Pleased To Meet Me - 2020 Sire-Rhino label 68-track Limited Deluxe Edition 1LP/3CD Box

Long awaited.... 2020 Sire-Rhino label 68-track Limited Deluxe Edition 1LP/3CD Box - comes with an incredible amount of bonus material; largely demos and outtakes. There’s 38 in total, with most of them previously unreleased. There are also six non-album tracks appended to the album on the first CD - "Please To Meet Me" spawnet the singles "Can't Hardly Wait", "Alex Chilton", "The Ledge" and "Skyway" in 1987.

This comes with a vinyl record which rather than featuring the studio album is actually a version featuring rough cuts.

The band’s fifth studio album was recorded as a trio (after guitarist Bob Stinson’s exit after the release of the previous album Tim). The sessions took place in Memphis at the end of 1986 and early 1987, with Jim Dickinson producing. By the time the album was released, in April ’87, guitarist Bob ‘Slim’ Dunlap had joined.

This comes presented as a 12″ x 12″ hardcover book with rare photos and a new notes by Bob Mehr, author of Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements.

Tracklisting:

Vinyl LP: Rough Mixes:

Side 1:
1. Valentine*
2. Never Mind*
3. Birthday Gal*
4. Alex Chilton*
5. Election Day*
6. Kick It In*

Side 2:
1. Red Red Wine*
2. The Ledge*
3. I.O.U.*
4. Can’t Hardly Wait*
5. Nightclub Jitters*
6. Skyway*
7. Cool Water*

CD 1: 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

CD 2: 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 *

CD 3: Rough Mixes, Outtakes, & 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

Rhino Records writes:

Pleased To Meet Me is the critically acclaimed fifth studio album by the American rock band The Replacements. Released in 1987 by Sire Records, Pleased To Meet Me is the only album recorded by the band as a trio, after original guitarist Bob Stinson acrimoniously left the band. 

Following last year’s widely acclaimed Dead Man’s Pop release, Pleased To Meet Me will be receiving a similar ‘deep dive’ treatment with a 3-CD/1-LP deluxe boxed set, which will tell the story of the album in ways not previously possible with more than 50% of the content previously unreleased 

• New remaster of the original album by Justin Perkins, who was also behind the boards for our Dead Man’s Pop regimaging
• 1986 demo session with Bob Stinson – his last recorded Replacements performance
• Additional 1986 demos with the band as a three-piece outfit (sans Bob)
• Previously unreleased rough mix of the album with alternate track listing
• Studio outtakes from the album recording sessions (Memphis, 1987)
• Rare single mixes

The making of Pleased To Meet Me was a transformative journey for The Replacements, one that began with the combustible Minneapolis combo on the brink of collapse and culminated in one of the definitive albums of the band’s career. That transformation is chronicled in-depth on the group’s latest boxed set, PLEASED TO MEET ME (DELUXE EDITION).

More than half of the music (29 tracks) on this Deluxe Edition set has never been released, including demos, rough mixes, and outtakes as well as Bob Stinson’s last recordings with The Replacements from 1986.

The music is presented in a 12 x 12 hardcover book loaded with dozens of rarely seen photos along with a detailed history of the Pleased To Meet Me era written by Bob Mehr, who authored The New York Times bestseller, Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements. 

Pleased To Meet Me was recorded over three months at Ardent Studios in Memphis with legendary producer Jim Dickinson before it debuted in June 1987. The collection opens with a newly remastered version of the original 11-track album along with a selection of B-sides and a version of “Can’t Hardly Wait” that was remixed by Jimmy Iovine. All of the music included in this boxed set has been remastered by Justin Perkins, who remastered the band’s widely acclaimed 2019 boxed set, Dead Man’s Pop.

The second disc explores the creative process behind Pleased To Meet Me with 15 unreleased demos recorded at Blackberry Way Studios in Minneapolis during the summer of 1986. The first seven of these demos represent the last recordings made by all four original members of The Replacements. After those demo sessions stalled out, singer/guitarist Paul Westerberg, bassist Tommy Stinson and drummer Chris Mars made the painful decision to part ways with lead guitarist Bob Stinson after recording five albums together. 

The disc’s remaining eight demos feature the band as a trio and include “Shooting Dirty Pool,” two versions of “Kick It In,” and “Even If It’s Cheap,” whose opening line (“Pleased to meet me/the pleasure’s all yours”) would ultimately inspire the title of the album.

The collection’s final disc features 13 previously unreleased rough mixes by studio engineer John Hampton that include the majority of the album along with non-album tracks like “Election Day” and “Birthday Gal.” These rough mixes are also featured on the 180-gram vinyl record included in the set. 

Rounding out the collection are several unreleased tracks (Westerberg’s “Run For The Country” and “Learn How To Fail,” Stinson’s “Trouble On The Way”) along with a selection of outtakes (“Beer For Breakfast” and “I Don’t Know”) that debuted on the 1997 compilation, All For Nothing/Nothing For All.