New Wax Wednesday

Welcome to the first installment of New Wax Wednesday for 2026! I already have plenty of great 2026 releases to cover in future columns, but I wanted to kick off the new year by instead diving into something that I ran out of time to post about at the tail end of 2025. So many great LPs, so little time, as the saying (kind of) goes.

At any rate, this important collection came out in the late fall, right around the time the EOY box-set deluge officially got underway. Though I was able to cover 17 (count ’em) box sets and reissues cumulatively in a three-part series over on our now-shuttered sister site Sound & Vision here, here, and here, I wasn’t able to delve into everything there that I wanted to get to — so now’s the time to give one of them, Rhino’s 4LP deluxe edition commemorating The Replacements’ final indie release on Twin/Tone, October 1984’s truly seminal Let It Be, some serious analog love.

As I mentioned, Let It Be was The Mats’ last original LP on the indie, Minneapolis-based Twin/Tone label before they moved over to Sire for their first major label release, September 1985’s Tim. My own Mats vinyl-obtainments trajectory actually worked backward to start, as I had Tim and its followup, March 1987’s Pleased to Meet Me (hands-down one of the Top 10 LPs of my college years) on vinyl before getting my mitts on a well-loved used copy of Let It Be (TTR 8441). That somewhat noisy, secondhand original has long since been relegated to the archival shelves, as I’ve been much more content to subsequently spin Rhino’s January 2016 remastered Let It Be reissue LP (R1 773761) in its stead.

The new Let It Be collection’s stats are these. This 4LP deluxe edition includes the remastered original album on LP1, rarities and B-sides on LP2, and a previously unreleased live gig on LPs 3-4. With the initials “JN-H” seen duly etched in each of these standard-weight LPs’ respective runout grooves, we can rightly assume Joe Nino-Hernes handled the vinyl cutting duties, likely at his usual Sterling Sound Nashville studio locale. Digital sourcing was likely involved at some point along the way, but that’s not even remotely a dealbreaker here.

Amongst the finely hewn rarities is the alternate version of “Androgynous” (LP2, Side Two, Track 4), which features a different vocal take and its full piano intro, restored here for the first time. Check it out via its official YouTube clip below.

Other key Be-era rarities include alternate versions of tracks like “Gary’s Got a Boner” (LP2, Side One, Track 1), and “Favorite Thing” (LP2, Side One, Track 2), as well as previously unreleased outtakes “Who’s Gonna Take Us Alive” (LP2, Side One, Track 5), and “Street Girl” (LP2, Side Two, Track 1). If you dig The Mats like I do, these are essential additions to your needle-drop proclivities — not to mention their choice, spot-on covers of songs like The Grass Roots’ sweet 1970 hit “Temptation Eyes” (LP2, Side One, Track 4), The DeFranco Family’s 1973 bubblegum classic “Heartbeat, It’s a Lovebeat” (LP2, Side One, Track 6), and T.Rex’s glam-tastic 1973 single “20th Century Boy” (LP2, Side Two, Track 5).

This deluxe edition also includes Goodnight! Go Home!, an unreleased 28-song performance recorded on August 17, 1984, at the Cubby Bear in Chicago, that gets spread across LP3 and LP4. (Speaking as someone who was going to high school in a south suburb of Chicago at the time, I would have loved to have seen that show in person, let me tell you!) Sourced from an audience tape and newly remastered, Goodnight! finds the Minneapolis quartet hard-charging through songs from the not-yet-released Pleased to Meet Me LP (“I Will Dare,” “Unsatisfied”), early Twin/Tone favorites (“Color Me Impressed,” “Takin’ A Ride”), and a characteristically offbeat cover combo, “Help Me Rhonda / Little G.T.O.” — originally done by The Beach Boys and Ronny & The Daytonas, respectively — as well as Bad Company’s “Can’t Get Enough.”

For those who have a little extra money to spend, a bonus 10-incher dubbed Live at City Gardens is included in a special version of the box set that’s available exclusively at Rhino.com (ordering info in just a moment). This six-song soundboard recording was made February 11, 1984, at one of the band’s favorite punk clubs in Trenton, New Jersey. One highlight is a rare performance of the ballad “You’re Getting Married” (Side B, Track 1), a birthday request from the band’s original manager and Twin/Tone co-founder Peter Jesperson, who co-produced both the original Let It Be LP and this deluxe edition. Paul Westerberg altered the lyrics mid-song, delivering them to a punk crowd Jesperson feared “might eat him alive” — but didn’t. “In all of The Replacements’ lore,” he said in a press statement, “I think this is one of the greatest moments ever.”

The 10in-included version of the Let It Be deluxe edition has an SRP of $114.98, and it can be ordered via Rhino’s official site store here. The 4LP edition sans the 10-incher has an SRP of $99.99, and you can order it from Music Direct here, and/or via the MD link graphic that appears below, just above the tracklisting section. (For the digitally inclined and/or completists out there, a 3CD edition that sports an SRP of $34.98 is also available at Rhino’s e-shop.)

Each LP in my Let It Be collection was flat, well-centered, and experienced no pops or clicks at all sans the runouts of both LP1, Side One and LP2, Side One. Packaging-wise, each of the four individual LP’s accordion slots were quite sturdy with enough surrounding room and give, so it was easy to remove each record without stress or the usual impending dread that I’d tear any of the corners in the process. I was also happy to see each LP housed in plastic-lined black inner sleeves, and I also appreciated Rhino respecting the original tan Twin/Tone label style for LP1 with some tasteful updating (as seen above), then switching to crimson for LPs 2-4.

