Perfect

Next to the Red Sox and Adlai Stevenson, in the yet-to-be-built (in Oakland, naturally) Underdog Hall of Fame, would be the Replacements: the mythic least-successful and most-deserving band of the '80s. Likewise, the solo career of Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson, from his utterly ignored early-'90s outfit Bash and Pop to his current membership in the vegetating Guns N' Roses. And then there's Perfect, the hard-pop band Stinson formed in L.A., only to see its debut full-length shelved in 1999. Finally released, Once, Twice Three Times a Maybe is that rare happy ending, a punky take on the coiled Beatles-y hooks that once made healthy teenage girls into trichotillomaniacs. Credit is due to melodic lead guitarist Marc Soloman, but it's Stinson's dry warmth as a singer and tough tunefulness as a bassist and songwriter that pull it together. As with Village Gorilla Head -- Stinson's cooler new "solo debut" -- Perfect's vindication is the mark of true success, the Curse of the Bambino be damned.