innocent and funny, Bob Stinson is a guitar God, Tommy can't play to save his life but gives the band the punk edge, and Christopher Mars plays a damn good fill.

Now for the remaster, I don't get the gripe. Yeah it is still short, but it is a punk album so the fact that it even got remastered is amazing. The bonus tracks, most of which are demos and alternate versions of songs are killer. Some better than the real album versions. Also the liner notes on the album are excellent. They go into great detail on the album and the recording.

This is a great but whether you get this the remastered and reissued version or just the plain old album, they are both the same price so getting the extras is a given, but either way your sure to win.

Five-star music. Three-star reissue.
For those of us hoping that the Ryko/Rhino would give the Replacements the same treatment they gave Elvis Costello, HOOTENANY and their other reissues are something of a disappointment.

The sound is great, no question. But there are two main shortcomings. First, there is too much wasted room on these discs. With the bonus material, HOOT clocks in at 49 minutes. WTF. With all the boots extant from throughout the 'Mats career, there is a literal goldmine of material out there that could have been included to get these timings closer to 80 minutes -- and, more importantly, give a more complete picture of what the Replacements were all about. Without some chunk of concurrent live material, there is something important missing. For those of us lucky to have seen the band live over the years, that void is all the more glaring.

Second, the liner notes are mediocre to downright bad. There are some great bits from Peter Jesperson. HOOT's are decent. The LET IT BE essay is a navel-staring disaster. How anyone could have let that stand as a "tribute" to one of the greatest albums in rock history is beyond me. Again, unlike the gold standard that both Ryko and certainly Rhino had set with their reissues of Costello's work, there is absolutely no input from the artists themselves. No words/thoughts/remembrances from Paul, Tommy, or Chris. And maybe this was their choice. But it certainly makes for a less-than-definitive reissue of this work.

The music does sound great. Bottom line. And I don't mind paying a little more for a great repackaging of important music -- and both Ryko and Rhino have done this very well in the past. Unfortunately, this effort doesn't live up to that same standard.