Not such bad times after all

By Henry Lipput

It’s been difficult for me to find albums of songs by my favorite bands covered by other artists. The I Am Sam soundtrack and the series of CDs from Mojo Magazine (especially Revolver) did it for me for The Beatles. The Futureman Records wide-ranging (the digital edition had 50 covers) Garden of Earthly Delights did it for me for XTC.

Now Philly’s Creep Records, with their tribute album Let the Bad Times Roll (digital available on Bandcamp and the vinyl from Creep Records), has done it for me with The Replacements.  This collection of 13 songs that span the ‘Mats recording career is played by a group of bands and singers that I’ve never heard of playing songs I’ve been listening to for 30 or so years. And I’m really, really liking it!

The versions of Replacements songs on Let the Bad Times Roll run the gamut.  Mikey Erg channels the early ‘Mats on “Wake Up” and although Goddamnit’s “Can’t Hardly Wait,” Her Heads On Fire’s “Alex Chilton,” and Celebration Summer’s “Left of the Dial” have arrangements close to the original they just reinforce how great these songs are. “Unsatisfied” by Neckscars may be in the same ballpark but from the jangley open on it’s just a brilliant musical pledge of allegiance to what those four boys from Minneapolis accomplished. And Low Coast’s gorgeous take on “Here Comes a Regular” shows why this song should be a standard if it hasn’t become one yet.

But the real gems on Let the Bad Times Roll are the ones that feature a different take on these beloved songs. Crazy Tom Martin’s “Sadly Beautiful” is electronically infused and Sammy Kay has an acoustic take and a Tom Waits vocal on “Favorite Things.”