The Replacements appear to be releasing a box set of 'Don't Tell a Soul' alternate mixes & outtakes

The Replacements have been teasing some news, first showing boxes of a bunch of Ampex reels (a couple of which were labeled “rough mixes”), and then tweeting pictures of Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson from 1989’s Don’t Tell A Soul, saying news would be coming July 23. Now Amazon UK has listed a four-disc Replacements box set titled Dead Man’s Pop, which has a release date of September 27, 2019. From the looks of the tracklist on Amazon, it appears to be alternate mixes to Don’t Tell a Soul, a record with a troubled creation and birth.

The album’s credited producer is Matt Wallace and it was mixed by Chris Lord-Alge who, according to Bob Mehr’s 2016 Mats biography Trouble Boys, gave it a “a three-dimensional, radio-ready sound.” Paul Westerberg famously disliked the mixes, saying in the book “I thought the little things I’d cut in my basement were closer to what I wanted.”

The first disc of the box set is all Matt Wallace mixes of Don’t Tell a Soul songs, while the second disc features “Bearsville” version songs, presumably from the sessions they did in 1988 with producer Tony Berg at Bearsville Studio just outside of Woodstock… which did not go well. The Replacements and Berg clashed amongst a debaucherous sea of booze, pills, games of “dodgeknife” and other bad behavior. They finished the album in L.A. and Minneapolis with Wallace.

Disc Two also has alternate mixes, and songs from an infamous session they did with Tom Waits in 1988. More on that from Trouble Boys:

[Waits’] band got together with Waits and his wife and collaborator Kathleen Brennan at the Formosa Café in West Hollywood. Though Waits and Westerberg could both be shy in such situations, they hit it off grandly. Waits was particularly enamored of [guitarist Slim] Dunlap, who seemed like a character straight out of one of his own songs.

The band invited Waits back to Cherokee to hear their new tracks. “Waits’ wife was with him, and he was being really mild-mannered,” recalled Matt Wallace [producer of Don’t Tell a Soul]. “And the band is drinking a lot, of course.” Around midnight, Brennan got tired and taxied home. The moment she left Waits reached for a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and began chugging. “And he just turned into Tom Waits,” said Wallace. “It was like Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde.”

The last two discs are a live recording of The Replacements’ June 2, 1989 show at University of Wisconsin. You can check out the tracklist of Dead Man’s Pop from Amazon UK below. We’ll see if this is indeed the actually teased thing on July 23.

Dead Man’s Pop tracklist:

Disc: 1
1. Talent Show (Matt Wallace Mix)
2. I’ll Be You (Matt Wallace Mix)
3. We’ll Inherit the Earth (Matt Wallace Mix)
4. Achin’ to Be (Matt Wallace Mix)
5. Darlin’ One (Matt Wallace Mix)
6. Back to Back (Matt Wallace Mix)
7. I Won’t (Matt Wallace Mix)
8. Asking Me Lies (Matt Wallace Mix)
9. They’re Blind (Matt Wallace Mix)
10. Anywhere’s Better Than Here (Matt Wallace Mix)
11. Rock ‘n’ Roll Ghost (Matt Wallace Mix)

Disc: 2
1. Portland (Alternate Mix) [Bearsville Version]
2. Achin’ To Be (Bearsville Version)
3. I’ll Be You (Bearsville Version)
4. Wake Up (Alternate Mix) [Bearsville Version]
5. We’ll Inherit The Earth (Bearsville Version)
6. Last Thing In The World
7. They’re Blind (Bearsville Version)
8. Rock ‘N’ Roll Ghost (Bearsville Version)
9. Darlin’ One (Bearsville Version)
10. Talent Show (Demo Version)
11. Dance On My Planet
12. We Know The Night (Alternate Outtake)
13. Ought To Get Love (Alternate Mix)
14. Gudbuy t’Jane (Outtake)
15. Lowdown Monkey Blues (feat. Tom Waits)
16. If Only You Were Lonely (feat. Tom Waits)
17. We Know The Night (feat. Tom Waits) [Rehearsal]
18. We Know The Night (feat. Tom Waits) [Full Band Version]
19. I Can Help (feat. Tom Waits)
20. Date To Church (Matt Wallace Remix)

Disc: 3
1. Alex Chilton (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
2. Talent Show (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
3. Back To Back (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
4. I Don’t Know (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
5. The Ledge (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
6. Waitress In The Sky (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
7. Anywhere’s Better Than Here (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
8. Nightclub Jitters (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
9. Cruella De Ville (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
10. Achin’ To Be (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
11. Asking Me Lies (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
12. Bastards Of Young (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
13. Answering Machine (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
14. Little Mascara (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
15. I’ll Be You (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)

Disc: 4
1. Darlin’ One (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
2. I Will Dare (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
3. Another Girl, Another Planet (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
4. I Won’t (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
5. Unsatisfied (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
6. We’ll Inherit The Earth (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
7. Can’t Hardly Wait (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
8. Color Me Impressed (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
9. Born To Lose (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
10. Never Mind (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
11. Here Comes A Regular (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
12. Valentine (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
13. Left Of The Dial (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)
14. Black Diamond (Live at University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 6/2/1989)