The Most Significant Indie Records

Let It Be - The Replacements (Twin/Tone, 1984)

The little band that couldn't. The great American Rock Band of the eighties who could never pull it together long enough to pull it off good. Too true to their ethics, too full of the renegade rock & roll vibe and too afraid of being eaten alive by the business, when the 'Mats finally crashed and burned it was in many pieces that will never again be put together in quite the same way. Their records only capture part of the magic, but the magic of Let It Be captures is considerable. Paul Westerberg's heart-on-sleeve songwriting and shining, shoddy voice, goofy throwaways, the odd cover, Bob Stinson's over-the-top guitar, and the bumbling rhythm section-it's all here.