Debut album reissued as 4 CD/1 LP set

Rhino is celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Replacements’ debut album, Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash, on October 22nd. The deluxe edition will be available as a 4 CD/1 LP set that offers a remarkable document of The Replacements’ formative years. Sixty-seven of the 100 tracks have never been released before, including the first demos the band recorded in early 1980, as well as a professionally captured concert from January 1981. Along with a newly remastered version of the original album, it also uncovers many unreleased rough mixes, alternate takes, and demos from the band’s first 18 months together. The LP included in the set, titled Deliberate Noise, presents an alternate version of the original album using these previously unreleased tracks.

The Deluxe Edition is presented in a 12 x 12 hardcover book loaded with dozens of rarely seen photos. The set was produced by Twin/Tone Records co-founder Peter Jesperson, Rhino’s Jason Jones, and Replacements’ biographer Bob Mehr, who received a Grammy for Best Album Notes for his work on the band’s acclaimed 2019 boxed set Dead Man’s Pop. Mehr again penned the detailed liners that accompany this set, which features new interviews with The Replacements. Former Replacements manager Jesperson also provides a remembrance of the Sorry Ma era.

The boxed set opens with a remastered version of the original album that’s been expanded with the non-album B-side, “If Only You Were Lonely.” From there, a second disc, titled Raised in the City, delves into the group’s very first recordings (“Try Me,” “She’s Firm,” “Lookin For Ya”), as well as studio demos for album tracks (including “Shutup” and “I Hate Music”), outtakes (“Shape Up,” and “Get On The Stick,” among them) and rare basement recordings (“Lie About Your Age,” “Johnny Fast”). A handful of these appeared on Rhino’s 2008 reissue of Sorry Ma, but more than a dozen included on the new set have never been released.

Four outtakes on the collection’s third disc, Tape’s Rolling, debuted on the same 2008 reissue, but here they’re joined by more than two dozen unreleased recordings. Highlights include electrifying alternate versions of “Johnny’s Gonna Die” and “Love You Till Friday,” alternate mixes for “Rattlesnake” and “More Cigarettes,” plus Westerberg’s home demos of “You’re Pretty When You’re Rude” and “If Only You Were Lonely.”

The Deluxe Edition ends on a high note with the earliest professional live recording of The Replacements. The previously unreleased concert, dubbed Unsuitable for Airplay, was captured by Twin/Tone’s mobile unit on January 23, 1981, at the 7th St Entry in Minneapolis, MN. A portion of the show was later broadcast on the local community radio station, KFAI.

The concert took place as the band was in the midst of work on Sorry Ma. The show’s setlist is packed with evolving versions of songs that would appear on their debut album (“Hangin Downtown,” “Somethin to Dü,” “Rattlesnake”), along with other early numbers that were never released (“Mistake,” “Excuse Me”), plus choice covers of The Heartbreakers’ “I Wanna Be Loved,” Slade’s “My Town,” The Kinks’ “All Day and All of the Night,” and Dave Edmunds’ “Trouble Boys,” among others.

The Replacements’ 1981 Twin/Tone Records debut, Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash, heralded the Minneapolis-based band’s competing tendencies toward indelible genius and reckless abandon. The ’Mats’ legendary founding line-up – lead singer/songwriter and guitarist Paul Westerberg, drummer Chris Mars, and brothers Bob and Tommy Stinson (lead guitar and bass respectively) – unleashed a thrilling, dynamic sound on the album with now-classic songs like “Takin’ A Ride,” “Shiftless When Idle,” and “Customer.”

All Rhino.com pre-orders come with an exclusive flyer reproduction from their show at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis, MN, in 1981.

CD 1: Original Album (2021 Remaster)

  1. Takin A Ride
  2. Careless
  3. Customer
  4. Hangin Downtown
  5. Kick Your Door Down
  6. Otto
  7. I Bought A Headache
  8. Rattlesnake
  9. I Hate Music
  10. Johnny’s Gonna Die
  11. Shiftless When Idle
  12. More Cigarettes
  13. Don’t Ask Why
  14. Somethin To Dü
  15. I’m In Trouble
  16. Love You Till Friday
  17. Shutup
  18. Raised In The City
  19. If Only You Were Lonely – B-Side

CD 2: Raised In The City – The Early Recordings

  1. Try Me – Demo
  2. She’s Firm – Demo
  3. Lookin For Ya – Demo
  4. Raised In The City – Demo
  5. Shutup – Demo
  6. Don’t Turn Me Down – Demo
  7. Shape Up – Demo
  8. I Hate Music – Studio Demo
  9. Careless – Studio Demo
  10. “Shutup – Studio Demo
  11. Otto – Studio Demo
  12. Get On The Stick – Studio Demo
  13. Oh Baby – Studio Demo
  14. Raised In The City – Studio Demo
  15. Shiftless When Idle – Studio Demo
  16. More Cigarettes – Studio Demo
  17. You Ain’t Gotta Dance – Studio Demo
  18. Don’t Turn Me Down – Studio Demo
  19. Rattlesnake – Basement Version
  20. Takin’ A Ride – Basement Version
  21. Lie About Your Age – Basement Version
  22. We’ll Get Drunk/Customer – Basement Version
  23. Johnny Fast – Basement Version
  24. Mistake – Basement Version
  25. Basement Jam – Rehearsal

CD 3: Tape’s Rolling – Studio Outtakes, Alternates & Home Demos

  1. Careless – Alternate Version
  2. Takin A Ride – Alternate Version
  3. Shutup – Alternate Version
  4. Otto – Alternate Mix
  5. Raised In The City – Alternate Version
  6. Rattlesnake – Alternate Mix
  7. Love You Till Friday – Alternate Version
  8. Customer – Alternate Version
  9. Somethin To Dü – Alternate Version
  10. Johnny’s Gonna Die – Alternate Version
  11. I’m In Trouble – Alternate Version
  12. I Hate Music – Alternate Version
  13. We’ll Get Drunk
  14. More Cigarettes”– Alternate Mix
  15. Get Lost – Instrumental
  16. Hangin Downtown – Alternate Version
  17. Shutup – Alternate Version 2
  18. Somethin To Dü – Alternate Version 2
  19. Don’t Ask Why – Alternate Mix
  20. Kick Your Door Down – Alternate Mix
  21. Love You Till Friday – Alternate Mix
  22. Johnny’s Gonna Die – Alternate Mix
  23. Like You – Outtake
  24. Get Lost – Outtake
  25. A Toe Needs A Shoe – Outtake
  26. You’re Pretty When You’re Rude – Solo Home Demo
  27. If Only You Were Lonely – Working Version/Solo Home Demo
  28. Bad Worker – Solo Home Demo
  29. You’re Getting Married – Solo Home Demo

CD 4: Unsuitable for Airplay – The Lost KFAI Concert (Live at the 7th St Entry, Minneapolis, MN, 1/23/81)

  1. Careless
  2. Takin A Ride
  3. Trouble Boys
  4. Hangin Downtown
  5. Like You
  6. Off Your Pants
  7. Get Lost
  8. Excuse Me
  9. Customer
  10. I Wanna Be Loved
  11. Mistake
  12. My Town
  13. Shiftless When Idle
  14. Oh Baby
  15. I’m In Trouble
  16. Johnny’s Gonna Die/All By Myself
  17. More Cigarettes
  18. Otto
  19. Don’t Ask Why
  20. Slow Down
  21. Somethin To Dü
  22. Love You Till Friday
  23. Raised In The City
  24. Rattlesnake
  25. All Day And All Of The Night
  26. I Hate Music
  27. Shutup