A lost album featuring the late Replacements co-founder Bob Stinson is finally seeing the light of day. Bleeding Hearts were a Minneapolis band led by Mike Leonard, a musician who hung out at the Uptown Bar where Stinson was also a regular. In search of a second guitarist to fill out the band, Leonard approached Bob, who not only joined the band, but also became Leonard's roommate.
With Bob in the band, Bleeding Hearts recorded an album for Fiasco Records in 1993, full of hooky, Replacements-esque punk. Shortly after it was completed, though, clashes within the band led to Bob's departure. Bleeding Hearts didn't last much longer, either, Bob died in 1995, and the album sat on the shelf, all but forgotten about.
Flash forward nearly 30 years, and Bleeding Hearts' Riches to Rags is finally seeing the light of day for Record Store Day (April 23) via Bar-None. Finished from the original session tapes, the album features liner notes from Grammy award-winning journalist Bob Mehr, who wrote the great Replacements biography Trouble Boys and who describes Riches to Rags as “the final piece to the puzzle of Bob Stinson’s musical career." The album will also get a digital release at a later date.
You can listen to a track from Riches to Rags now -- the very catchy, boozy, twangy "Happy Yet." “I remember we did two takes back to back and then listened to the playback," Leonard told Glide. "We were surprised how fast the tempo was, and then looked at Bob incredulously and wondered how he had managed to play that rhythm all downstrokes.”
Listen to "Happy Yet" below.
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Tracklist: Riches To Rags Gotta Find A Way Imagination Guilty 100 Ways Gone Tonight Happy Yet Poker Face What Do You Want? Know It All Right As Rain Something Never Comes