| Don't Tell a Soul | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 1, 1989 | |||
| Recorded | 1988–1989 | |||
| Studio | Cherokee (Hollywood) | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Length | 38:37 | |||
| Label | Sire | |||
| Producer | Matt Wallace, The Replacements | |||
| The Replacements chronology | ||||
| ||||
Don't Tell a Soul is the sixth studio album by the American rock band the Replacements, released on February 1, 1989, by Sire Records. [1]
Don't Tell a Soul was the first Replacements album featuring Bob "Slim" Dunlap, who replaced founding guitarist Bob Stinson in early 1987. [2] The album was recorded at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles and produced by Matt Wallace and the band. It was mixed by Chris Lord-Alge, who decided to give the record "a three-dimensional, radio-ready sound". [3] However, singer and guitarist Paul Westerberg was not satisfied with the new direction, commenting: "I thought the little things I'd cut in my basement were closer to what I wanted." [3]
Don't Tell a Soul was released on February 1, 1989 by Sire Records. The song "I'll Be You" was released as a single. [4] This proved to be the band's only appearance on the Billboard Hot 100: the song peaked at #51 on the May 13, 1989 chart.
In 2008, the album was remastered and reissued by Rhino Entertainment with 7 additional tracks and liner notes by Peter Jesperson. [5] In September 2019, Rhino released Dead Man's Pop , a box set featuring a remixed and resequenced version of Don't Tell a Soul (said to be closer to the band's original intentions) assembled by the album's producer, Matt Wallace, along with rarities, demos, and other unreleased tracks. It includes a two CD release of the 1989 live concert released on vinyl as The Complete Inconcerated Live.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [2] |
| Chicago Sun-Times | [6] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B+ [7] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A− [8] |
| Los Angeles Times | [9] |
| NME | 9/10 [10] |
| Pitchfork | 8.0/10 [5] |
| Rolling Stone | [11] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [12] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 4/10 [13] |
Don't Tell a Soul received generally favorable reviews, with critics noting the music's more mature themes and increasing disillusionment, along with a more private outlook. [14] Ira Robbins of Rolling Stone praised Westerberg's writing, stating that Don't Tell a Soul "is full of his sharp-tongued wordplay and idiosyncratic musical structures." [11] In February 1990, the album was ranked at number 16 in The Village Voice 's 1989 Pazz & Jop critics' poll. [15]
The Smashing Pumpkins' James Iha named the song "Achin' to Be" to his "mixtape for dreamers," commenting, "This is great, because he's talking about a would-be artist who's trying to do bigger stuff. And it sounds like someone everyone knows. Like he or she is an artist, but nobody really takes them seriously. So he's talking about her. She danced alone in nightclubs. She's a poet, she's an artist, she's like a movie, but at the end of the song, he's like, 'I'm like that, too. I've been aching for a while and I'm aching to be.' The narrator reveals himself, like, 'I'm just like her and I don't have the courage to go up to her.' Maybe I read too much into it. [Laughs.] But that's how it reads to me." [16]
All tracks are written by Paul Westerberg, except where noted
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Talent Show" | 3:32 | |
| 2. | "Back to Back" | 3:22 | |
| 3. | "We'll Inherit the Earth" | 4:22 | |
| 4. | "Achin' to Be" | 3:42 | |
| 5. | "They're Blind" | 4:37 | |
| 6. | "Anywhere's Better Than Here" | 2:49 | |
| 7. | "Asking Me Lies" | 3:40 | |
| 8. | "I'll Be You" | 3:27 | |
| 9. | "I Won't" | 2:43 | |
| 10. | "Rock 'N' Roll Ghost" | 3:23 | |
| 11. | "Darlin' One" | Paul Westerberg, Slim Dunlap, Chris Mars, Tommy Stinson | 3:39 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12. | "Portland" | 4:28 | |
| 13. | "Wake Up" | 2:13 | |
| 14. | "Talent Show" (Demo Version) | 2:54 | |
| 15. | "We'll Inherit the Earth" (Mix 1) | 4:02 | |
| 16. | "Date to Church" (with Tom Waits) | 3:49 | |
| 17. | "We Know the Night" (Outtake) | 3:28 | |
| 18. | "Gudbuy t'Jane" (Outtake) | Noddy Holder, Jim Lea | 4:09 |
The Replacements were an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1979. Initially a punk band, they are one of the main pioneers of alternative rock. The band was composed of the guitarist and vocalist Paul Westerberg, guitarist Bob Stinson, bass guitarist Tommy Stinson and drummer Chris Mars for most of its existence. Following several acclaimed albums, including Let It Be and Tim, Bob Stinson was kicked out of the band in 1986, and Slim Dunlap joined as lead guitarist. Steve Foley replaced Mars in 1990. Towards the end of the band's career, Westerberg exerted more control over the creative output. The group disbanded in 1991, with the members eventually pursuing various projects. A reunion was announced on October 3, 2012. Fans affectionately refer to the band as The 'Mats, a nickname that originated as a truncation of "The Placemats," a mispronunciation of their name.
