In case you need to hear the horror story behind the undoing of Perfect – former Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson’s band before signing onto the movable train wreck that is G’n’R – here ya go: following the implosion of his post-‘Mats outfit Bash and Pop in ‘93, Stinson pulled together a new four-piece. Perfect, that evoked the lean, Friday-nite swagger of the Replacements, and squeezed out an EP, When Squirrels Play Chicken, in 1996. The band went into the studio shortly after that with veteran roots rocker (and Pleased to Meet Me producer) Jim Dickinson to record what was to be their first full-length, Seven Days a Week. Unfortunately, their label, Medium Cool (a division of the ‘Mats’ old label, Twin/Tone), had just been gobbled up by Regency Pictures, which flushed the disc to make way for a “new direction” (namely, hip-hop) with their soundtracks. Realizing that they’d been dealt the dead man’s hand, Perfect did what any sensible bunch of rock and roll hooligans would do – they packed it in and went back to whatever they did before this corporate cornholing (in Tommy’s case, he simply traded one confusing mess for another).

In most cases, Tales from the Rock and Roll Crypt like Perfect end right here – do not pass go, do not collect royalties. But when Rykodisc bought the Twin/Tone catalog as part of their acquisition of Restless’ library, they found this sweet little nugget in among the other dead soldiers, and after a remix by Matt Hyde and a smirky retitling, Perfect is finally available for listening. And you know what? It was worth the wait. Maybe is smart, punchy rock cut from the same cloth as the Replacements – boozy midnight confessions about major failures and minor victories, spelled out in tuff barroom chords and irresistible hooks. The ten songs collected here (Maybe runs just over 30 minutes) are as simple as three-chord rock gets, but there’s a lot of heart and soul in them, and that counts for a lot these days. And it’s a hell of a lot more listenable than anything Grandpaboy Paul Westerberg’s put out in the last however-many years. Couldn’t a few of his records gone missing for a decade or so instead of this one?

It’s too bad that Perfect had to call it quits in order to see their great debut CD released, but that’s how the business works sometimes. And for Tommy, hey – one record that no one thought would ever see the light of day down, one to go!

Tommy Stinson’s web site: tommystinson.com