Box set for The Replacements' 'Don't Tell a Soul' due in September

Back in 1987, Minneapolis rock and roll renegades The Replacements famously stole their Twin/Tone master tapes and threw them in the Mississippi River.

A year later—while wrapping up work on their Warner Bros. album, Don't Tell A Soul—the group absconded with a collection of their reels from Paisley Park studios. Thankfully, those tapes were spared a watery fate, and instead stashed away for decades by the band. Now they’ve been recovered to form the basis of The Replacements first-ever boxed set, DEAD MAN’S POP.

Although Don’t Tell A Soul ultimately became the group’s best-selling effort, The Replacements were unsatisfied with the sound of the record. The band has radically reimagined Don’t Tell A Soul to create a 4CD/1LP set that features the album mixed as it was originally intended (Don’t Tell A Soul Redux), along with a collection of previously unheard tracks (We Know The Night: Rare & Unreleased), and a classic concert from 1989 (The Complete Inconcerated Live).

DEAD MAN’S POP will be available from Rhino on Sept. 27. The box features a newly completed mix of the album by Don’t Tell A Soul producer Matt Wallace (based on his 1988 Paisley Park mix); a disc of unreleased recordings (including a session with Tom Waits); plus the band’s entire June 2, 1989 show at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In total, the box includes 60 tracks–58 of which have never been heard before.

The first 500 fans that purchase DEAD MAN’S POP at Rhino.com will also receive a 14-track cassette featuring highlights from the box along with two additional unreleased tracks: the outtake “Asking Me Lies” and an instrumental of “I Won’t” (Bearsville Version). The cassette also features the original, unused cover art for Don’t Tell A Soul.

Presented in a 12 x 12 hardcover book – loaded with dozens of rarely seen photos - the set features a detailed history of the Don’t Tell A Soul era written by Bob Mehr, who produced the box with Rhino’s Jason Jones, and also authored The New York Times bestseller Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements.

Mehr writes: “While it’s impossible to unhear a record that’s been around for three decades, this version, Don’t Tell A Soul Redux, is the album the band made and intended to release. In addition to Matt Wallace’s mix, Redux also restores several crucial elements from the sessions, including original drums tracks, vocal takes and tempos that were altered in post-production…[and] the band’s original sequence of the album.”

Wallace says: “The true spirit of The Replacements was always there on the recordings we did back in 1988, and now you can hear and feel it clearly…This was the project of a lifetime for me when we recorded it 30-plus years ago, and it’s even truer today as we’ve finally fulfilled our original vision.”

Paul Westerberg, Slim Dunlap, Tommy Stinson and Chris Mars started recording Don’t Tell A Soul in June 1988 with Tony Berg at Bearsville Studios, but the chaotic sessions were cut short and mothballed. Nine unreleased tracks from Bearsville appear on Dead Man’s Pop, including early versions of “I’ll Be You,” “Darlin’ One” and “Achin’ To Be” and the previously unheard “Last Thing in the World.” The collection also features tracks the band recorded with Tom Waits, five of which have never been officially released: among them, “Lowdown Monkey Blues,” “We Know The Night” and a cover of Billy Swan’s “I Can Help.”

The final two CDs of DEAD MAN'S POP capture the band performing live in Milwaukee during the “Don’t Tell A Soul Tour.” A few songs from the concert originally appeared on the promo-only EP Inconcerated Live (1989), but the bulk of the 29 tracks included have never been released. The entire show has been newly mixed by Brian Kehew (Ramones, The Faces).

Additionally, DEAD MAN'S POP will include Wallace’s Don’t Tell A Soul Redux mix on 180-gram vinyl.

Track Listing:

Disc One: Don’t Tell A Soul Redux
1. “Talent Show” – Matt Wallace Mix *
2. “I’ll Be You” – Matt Wallace Mix *
3. “We’ll Inherit The Earth” – Matt Wallace Mix *
4. “Achin’ To Be” – Matt Wallace Mix *
5. “Darlin’ One” – Matt Wallace Mix *
6. “Back To Back” – Matt Wallace Mix *
7. “I Won’t” – Matt Wallace Mix *
8. “Asking Me Lies” – Matt Wallace Mix *
9. “They’re Blind” – Matt Wallace Mix *
10. “Anywhere’s Better Than Here” – Matt Wallace Mix *
11. “Rock ’n’ Roll Ghost” – Matt Wallace Mix *

Disc Two: We Know The Night: Rare and Unreleased

1. “Portland” – Alternate Mix (Bearsville Version) *
2. “Achin’ To Be” – Bearsville Version *
3. “I’ll Be You” – Bearsville Version *
4. “Wake Up” – Alternate Mix – Bearsville Version *
5. “We’ll Inherit The Earth” – Bearsville Version *
6. “Last Thing In The World” *
7. “They’re Blind” – Bearsville Version *
8. “Rock ’n’ Roll Ghost” – Bearsville Version *
9. “Darlin’ One” – Bearsville Version *
10. “Talent Show” – Demo Version
11. “Dance On My Planet” *
12. “We Know The Night” – Alternate Outtake *
13. “Ought To Get Love” – Alternate Mix *
14. “Gudbuy T’Jane” – Outtake
15. “Lowdown Monkey Blues” – Featuring Tom Waits *
16. “If Only You Were Lonely” – Featuring Tom Waits *
17. “We Know The Night” – Featuring Tom Waits (Rehearsal) *
18. “We Know The Night” – Featuring Tom Waits (Full Band Version) *
19. “I Can Help” – Featuring Tom Waits *
20. “Date To Church” – Matt Wallace Remix*

Disc Three: The Complete Inconcerated Live, Part One
1. “Alex Chilton” *
2. “Talent Show” *
3. “Back To Back” *
4. “I Don’t Know” *
5. “The Ledge” *
6. “Waitress In The Sky” *
7. “Anywhere’s Better Than Here” *
8. “Nightclub Jitters” *
9. “Cruella De Ville” *
10. “Achin’ To Be” *
11. “Asking Me Lies” *
12. “Bastards Of Young” *
13. “Answering Machine” *
14. “Little Mascara” *
15. “I’ll Be You” *

Disc Four: The Complete Inconcerated Live, Part Two
1. “Darlin’ One” *
2. “I Will Dare” *
3. “Another Girl, Another Planet” *
4. “I Won’t” *
5. “Unsatisfied” *
6. “We’ll Inherit The Earth” *
7. “Can’t Hardly Wait” *
8. “Color Me Impressed” *
9. “Born To Lose” *
10. “Never Mind” *
11. “Here Comes A Regular” *
12. “Valentine” *
13. “Left Of The Dial” *
14. “Black Diamond” *

* previously unreleased