The Replacements are prepping an expansive box set reissue of their 1987 album, Pleased to Meet Me, featuring an assortment of rarities and unreleased tracks, including Bob Stinson’s final recordings with the band. The set will arrive October 9th via Rhino.
The collection will boast 29 previously unreleased tracks, including demos, rough mixes and outtakes. To coincide with the box set announcement, the Replacements shared six of those unreleased songs on digital platforms: Rough mixes of “Alex Chilton,” “Never Mind,” “Valentine,” “Kick It in” and non-album tracks, “Birthday Gal” and “Election Day.”
The Pleased to Meet Me reissue will be anchored by a remastered version of the original album, along with an assortment of B-sides and a version of “Can’t Hardly Wait” remixed by Jimmy Iovine. The rarities include 15 demos — 11 of which are unreleased — recorded at Blackberry Way Studios in Minneapolis during the summer of 1986. Seven of those tracks mark the last recordings the Replacements made with Bob Stinson, who was pushed out of the band not long after (Stinson died in 1995).
The set will feature eight additional demos the Replacements recorded as a new trio, 13 previously unreleased rough mixes by studio engineer John Hampton, and an assortment of outtakes that were previously released on the 1997 compilation, All for Nothing/Nothing for All. Other unreleased rarities include two Paul Westerberg songs, “Run for the Country” and “Learn How to Fail,” and Tommy Stinson’s “Trouble on the Way.”
The Pleased to Meet Me reissue will be available digitally and as a three-CD/one-vinyl LP set. The physical version comes with a hardcover book featuring rare photos and a history of the Pleased to Meet Me era written by Bob Mehr, who wrote the celebrated Replacements biography, Trouble Boys.
The Replacements Pleased to Meet Me Box Set Tracklist
Disc One – Pleased to Meet Me (2020 Remaster) + Rare, Single-Only Tracks
1. “I.O.U.”
2. “Alex Chilton”
3. “I Don’t Know”
4. “Nightclub Jitters”
5. “The Ledge”
6. “Never Mind”
7. “Valentine”
8. “Shooting Dirty Pool”
9. “Red Red Wine”
10. “Skyway”
11. “Can’t Hardly Wait”
12. “Election Day”
13. “Jungle Rock”
14. “Route 66”
15. “Tossin’ n’ Turnin’”
16. “Cool Water”
17. “Can’t Hardly Wait” – Jimmy Iovine Remix
Disc Two – Blackberry Way Demos
1. “Bundle Up” – Demo
2. “Birthday Gal” – Demo
3. “I.O.U.” – Demo *
4. “Red Red Wine” – Demo *
5. “Photo” – Demo
6. “Time Is Killing Us” – Demo *
7. “Valentine” – Demo
8. “Awake Tonight” – Demo *
9. “Hey Shadow” – Demo *
10. “I Don’t Know” – Demo *
11. “Kick It in” – Demo 1 *
12. “Shooting Dirty Pool” – Demo *
13. “Kick It in” – Demo 2 *
14. “All He Wants To Do Is Fish” – Demo *
15. “Even If It’s Cheap” – Demo *
Disc Three – Rough Mixes, Outtakes and Alternates
1. “Valentine” – Rough Mix *
2. “Never Mind” – Rough Mix *
3. “Birthday Gal” – Rough Mix *
4. “Alex Chilton” – Rough Mix *
5. “Election Day” – Rough Mix *
6. “Kick It in” – Rough Mix *
7. “Red Red Wine” – Rough Mix *
8. “The Ledge” – Rough Mix *
9. “I.O.U.” – Rough Mix *
10. “Can’t Hardly Wait” – Rough Mix *
11. “Nightclub Jitters” – Rough Mix *
12. “Skyway” – Rough Mix *
13. “Cool Water” – Rough Mix *
14. “Birthday Gal”
15. “Learn How to Fail” *
16. “Run for the Country” *
17. “All He Wants to Do Is Fish”
18. “I Can Help” – Outtake *
19. “Lift Your Skirt” *
20. “‘Til We’re Nude”
21. “Beer for Breakfast”
22. “Trouble on the Way” *
23. “I Don’t Know” – Outtake
*previously unreleased
