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Oct 22, 2025 Web Exclusive By Frank Valish

Let It Be was the moment where The Replacements grew up. Moving past the punk roots exemplified by the band’s first two albums, Let It Be finely toed the line between youthful excess and punk rock exuberance and songwriting maturity and pop melodicism. Sure, there were foreshadows of this growth on the band’s previous album Hootenanny, but 1984’s Let It Be is where it cohered. And in doing so, it ushered in the era of perfect Mats power pop that would follow.

Reissued here in both 4LP and 3CD formats, Rhino’s Let It Be (Deluxe Edition) is a deep dive into the album and this formative Mats era. The album is remastered, with a slew of alternate versions, outtakes, and demos that give an eye into the album’s genesis and construction. Also included is a previously unreleased concert from Chicago in August of 1984 that finds the band, as was its wont in those days, motoring through 28 tracks including Let It Be cuts, earlier songs, and covers.

As for the former, included are two rough but interesting home demos of “Answering Machine,” alternate versions of “Sixteen Blue” and “Androgynous,” an alternate mix of “Unsatisfied,” and perfectly raucous covers of The Grass Roots’ “Temptation Eyes,” T. Rex’s “20th Century Boy,” and most interestingly the ’70s teenybopper pop song, “Heartbeat, It’s a Lovebeat” by The DeFranco Family. And regarding the concert, the band opens with “Can’t Hardly Wait,” a song that became the cornerstone of the band’s next album, Pleased to Meet Me, and features choice album tracks, and a stellar cover amalgam of “Help Me Rhonda” and “Little GTO.” (www.rhino.com)

Author rating: 9/10