Foremost among this year’s bounty of music reissues is the long-awaited re-release of the Replacements’ entire catalog. For such a seminal band of the 1980s, there’s been very little career reappraisal up until the last few years. Befitting their notorious underdog status, maybe it has taken the record industry’s powers-that-be some 17 years (since their breakup in 1991) to digest their raggedly magnificent music and legacy.

Either way, this belated gift is worth both the wait and the frustrations involved. The initial treasure trove of material was released in the spring by Rhino Records, and contains extensive bonus cuts and liner notes for the Mats’ first four records, ranging from their punk debut, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash in 1981, to their last record on the Twin/Tone label, the classic Let It Be in 1984. The latter record was responsible for putting the Mats on the indie map and left of the dial, and kick started their underground legend.

Rhino just released the second batch of reissues, which foretells the Mats’ rise to a major label, Warner Brothers, with Tim in 1985, and extends to their low-key, melancholy farewell, All Shook Down, in 1990. Each reissue arrives chock-full of alternate cuts, live songs, and new interviews with band members and producers.

If you ever wondered what nuggets the Mats were holding back, now is the time to ante up and explore. From the raw ache of the acoustic leftover “You’re Getting Married” on Stink, to the early incarnations of “Can’t Hardly Wait” on Tim, it’s great to hear the rough gems they left on the studio floor.

I recently interviewed the man responsible for much of this project, Mr. Peter Jesperson, from his home in Los Angeles. If his name doesn’t strike a chord in indie hearts everywhere, it’s a shame—because he’s the guy who basically ‘discovered’ the Mats in Minneapolis a few decades ago. For good measure, he also co-produced several early records and managed the four cohorts—as much as they could be “handled” anyway, during the first half of their career.

In the ’80s, Jesperson managed Oar Folkjokeopus, one of Minneapolis’s first indie music stores as well as a kind of headquarters for like-minded musicians. Westerberg first came in to drop off a demo tape, and the rest was kismet. The Replacements were soon spawned, scrapping their way out into the world; four scruffy high school dropouts who would go onto become that generation’s finest—at least for my money.

Jesperson co-founded Twin/Tone Records, one of the first and best indie record labels, and eventually signed Robyn Hitchcock, Soul Asylum, the Jayhawks, and many others.

If that kind of credibility isn’t enough, he now is A&R Chief of New West Records, the roots-laden, Austin/California label that has signed Kris Kristofferson, Dwight Yoakam, John Hiatt, and Lucinda Williams to their roster, just to name a few legends.

Despite Jesperson’s association with myriad other quality bands, it’s easy to hear the passion and warmth he still exudes when talking about the Replacements, his long-time mates. Every band deserves a champion, an advocate, such as Jesperson. His enthusiasm and interest largely motivated this labor of love, even amidst the reluctance of several ex-Replacements to reexamine their music from so long ago.

I like to envision these two Minneapolis natives, Jesperson with his old comrade and ex-Mat, Tommy Stinson, now both LA transplants, discussing these reissues and their shared glory years on some California beach, the sand snapping at their Midwestern overcoats, with a few cold ones in tow. Here come a few regulars, indeed.

Crawdaddy!: What instigated these reissues?

Peter Jesperson: Well, I think it’s something we talked about doing for a long time. When I first ran into them, I just thought, “This is a band that will go down in rock history and will be doing anthologies one day.” Not to sound snotty about it, but I really believed that from the get-go. So this is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time—and other parties might have a financial interest who suggested ‘let’s do the reissues now,’ meaning back in ’94, ’95. And we thought it was just too early. I suppose it’s true with any band, but there’s a little bit of a soap opera involved with the Replacements that doesn’t exist with every band.

There’s a lot of emotional baggage, and it was a great time for those of us directly involved, and there were also some difficult times. It was hard to go back, though maybe less so for me because I’m constantly thinking about them or talking about them. I don’t think a day has gone by in the last 25 years when I haven’t had some door open because of my affiliation with them. So I never got too far away from it all. To some degree, Paul [Westerberg, singer-songwriter and guitarist] is the same way since he did a lot of Mats songs when he played live—whereas Chris [Mars, drums] and Tommy [Stinson, bass] really did separate themselves from it. Paul is not the kind of guy who is going to sit around and work on an anthology, so if I couldn’t get Chris or Tommy involved I didn’t think there was much hope of it happening. It was just recently that Tommy said, “I think I can go back and listen to this stuff now.”