In a sign that the Gen X nostalgia market remains viable, especially for indie rock, the Replacements’ revered 1984 album Let It Be is returning — again. An expanded version of the album was rolled out many years ago, but on Nov. 21, it will be blown out into an even bigger, three-CD or four-LP box set filled with outtakes and rarities — including “Street Girl (Takes 1 and 2)”, a never-heard song from the album sessions that was unveiled today.
The year 1984 was an epic one for indie rock, one that gave us Husker Du’s Zen Arcade, the Minutemen’s Double Nickels on the Dime, and R.E.M.’s follow-up to Murmur, Reckoning. But Let It Be still stands tall in the way it undeniably showcased the emerging range and depth of singer, songwriter, and guitarist Paul Westerberg’s songwriting. Either one of the two versions of “Street Girl,” a jaunty and rough-hewn homage to a knowing woman in his life, could have fit onto the finished Let It Be.
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The deluxe edition of Let It Be, out Nov. 21, will include that entire album and that outtake along with alternate takes of “Favorite Thing” and the heartbreaking “Sixteen Blue” and full-length versions of “Unsatisfied” and “Androgynous,” the latter with an alternate Westerberg vocal. In addition to “Street Girl (Takes 1 and 2),” the box includes another unheard song, “Who’s Gonna Take Us Alive.”
The expanded Let It Be also packs in Goodnight! Go Home!, a previously unreleased live tape from a 1984 show in Chicago, where the band romps through its own songs as well as covers of Bad Company’s “Can’t Get Enough,” Kiss’ “Black Diamond,” and the Beach Boys’ “Help Me Rhonda” and “Little G.T.O.” (This differs from the notorious but pretty wonderful cassette-only The Shit Hits the Fans live tape from the same period.)
The deluxe edition of Let It Be marks the latest such deep archival dive into the now-disbanded group’s catalog, preceded by deluxe versions of Tim, Pleased to Meet Me, and Don’t Tell a Soul.
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