| Title | : | Let It Be |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0826416330 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780826416339 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 118 |
| Publication | : | First published August 10, 2004 |
Let It Be Reviews
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A bit like Joe Pernice’s excellent
Meat is Murder book in the same series, this isn’t really a book about The Replacements’ Let It Be - it’s a book about that point in your teenage life when you start discovering the music that will have lifelong impact - those dozen-or-so records you discover that will colour the way everything else sounds. Meloy’s suburban 80s Minnesota sounds as much of a cultural wasteland as the suburban Glenfield I grew up in around the same time, with the alternative “college rock” bands of the era feeling like they were beamed in from another planet.
This series can be a bit hit-and-miss. The books I’ve enjoyed the most have told me as much about the author’s relationship to the album as the album itself, whereas the more studious volumes can be a bit dull, especially if they’re covering ground already trod by longer, more in depth band biographies. This is definitely one of the best in the series, recommended for ‘Mats fans, Decemberists fans, or any indie music fan who happened to grow up in a cultural backwater in the 1980s. -
The complaints here are well-founded: as a tribute to a seminal album, this book mostly fails. Long stretches pass in which The Replacements are barely mentioned. Basically, the Decemberists guy tells you a childhood story, says something like "I sure listened to the Replacements a lot", tells another story, says "Seriously, I practically wore out the tape", and on to the next story. So if you're looking for insight, song by song breakdown, or information in general related to the album "Let it Be" by The Replacements, this book is only going to piss you off. I think I know about 4 songs total by The Replacements (something that needs to be remedied soon), and one by the Decemberists (ditto), so I wasn't looking for much of anything here other than something diverting to read, and that's pretty much what I got. I'm about memoired out over here, but for the most part I found these remembrances to be quite cozy, with a pleasing restraint that I hadn't expected of the author. Ultimately, though, this entry is more for Meloy disciples than for longtime fans of Westerberg and Co., and as such is more than a bit misleading.
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This is the story of the author's musical coming-of-age as a middle school Replacements fan in Helena, MT. I thought it was well-written with an effortless flow, as I finished it in no time at all. It may not have spoken much about the album's inspirations or process, but this didn't keep me from enjoying it. I probably would have been more disappointed had the album been as precious to me as it is to so many other people. (Those people will probably be pretty disappointed until the last 10-to-15 pages.) Fellow music nerds may still appreciate it for its specific, yet universal memories of how music can shape one's identity when growing up. I wouldn't say it gave me much insight about the band, nor that it made me appreciate the album more, but it does transport the reader to an earlier time without being look-at-me-talking-about-retro-things or my-youth-was-soooo-interesting-and-was-unique-in-ways-you-cannot-comprehend.
I didn't realize the author was from the Decemberists until I was a ways into the book and this fact didn't really influence my read one way or another. -
Un caso curioso este libro. En teoría debería ir del disco Let it be de los Replacements pero más bien trata sobre la infancia y adolescencia de Colin Meroy y la influencia que los Replacements y otras bandas tuvieron en su vida en esa época que jugaba a hacer camping en la montaña, ir a fiestas adolescentes y sentirse inadaptado. Una nostálgica visión de aquellos tiempos en los que grababamos música en cintas de cassette. Eso sí aunque Meroy, wue después acabaria como miembro de los Decemberists escribe muy bien no se si calificar este libro como un libro sobrelos Replacements.
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Colin Meloy’s greeting-card sized contribution to the 33 1/3 project, Let It Be is more of a music memoir for the Decemberists’ singer/songwriter/guitar player. Briefly: The series asks contributors to write about an influential album. From what I’ve gathered, Meloy took great liberties with the task — more than most — writing about the Replacements within the larger context of what it meant, music-wise, to grow up in the 1980s.
So. What was it like being Colin Meloy in the 80s: Hand-me-down TDK tapes from his super-cool uncle, playing broom-guitar, combing MTV’s 120 Minutes for new music, the “college rock” genre, staring at album covers, those clunky plastic CD holders in music stores, going to see the Nylons in concert just because it was live music and it was in his own town. Namely Meloy’s story is very similar to what it was like to be me — and probably you, and you, and you — in the 80s.
Meloy’s story is so fun, so familiar, and peppered with references to Depeche Mode, the Smiths, XTC, Jesus and Mary Chain. Even Wham! gets a nod, as does Chicago. Doc Martens, tapered jeans, and a feeling that he might be considered a poser.
Meloy doesn’t completely dismiss the reason for this book. He writes that he learned about the Replacements from his uncle, and takes such pride in following the band that when his uncle calls, Meloy just happens to be playing one of their records in the background.
“Listening to the Replacements, huh?” he said.
“Oh,” I said absently, as if trying to recall what I had put on the stereo. “Yeah. I guess I am.”
