Yesterday's 'Trash:' A new box set recasts the Replacements' first and most fun album

When Warner Bros. Records first began reissuing the Replacements' albums in 2008, Peter Jesperson tried to sell the company on expanding the Minneapolis band's raucous and rowdy 1981 debut record into a double-disc collection.

The label's response, in short: Sorry, Charlie.

"They weren't interested in it then," recalled Jesperson, the group's original manager and co-producer. "So it's extra gratifying to circle back to it now and revisit it in an even bigger way."

What a difference the past decade has made in the life — or afterlife, rather — of the Replacements. And what a strong case is now being made for the record that started it all, "Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash."

The fast-burning, determinedly lowbrow, 18-song rock opus has been turned into a remastered, four-CD, one-LP box set by Rhino/Warner Records,

Originally issued on Minneapolis indie imprint Twin/Tone Records with a marketing budget comparable to about what 10 of these new sets cost ($80-$110 each), "Sorry Ma" hits stores in its expanded form Friday following a playful promotional buildup that once again has Replacements fans excited to carry the torch for a band that infamously fizzled as a commercial venture in its heyday.

"In a lot of ways they're more popular now than they were when they were together," said Jesperson, who co-produced the new box set and helped dig up many of its most golden bonus nuggets. "For bands that were more influential than they were commercial, it takes a while to grow into that role and historic significance."

Jesperson pointed to two key elements that have upped the Replacements' status over the past decade: the well received "reunion" shows that singer/guitarist Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson played with replacement Replacements from 2014-2016 (the set lists for which picked heavily from "Sorry Ma"); and Bob Mehr's New York Times-bestselling 2016 biography "Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements," which offered a much clearer understanding of the often intentionally misunderstood Minneapolis rock greats.

Mehr, the Memphis music journalist who also served as co-producer of the new "Sorry Ma" collection and wrote its extensive liner notes, said he was extra amped-up about making a strong case for the band's noisiest and perhaps most overlooked record.

"I believe it's quite extraordinary to have such a thorough accounting of the genesis/chrysalis of a young band the way we do here," he said.

The "Sorry Ma" set follows similar Rhino deluxe reissues of the Replacements' 1987 album "Pleased to Meet Me" and 1989's "Don't Tell a Soul" (the latter recast as "Dead Man's Pop"). The band's revered mid-'80s albums "Let It Be" and "Tim" seemingly would have been the next logical choices, but Mehr said there were a lot more bonus tracks to work with for "Sorry Ma" — and a lot more to be learned from them.

"With all these projects, we're trying to tell a compelling story and expand the understanding of the band," he said. "To that end, 'Sorry Ma' was actually the most​ obvious candidate for an expansion/reappraisal, because of the incredible — truly — wealth of material we had to work with."

Among the box set's 67 unreleased tracks are many outtakes, proving how prolific frontman Paul Westerberg was just one year into his songwriting career. Those include: "You're Pretty When You're Rude," an acoustic finger-picked tune (believed to be the only such one); a smarmy rocker called "Lie About Your Age," recorded in the basement of bassist/guitarist brothers Tommy and Bob Stinson's house, and "Try Me," which the band had submitted as an entry for a radio compilation album.

"I think it's one of their key early songs," Jesperson said of "Try Me," which didn't make it into any prior reissues. "Paul, for whatever reason, didn't greenlight it before now. I'm thrilled we finally got it on here."

There are also many alternative versions of the original album cuts — ones that truly offer alternate views of the songs. As noted in Mehr's liner notes, the band often played the same song many different ways back then and messed around with them on purpose, as evidenced by extra versions of "Customer," "Shutup," "Shiftless When I'm Idle," "I Hate Music," the lead-off song "Takin' a Ride" and especially the dark Johnny Thunders ode "Johnny's Gonna Die."

"I love that we put in a couple other versions of 'Johnny's Gonna Die,' " said Jesperson.

"The lead guitar break is a two-part solo. Bob would do the first, and Paul would do the second. Bob's solo on all the versions is pretty static, because he had a part we all really liked and he stuck with it. But Paul's versions are all different, and all great if you ask me. Paul was an outstanding lead guitar player."

Maybe the most prized bonus material is a two-disc January 1981 live recording from 7^th St. Entry, which proves the notoriously erratic 'Mats often were often rock-solid blasters early on. It was found on cassette amid the vast archive of live recordings maintained by Terry Katzman, the band's early soundman, who died in 2019.

"Terry's wife, Penny, had given me all of his Replacements tapes, which really meant a lot to me," said Jesperson, noting how he and Katzman would often dub live recordings after each of the band's shows. "This was one I guess I just forgot to dub. I'm so glad it finally turned up."

The Entry show was captured via Twin/Tone co-founder Paul Stark's mobile recording RV for a KFAI radio broadcast. Incomplete, lo-fi bootleg versions have long circulated among 'Mats collectors.

This one was "miraculously cleaned up" by a cassette-conversion specialist, Jesperson said. It features the blisteringly loud show in its entirety, including nearly all the "Sorry Ma" cuts, some of the outtakes, plus freewheeling covers of songs by Thunders, Slade, Dave Edmunds and more.

"The timing on the set couldn't have been better," Mehr said of the Entry recording. "They were together almost a year as a band, and six months playing real shows. They were also rehearsing almost daily at that point and recording in between."

"Not only do you hear the band at a kind of early peak playing all the 'Sorry Ma' material, you also hear it fresh — in some cases written just days before the gig — and played with an excitement and a real sense of discovery."

That both Mehr and Jesperson still talk so ebulliently about the "Sorry Ma"-era recordings is a major endorsement, considering how much time each spent trolling through these recordings over the past year — and really, in Jesperson's case, for the past 40 years.

After being rather unceremoniously sidelined by the 'Mats after they signed to Sire/Warner Records in 1985, Jesperson went on to work with dozens of other great bands as an executive at New West Records in Los Angeles and other labels. But he still treasures the music he helped the Minneapolis troublemakers make above all else.

"I truly believe they made eight great records, and I love them all," Jesperson said. "But I do think the first four records are the best. There are no duds on them. They're great from start to finish, and 'Sorry Ma' is a perfect example of that."

Here is more insight on "Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash," most of it culled from Bob Mehr's booklet for the new box set.