Customer Rating: 
Summary: Hootenanny
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Five-star music. Three-star reissue.
Comment: 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.
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