So awkward.
I learned about the Replacements doing a similar late Sunday night cram fest with MTV, and the song was “I’ll Be You,” which I loved loved loved. But rather than backtrack to older stuff at that time, I abused that one single, and got all hopped up on Paul Westerberg’s “14 Songs” a few years later.
And as for the Decemberists, I can’t say I could name a lick of what they’ve done. I do like Colin Meloy’s Morrissey covers, though, big time.
So I guess, to me, it didn’t matter who was writing about what band. It just turned out to be a fun little jaunt through a mutual music memory lane. -
The second of the 331/3 series I've now read, I picked Let it Be up for a couple of reasons. Specifically, my fandom of the Decemberists and of Colin Meloy’s other writings, and the fact that the Replacements are a pretty legendary group here in the Twin Cities. Even if I never heard of, or listened to the Replacements as a kid, they jumped pretty high on the list of local groups to check out once I became obsessed with local music in my twenties. Let it Be, their third album, became an iconic piece of the burgeoning college rock experience during the ‘80s and a forerunner to much contemporary indie rock, so I was looking forward to learning Meloy’s analysis of their influence.
Colin Meloy’s reflections on the album turned out to be a rather personal, nostalgic memory of Meloy’s middle school years, when music began to affect and shift his life, the Replacements among them. It was fun getting to know a little more about Meloy’s upbringing in isolated Helena, Montana and his influences. On the other hand, it’s not the deepest account, either. It’s easy to see that this is an early work in Meloy’s writing career. All in all, I felt that Let it Be could have used more analysis of the Replacements themselves, though, and though I enjoyed learning more about Meloy’s musical past, I was a little disappointed by the relative lack of discussion of the album itself. -
Many people know Colin Meloy from his band The Decemberists. Knowing this, I ordered this book and dove right into it. Normally, in the 33 1/3 series, writers will normally write their interpretations on how albums are made and how they became popular. However, Colin totally threw that rule out the window and wrote a beautiful re-telling of his adolescent years growing up in Montana when MTV was a new cable channel and the Replacements' album "Let It Be" was released. The way that Colin writes about how these songs fit into his childhood are tremendous. It's a very quick read, but it will hold your attention and give you an insight to life in Montana. I strongly recommend this book to those who are either fans of the Decemberists, fans of music, or fans of autobiographies. It's no wonder that I'm so fond of this book.
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From what I already knew about the 33 1/3 series, I was expecting an analysis of the album from the unique perspective of an industry insider, in this case Colin Meloy of the Decemberists. Instead this is a memoir, detailing the cultural development of a boy largely defined by his taste and pointing to the Replacements and their contemporaries as sign posts along the way.
What I learned from this book: sometimes something seemingly foreign, when broken down and examined, becomes eerily familiar. And vice versa. -
(Non-Fiction Memoir on Music) Dear Colin, I love your band, The Decemberists especially the new album, Hazzards of Love. Perhaps if I thought your band sucked I wouldn't like your book as much, but I highly doubt it. You see, I grew up in a smalltown just like you and I received new music from my friends' college-age siblings. I enjoyed your funny, yet honest account of the impact of The Replacements in your life. I think your book is wonderful and I happen to you and your band are too. Thank you for helping me appreciate The Replacements even more.
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In truth, this is more a memoir of Colin Meloy's adolescence than an examination of the classic album by the 'Mats.
With that said, Colin really manages to grasp what it was like growing up as a fan of "underground" music in the mid-to-late-1980's. Finding new bands from mix tapes, connecting with people just because they had a button of a band you liked on their jacket -- it's all here.
There were real moments of poignancy here, and it's a great story, but it's not really what I was expecting. -
It was interesting to read about Colin Meloy's early years and introduction to good music and his beginnings as a musician as I'm a big fan of his work, but this book really was not about what the title suggests. The Replacements album 'Let it be' was referred to a few times but it was more about Colin and life as a young guy. I really only read this book because of the author and not the title, so for me it was somewhat enjoyable. Would be cautious about recommending to others though, depending on if they were a fan of The Replacements or The Decemberists...
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Not a good book. This should be called, "Colin Meloy's Coming of Age Story," (which happens to be really boring), and not "Let it Be." The few sections that actually were about the album or the Replacements did not seem to be fact checked. For example, he made up a story about the Replacements lugging their equipment around, driving in one of their cars. But I learned recently none of them had cars; none of them had driver's licenses...
No big deal to skew the facts, but do it for the sake of a good story, if you're going to do it! Haha. -
'let it be' is one of the greatest albums ever but this book is really about the author, colin meloy of the decemberists, and his teenage years growing up in montana. if i didn't think the decemberists suck i might have liked this more but they do and i didn't.
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One of the most enjoyable from the 33 1/3 series!