Robert Thomas Christgau is an American music journalist and essayist. He began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became an early proponent of musical movements such as hip hop, riot grrrl, and the import of African popular music in the West. Christgau spent 37 years as the chief music critic and senior editor for The Village Voice, during which time he created and oversaw the annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. He has also covered popular music for Esquire, Creem, Newsday, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Billboard, NPR, Blender, and MSN Music, and was a visiting arts teacher at New York University. CNN senior writer Jamie Allen has called Christgau "the E. F. Hutton of the music world – when he talks, people listen."
Paul Harold Westerberg is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for The Replacements. Following the breakup of The Replacements, Westerberg launched a solo career that saw him release three albums on two major record labels.
Thomas Eugene Stinson is an American rock musician. He came to prominence in the 1980s as the bass guitarist for The Replacements, one of the definitive American alternative rock groups. After their breakup in 1991, Stinson formed Bash & Pop, acting as lead vocalist, guitarist and frontman. In the mid-1990s he was the singer and guitarist for the rock band Perfect, and eventually joined the hard rock band Guns N' Roses in 1998.
Lone Justice was an American country rock band formed in 1982 by guitarist Ryan Hedgecock and singer Maria McKee in Los Angeles. The band released two albums, Lone Justice in 1985 and Shelter the following year, before disbanding in 1987.
Pleased to Meet Me is the fifth studio album by the American rock band The Replacements, released in 1987 by Sire Records. The album was acclaimed by music critics.
Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper The Village Voice and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year absence from the Voice, each year from 1974 onward. The polls are tabulated from the submitted year-end top 10 lists of hundreds of music critics. It was named in acknowledgement of the defunct magazine Jazz & Pop, and adopted the ratings system used in that publication's annual critics poll.
Dub Housing is the second album by American rock band Pere Ubu. Released in 1978 by Chrysalis Records, the album is now regarded as one of their best, described by Trouser Press as "simply one of the most important post-punk recordings."
Let It Be is the third studio album by American rock band The Replacements. It was released on October 2, 1984, by Twin/Tone Records. A post-punk album with coming-of-age themes, Let It Be was recorded by the band after they had grown tired of playing loud and fast exclusively as on their 1983 Hootenanny album; the group decided to write songs that were, according to vocalist Paul Westerberg, "a little more sincere."
Hootenanny is the second studio album by the American rock band The Replacements, released on April 29, 1983, by Twin/Tone Records. The album received positive reviews from critics.
All Shook Down is the seventh and final studio album by the American rock band The Replacements, released on September 25, 1990, by Sire Records.
Legendary Hearts is the twelfth solo studio album by American rock musician Lou Reed, released in March 1983 by RCA Records. Reed self-produced the album, and dedicated it to his then-wife, Sylvia, who was credited with the cover concept. Due to tensions with Reed, most of Robert Quine's guitar parts were mixed down or removed entirely.
The discography of American rock band The Replacements consists of seven studio albums, four live albums, seven compilation albums, five extended plays, 16 singles, and 10 music videos. Formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota by guitarist and vocalist Paul Westerberg, guitarist Bob Stinson, bass guitarist Tommy Stinson, and drummer Chris Mars in 1979, the band signed with Twin/Tone Records the following year.
"I'll Be You" is a song by the American rock band The Replacements. It was written by lead singer Paul Westerberg and released as the lead single from the band's sixth studio album Don't Tell a Soul in 1989. After being singled out by Reprise executive Lenny Waronker as a potential hit, the song was heavily promoted by the label and became the band's only single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 51.
Steven Foley was an American drummer who played for Curtiss A, Things That Fall Down, The Replacements, Bash & Pop, Wheelo, and several other bands in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He played live for the most part, but he recorded with songwriter Peter Lack, and he appears in a Replacements video, "When It Began," which received two 1991 MTV Video Music Awards nominations.
3oclockreep is a 2008 album from Paul Westerberg. It includes material recorded with The Replacements for 1989's Don't Tell a Soul. The album was released on September 1, 2008, on TuneCore for $3.99; users could also purchase the tracks separately for $3.00 and 99 cents respectively.
Tim is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band The Replacements. It was released in September 1985 on Sire Records. It was their first major label release and 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.
"Merry Go Round" is a song by American alternative rock band the Replacements, from their 1990 studio album All Shook Down. Written by lead singer Paul Westerberg, the song features lyrics inspired by his relationship with his younger sister Mary as well as a drumming performance by Charley Drayton instead of the band's drummer Chris Mars.
Dead Man's Pop is a box set by The Replacements released by Rhino Entertainment on September 27, 2019. The box set includes a remix of the band's 1989 album, Don't Tell a Soul known as Don't Tell a Soul Redux, mixed by the album's original producer, Matt Wallace. Also included is a disc of rarities and unreleased tracks called We Know the Night: Rare and Unreleased which contains early versions of songs from the Don't Tell a Soul album and songs recorded with singer Tom Waits. The last two discs are a live album called The Complete Inconcerated Live, which expands upon the 1989 promotional EP, Inconcerated Live. The show was recorded at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on June 2, 1989.
Friday Night Is Killing Me is the first album by the American rock band Bash & Pop, released in 1993. It was Tommy Stinson's first project after the dissolution of the Replacements.