Tommy Stinson’s bass throughout “Favorite Thing” (LP1, Side One, Track 2) was refreshingly palpable and full, as it often came across a but muted on my original LP (though admittedly more supple on the 2016 Rhino repress), and Westerberg’s jangly lap-steel touches on “Unsatisfied” (LP1, Side Two, Track 1) were, well, quite satisfying indeed (and a nice foreshadowing of certain Mats material to come as the ’80s continued to unfold). And, of course, Westerberg’s echo-laden vocal/electric guitar duet with himself on the album-ending “Answering Machine” (LP1, Side Two, Track 5) captured his eternal angst with just the right level of not-too-distorted distress.

As for my ratings, I give the Music a 9, and the Sound an 8. The sound of the studio material veers between 8 and 9 (even the balance of the more punishing, punkier tracks), but some of the outtakes rate at 7.5, and the audience-sourced live material, while unquestionable historically important in its inherent value, notch a 7 at best, hence the cumulative Sound rating.

Some additional Mats stats now, per the official press materials, along with the usual MM additives. By the time Let It Be was recorded, The Replacements — who, at the time consisted of vocalist/rhythm guitarist and chief songwriter Paul Westerberg, lead guitarist Bob Stinson, bassist/background vocalist Tommy Stinson, and drummer Chris Mars — had nearly outgrown their rough-edged hardcore beginnings. In their place were songs about longing, identity, and the uneasy shift from youth to adulthood. Tracks like the aforementioned Side Two pair of “Unsatisfied” and “Answering Machine” embody that evolution, while “Seen Your Video” (LP1, Side Two, Track 2) preserved their instinct for irreverence — as did, of course, “Gary” and his you-know-what (LP1, Side Two, Track 3).

The liner notes in the included, 20-page softbound almost-LP-size booklet are by Elizabeth Nelson, a music journalist and singer/songwriter for the critically acclaimed Washington, DC-based pub-rock band The Paranoid Style. “In form and function, The Replacements were the ultimate rebuke to masculine punk,” Nelson observed in those liners, “and Let It Be, at its core, is a record for girls.” It’s also a record for the terminally shy, and for anyone who ever felt like a freak in their own skin. I also like the way the press notes assessed what this album represented: “Let It Be is, in short, the blueprint for what so many of us wanted and needed rock & roll to be — a refuge, a provocation, and in the end, a way out.” My view: I say, to borrow part of the recurring end of “Answering Machine,” if you need help — if you need help — the 4LP deluxe edition of Let It Be gives you everything you need to make the right playback connection.

THE REPLACEMENTS
LET IT BE (DELUXE EDITION)
4LP (Twin/Tone / Rhino)

LP1, Side One – 2025 Remaster
1. I Will Dare
2. Favorite Thing
3. We’re Comin’ Out
4. Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out
5. Androgynous
6. Black Diamond

LP1, Side Two – 2025 Remaster (ctd)
1. Unsatisfied
2. Seen Your Video
3. Gary’s Got A Boner
4. Sixteen Blue
5. Answering Machine

LP2, Side One – Rarities
1. Gary’s Got A Boner – Alternate Version *
2. Favorite Thing – Alternate Version *
3,Perfectly Lethal
4.Temptation Eyes
5. Who’s Gonna Take Us Alive *
6. Heartbeat, It’s A Lovebeat
7. Answering Machine – Home Demo #1
8. Answering Machine – Home Demo #2 *

LP2, Side Two – Rarities (ctd)
1. Street Girl – Takes 1 And 2 *
2. Sixteen Blue – Alternate Version
3. Unsatisfied – Full Length Version *
4. Androgynous – Alternate Version *
5. 20th Century Boy
6. Hey Good Lookin’ – Live

LP3-LP4
1. Goodnight! Go Home!: Live at Cubby Bear,
2. Chicago, IL, August 17, 1984

LP3, Side One
1. Side One
2. Can’t Hardly Wait *
3. Left In The Dark *
4. Unsatisfied *
5. I Will Dare *
6. Favorite Thing *
7. Kids Don’t Follow *

LP3, Side Two
1. Run It *
2. Color Me Impressed *
3. Hayday *
4. Nowhere Is My Home *
5. Love You Till Friday *
6. Help Me Rhonda / G.T.O. *
7. Takin’ A Ride *

LP4, Side One
1. Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out *
2. Gary’s Got A Boner *
3. Johnny’s Gonna Die *
4. Can’t Get Enough *
5. I’m In Trouble *
6. Don’t Ask Why *
7. Take Me Down To The Hospital *

LP4, Side Two
1. Shiftless When Idle *
2. Mr. Whirly *
3. Hitchin’ A Ride *
4. Black Diamond *
5. 20th Century Boy *
6. Go *
7. Gimme Noise *
8. White And Lazy *

Live At City Gardens 1984
10in (included with Rhino.com exclusive edition only)

Side A
1. I Will Dare *
2. Hayday *
3. 20th Century Boy *

Side B
1. You’re Getting Married *
2. God Damn Job *
3. Color Me Impressed *

* Previously unreleased