Tommy Stinson: Village Gorilla Head

Okay Tommy Stinson, lets see what you got. After literally growing up in the greatest American band ever, the Replacements, Stinson has released albums under the names Bash and Pop, and Perfect, was (is) a member of Guns and Roses, and is finally putting out a solo album.

As an album, overall, this is pretty good, with some shining moments, but nothing stellar. Rather than showing why he was part one of the biggest influences, he seems to be content to just make what he wants, no pressure. And it all turns out okay.

Going from straight up replacements like blues, to drum machine driven reflections, to hard driving garage anthems, this shows us what Stinson has wanted to do, with out the deference to others. On the back of the case, Gregg Steele, directors of programming, Sirius satellite radio says that “puts all of the Jet/hives/vines wannabees to shame”. Yeah, you think?Not so much as a dis on those bands, but as praise for what Stinson has done, those bands don’t even belong in the same sentence.

If you are a Replacements fan, and you should be, this will be a good pickup, as you can really see that he was right there with Westerberg, and it was not the one man show that we all assumed it was.

- Unknown
Tommy Stinson (Sanctuary Records)