Bash & Pop
"Anything Could Happen"
Fat Possum Records
You can't talk about one without mentioning the other: anything that any one of The Replacements touches sounds like a deliberate off shoot of the seminal band's signature sound. "Anything Could Happen" is the second studio outing for Bash & Pop, former Replacements bass player Tommy Stinson's band, since 1993's "Friday Night's Killing Me."
The things that made the Replacements great — musical irreverence, lyrical insightfulness, self-deprecating wit, self-destructive behavior, and some of the most beautiful anthems ever written — pop up on this record as well. Words aside, Bash & Pop plays rock 'n' roll with a carefree and classic barroom slash and burn that gets in your head and stays there. But alas, this isn't a Replacements send-up; "Anything Could Happen" is full of mid-tempo, 4/4 rockers that seem timeless in the lexicon set forth by the band and anything Stinson touches.