The plan was to sweep the world off its feet
So you sweep the garage for the neighbours to see
The plan was to set the world on its ear
And I bet you don't know why you're here
--"Happy Town"

It wasn't supposed to end this way, was it? The Replacements going out not with a bang but with a whimper? Yet that is how this fabled '80s alternative rock band ended their recording career. It actually ended a year before, with 1989's grab-for-the-brass-ring Don't Tell A Soul which, call me crazy, I think is the better album.

All Shook Down is a Replacements album in name only, with lead singer and songwriter Paul Westerberg firmly in command. It is basically his solo debut. A seriously dialed-down debut. Then why did Sire Records release it under the name of The Replacements? Westerberg answers that question in the title song: "They put the checkbook to my head."

Westerberg, who co-produced the album, brings in the guitars on some numbers, the best of the rockers being "Merry Go Round," "Happy Town," and "When it Began." But, though there are snippets of catchy melodies throughout All Shook Down, on the whole the album is languid.

Westerberg had just turned 30 and from the sound of it, he didn't want to rock out anymore. Granted, everyone mellows with age, but there is hardly a trace of the garage band roots that gave The Replacements their kick. One explanation for the missing noise might be because Westerberg had dried out after a decade of heavy boozing. Quite possibly, the desire to crank up the volume simply wasn't there.

The better moments, therefore, are when Westerberg goes acoustic, or at least rustic with rhythm guitar and drums buried deep in the mix. On these songs Westerberg demonstrates that he hasn't lost his lyrical touch, like on the forlorn song-from-a-father, "Sadly Beautiful" ("Baby needs a brand new pair of eyes/'Cuz the ones you got now see only goodbyes"), or when he gives advice to the broken-hearted in the afterhours nightclub setting, "The Last" ("Would it hurt to fall in love a little slower/I know it hurts at any speed"). "Nobody" is a warning about getting married too soon. The slow moving title track is sung as if Westerberg is in a druggy haze, which is odd, considering in real life he was clean and sober, as I mentioned, but nevertheless effective. "Attitude" and "Torture" are two short numbers packed with pithy lyrics, too.

The problem of masking a solo album as a group product becomes plain when you bring in collaborators. John Cale, Tom Petty's keyboard player Benmont Tench, and saxman Steve Berlin are among those who played on the album, in addition to Replacements drummer Chris Mars, bassist Tommy Stinson, and guitarist Slim Dunlap. All the various guests and bandmembers, including Westerberg, are lumped together in the credits as "musicians who played on this recorded thing." In other words, one never gets the feeling that there is an actual band playing from track to track.

Another contribution features the god-awful singer of Concrete Blonde, Johnette Napolitano, in a duet with Westerberg on the horrible "My Little Problem." Someone's idea of a smash hit, no doubt.

Perhaps the best I can offer All Shook Down is a backhanded compliment--it doesn't suck as much as I thought it did when it was released in the fall of 1990. Back then, I would have struggled to award it with 2 stars; today I'm almost tempted to give it a tepid 3 stars. Maybe my expectations at the time were too high, or Westerberg was just burned out. In either case, I wouldn't go out and buy this one without first picking up The Replacements' holy trinity of Let It Be, Tim, and Pleased To Meet Me.

Recommended: No