"33 1/3: The Replacements' 'Let It Be' "

I listened to an audiobook version of Colin Meloy's bookI just finished my third installment of the "33 1/3" series of audiobooks in which famous or semi-famous people review classic albums.

I had a mixed experience with the first two.

Warren Zanes'  "33 1/3" take on Dusty Springfield's "Dusty in Memphis" was just awful because it never really got into the music at hand. Bill Janovitz's breakdown of The Rolling Stones' "Exile on Main Street" was much better, offering a straightforward analysis of an album that seems to get better as the years go by.

But Colin Meloy's "33 1/3" take on The Replacements' "Let It Be" was a surprise, in a good way. I'm not much of a fan of The Decemberists, the band Meloy leads. But I am a big fan of The 'Mats, whose mix of crash-bang punk and touching lyrics powered me through college.

Meloy dives into his review from the vantage point of an awkward teen growing up in small-town Montana. It's a perfect match for "Let It Be," whose songs are both immature and emotionally vulnerable in trying to address the mystery and agony of adolescence. There were more than a few segments where I felt Meloy was describing slices of my childhood. Like the first few listens of "Let It Be," I felt like someone finally understood me.