Paul Westerberg's Replacements reissue four albums

(NewsDay) This is typical Paul Westerberg.

The singer-songwriter was paying his respects to the Replacements' second drummer, Steve Foley, a few weeks back. "I'm standing there at the casket looking at him, and then wafting over the PA comes 'Sadly Beautiful,'" Westerberg says. "OK, I gotta leave."

He wasn't expecting one of his songs from the final Replacements' album, 1990's "All Shook Down," to be played at such a somber event: Foley drummed on the group's last tour and accidentally overdosed on prescription medication in late August.

"It doesn't seem to get any easier," sighs Westerberg, who said goodbye to the band's original guitarist, Bob Stinson, more than a decade ago. But - here's the Westerberg twist - "I would have preferred Glen Campbell's new version of the song."

That's his self-deprecating way of dealing with his legacy - a legacy that gets dusted off this week with Rhino Records' deluxe reissuing of the legendary Minneapolis rock band's final four albums (the group was also known as the Placemats and, in shorthand, simply the Mats). Each disc has rare and previously unreleased tracks tacked on. (Rhino similarly released the band's earlier indie-label albums in April.)

"Are they coming out as one big thing?" he asks of the individual Tuesday releases. "Or are they rereleasing the last three or four records?"

Typical Westerberg. He has no idea.

He opens the Rhino package while on the phone at home - they sent him the post-production discs. "I have to take off my glasses to see the track listing," he says. "There are some good songs on these things."

Westerberg mentions "Tiny Paper Plane," an evocative rough cut from the final album. "This was from the era that they were seriously pushing us to compete with The Cult, and that's not the type of song that makes for band material," he recalls. "You know, if they send me some vinyl, I might put it on."

And maybe, just maybe these albums will turn on a new generation to the hard-partying, but always eloquent outfit that began at the very end of the 1970s and finished things with a final show in Chicago on July 4, 1991.

"They were a band that was made up of their own persons," says Peter Jesperson, who discovered, managed and co-produced the group's early work. "They liked what they liked and weren't embarrassed about it. It's a little bit like what Big Star did, that combination of Gibson guitars through Marshall amps and great melodies."

Jesperson, now senior vice president for A&R at New West Records, still marvels at the growth he witnessed during the early days - from "Johnny's Gonna Die" to "Go" and "Color Me Impressed."

"I had the best seat in the house," says Jesperson, who also produced the reissues. (There isn't much more fully developed Mats material left to release, he admits.) "They were real mavericks."

So will the college-rock standbys reunite, perhaps?

"I think we still exist in some sort of fragmented form," Westerberg says. "It's just a question of whether he and I can ever get together again ... that's how close we are, I can't even mention his -- name."

Typical Westerberg. He's talking about his longtime bassist and foil, Tommy Stinson. "One day Tommy wants to sue me, the next he wants to jam. I think he's in the jamming mood this week, but by the time he gets here we might just meet and fight."

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. The reissues haven't hit the CD bins yet.

"Lets hope there's a couple of nice pictures," Westerberg says. "I hope this thing gets to somebody who hasn't heard it and I hope they don't have to weed through a bunch of crap to get to the good stuff." Yep, that's typical.

WHEN&WHERE Deluxe reissues of The Replacements' "Tim," "Pleased to Meet Me," "Don't Tell a Soul" and "All Shook Down" are in stores Tuesday. Paul Westerberg's "3oclockreep," which includes material recorded for "Don't Tell a Soul," is available at tunecore.com.

THE FINAL FOUR

'TIM' (originally released October 1985)
Known for: The Replacements' first album for a major label included their anthem "Bastards of Young"; a good-natured flight attendant put-down, "Waitress in the Sky"; and one of two classic Paul Westerberg love songs, "Left of the Dial," written about Let's Active's Angie Carlson. "Tim" was produced by the former Tommy Ramone - Tom Erdelyi.

Bonus Mats material:
Acoustic and electric outtakes of "Can't Hardly Wait" bookend one of the best Replacements songs ever, "Nowhere Is My Home" - produced by Big Star's Alex Chilton. "Kiss Me on the Bus," the other "Tim" love song, gets rocked up as Westerberg gets raspy.

'PLEASED TO MEET ME' (April 1987)
Known for: The first album without founding guitarist Bob Stinson was recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis, the home of Big Star. "Alex Chilton" was the hit, a driving ode to their hero. "Can't Hardly Wait" gets reworked for the release, and drenched in horns, thanks to producer Jim Dickinson. (Trivia: Dickinson played piano on the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses'; his sons Luther and Cody formed the North Mississippi Allstars).

Bonus Mats material:
Eh. Original drummer Chris Mars takes lead vocals on The Sons of the Pioneers' "Cool Water."

'DON'T TELL A SOUL' (January 1989)
Known for: "I'll Be You," the only Billboard Hot 100 "hit" the Mats produced appears here, as does the lovely alt-countryish "Achin' to Be." (Both videos for these songs were the band's first viewer-friendly MTV clips, perhaps another stab at stardom, but who could blame them?) Bob Stinson's, uh, replacement, Slim Dunlap, makes his Mats recording debut after touring to support the band during "Pleased to Meet Me."

Bonus Mats material: It's fun hearing the scruffy ones cover "Cruella DeVille" as an homage to Disney tunes. Tom Waits helps out on "Date to Church," the B-side to "I'll Be You," but the real gem is the cover of Slade's "Gudbuy T'Jane."


'ALL SHOOK DOWN' (September 1990)
Known for: As the title implies, this was it for the band. A few ringers were brought into the recording sessions: John Cale (Velvet Underground), Johnette Napolitano (Concrete Blonde) and Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers). Ballads and softer songs outnumber the rockers, foreshadowing Westerberg's early solo career. One ballad, "Sadly Beautiful" (written for Marianne Faithfull to sing) stands out; it's even sadder in hindsight, knowing this is the final album.

Bonus Mats material: Demo versions of "When It Began," "Tiny Paper Plane" and "Kissin' in Action" sound spacey and lo-fi, a nice change from the polish of the final three albums.

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