Not too many people, according to a Billboard article announcing the expanded reissues of the Replacements' final four albums for Sire Records. Buried in the penultimate paragraph, we learn this sad little nugget:
In April, Rhino reissued the Replacements' first three albums and an EP for hometown Minneapolis label Twin Tone. They've since sold 22,000 copies combined in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Only 22,000 copies? Combined? That's just sad. I realize that we everybody already has multiple copies of these things (cassette, vinyl, CD...), but still. I'm surprised Rhino's even bothering to release the second batch.
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We 'Mats fans are po' folk, with kids to feed and mortgages to pay. As much as I love the 'Mats, I'm savin' my sheckels for non-entertainment items. All the rich folks love Edie Brickell!!
What Murph said. I totally passed on this because of the price after comparing it to the bonus features included on the "de-lux" packaging. It may sound great, but Rhino did a pretty humdrum job at filling out the space with bonus material (particulary with Let It Be.
I'm willing to be that if this thing were priced at $10, that sales total would be higher.
If Rhino's going to leave it at $15 or above, they'd better dig a little harder and fill that disc out some more. Where is "Who's Gonna Take Us Alive" and some of the other songs from this period? It ain't on the reissue here...
Of course, a lot of us still have those records, so only the most devout fans would buy them again.
Tell that to Elvis Costello fans.
I don't exactly feel the need to be buying these records over again either. Perhaps once everything goes digital in september for the mats, i'll investigate the bonus tracks I havent already compiled over the years.
In the mean time, Paul is releasing 49 minutes of music for 49 cents on saturday.
check it out:
http://members.aol.com/paulspage/4949.htm
Hopefully these reissues will find their way into some teenager's life for the first time. Even if that is by way of the new Guitar Hero. They sure as hell made a difference in mine.
The reissues are fantastic and the bonus stuff is pretty choice. The problem is there are no fucking RECORD STORES around anymore. Seriously, who is stocking or promoting stuff like this at this point? Even Borders store have pretty pathetic cd selections these days.