Argue all you like about whether the Replacements reunion should be termed a “reunion” — or, for that matter, “The Replacements” — but you’d be a cold-hearted individual to suggest that it’s not a gas hearing Paul and Tommy playing together again. Of course, Paul’s spent the last couple decades releasing high-quality solo material, so it’s not as if he needed his old drinking buddy to re-energize him, but damn if he doesn’t sound re-energized just the same on this cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s “I’m Not Sayin’,” the first track to be released from the ‘Mats’ new Songs For Slim EP (the proceeds from which will benefit Slim Dunlap, the former Replacements guitarist who suffered a stroke last year). Of course it’s not “Alex Chilton,” but only a sociopath would have expected another “Alex Chilton” from this project. It is, though, loose and loud, and it is worth hearing. And you can do so over at Pitchfork right now.

Songs For Slim tracklist:

01. “Busted Up” (Robert Dunlap)
02. “Radio Hook Word Hit” (Robert Dunlap)
03. “I’m Not Sayin” (Gordon Lightfoot)
04. “Lost Highway” (Leon Payne)
05. “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” (Stephen Sondheim/Jule Styne)