Welcome back, boys. The Replacements, Minnesota's beloved punk-rock hellions, have reunited with a five-song benefit EP for guitarist Slim Dunlap, recently paralyzed by a stroke. It's the group's first new recording in 23 years; not only are the Replacements doing it for the right reason, they're doing it the right way, with sloppily heartfelt covers of two Dunlap songs, a show tune from Gypsy and a Nico oldie from her pre-­Warhol days. But the real smoker comes as the 'Mats rip into Hank Williams' "Lost Highway" – when Paul Westerberg testifies about a life of sin, you can hear all those lost miles of wear and tear in his mannish-boy howl.

“History Lesson — Part II”

The Minutemen were a tightly knit trio, but the relationship between guitarist D. Boon and bassist Mike Watt goes back to their childhood growing up in the blue-collar California town of San Pedro. This nostalgic song's narrative (sung by Boon but written by Watt) details the duo's friendship and coming of age as music lovers and musicians. "I wrote that song to humanize us," Watt later recalled. "People thought we were spacemen, but we were just Pedro corndogs – our band could be your life! You could be us, this could be you."