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Really the beginning of a Colin Meloy biography and a very sideways look at a Replacements album I love.
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Rather than writing a conventional, predictable, track-by-track analysis of The Replacements' seminal 1984 classic Let It Be, Colin Meloy (frontman/songwriter of The Decembrists) instead gives us a charming little autobiographical origin story of his life and interest in music, and this particular album's singular role in them.
My two cents' worth on this record: it takes balls to name your album after a Beatles album, and when the album you've made is better than a Beatles album, well...that's not nothing.
If "Thirteen" by Big Star is the greatest song ever written about being a teenager (and it is), then a very close second is "Sixteen Blue," the penultimate track on this album:"Trying to figure out, they wonder what next you'll pull
You don't understand anything sexual
I don't understand
Tell my friends I'm doing fine
And your age is the hardest age
Everything drags and drags
You're looking funny, you ain't laughing, are you?
Sixteen blue"
But the pièce de résistance of Let It Be is its seventh track, "Unsatisfied". Its author Paul Westerberg later gave an interview referring to it as "overrated" and "half-assed". I call it a perfect and cathartic distillation of melancholy. I call it the best song that The Replacements ever recorded. I call it one of the 50 best songs of all time.
"Everything goes, well, anything goes
All of the time
Everything you dream of is right in front of you
And everything is a lie
Look me in the eye and tell me that I'm satisfed
Look me in the eye, unsatisfied"
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My first 33 1/3 and, I hate to say, a disappointment. In the foreword Meloy admits that when tasked with selecting an album to write about he composed a list of ten essential albums, all of which had cemented their place on his personal list by the time he was eighteen. The resulting book is less an exploration or analysis of Let it Be so much as a personal buildingsroman about the development of his musical taste. After reading this I'd argue that such a topic, like Cormac McCarthy said of dreams, "always is [interesting], to the party concerned;" I could also wax poetic about the names of every street I grew up on and the first album I bought with my own money but then I didn't end up writing the Mariner's Revenge Song so I guess my version isn't relevant. If not for a section centering the 'Mats in the final eight pages, it would feel like you could copy-paste a different band/album/tracklist into most passages without changing the content itself.
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An autobiography of Meloy's childhood disguised as a volume of 33 1/3.
Let it Be is relatable for any kid who grew up a little bit different and a little bit weird in the age of cassette tapes and MTV. Meloy's honesty in confronting his eccentricities, all while weaving tales of his childhood friends and family to the music they helped him find and fall in love with makes for a wonderful little 100 pages of storytelling that will make you want to pull out your LPs and fall in love with music for the first time all over again. -
7.0/10
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More of a coming of age tale than a comprehensive deep dive on this great record.
I’m fond of Colin and The Decemberists, and I’m often romantic about coming of age tales, especially ones where discovering your favourite music for the first time feels like a bombshell going off in your life.
This was a fun read, although I wish he did expand a little bit on his feelings toward every track, instead of referencing them in passing most of the time.
Still, if you enjoy musician origin stories, or coming of age tales of trying to occupy rebellious punk life, give this 33&1/3 a shot. -
This is really good. Colin Meloy transports us to the late 80s of his childhood in Montana, where he discovers his budding identity in music. His cool uncle Paul sends him cassettes with snippets of a new kind of music including R.E.M., Husker Du, and the Replacements. It’s a wonderful snapshot of a young music fan before he becomes an accomplished musician himself. Meloy deftly appends a few snippets of the Replacements own origin story that contrasts nicely with his own musical coming of age.
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At first I was disappointed. I prefer the books that are direct evaluations of the album and the
artist. I was really bummed by the book for Meat is Murder since it was just a short story that barely mentioned the album. But the fact we read this knowing this growing fan of the Replacements would become the future lead singer of another good band, the Decemberists, helped keep my interest. -
This is one of the 33 1/3 books where the author sums up a particular period of their (teen) life - one in which The Replacements figured. But only just. Meloy recounts his teen years before he becomes a band member of The Decemberists in some vivid detail, but this is not a book about The Replacements
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I’ve been reading this series in order and the two before this were really technical and dry. This one told a great story. Several levels of a great story. Very enjoyable. I’m gonna have to explore this album more.
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I wanted to read a book about the Replacements' seminal album, "Let it Be".
But as it turns out, what I got was a bland book about Colin Meloy's childhood and adolescence. I guess the Meloy fans might rejoice, but to me it was a big let down. -
This is more about the impact Let it Be had on Meloy rather than an analysis of the album itself. In fact, the album is barely even mentioned in the first third of the book. But Meloy’s writing is strong and he definitely knows how to tell a story.
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A quick and easy read. The book is more about Meloy’s adolescence, than it is about the Replacements record, but a lot of the details are relatable stories of someone in their teenage years falling in love with music.
