Bob Mould – Whelans – Live Review

 Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com 

Bob Mould – Sunshine Rock – Album Review

Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2019/02/08/bob-mould-sunshine-rock-album-review/

Bob Mould - The Last Dog and Pony Show

Bob Mould's fourth solo album, released in 1998, was supposed to be his farewell to guitar rock, though we now know that didn't turn out to be the case.  It didn't augur well that the opening track was entitled New #1.  However the track is a sort of driving guitar rock anthem, nothing amazing, but not terrible.  A bit like most of the album.  And there lies the problem.  Very few of the tracks are particularly distinctive, Moving Trucks, Taking Everything and First Drag of the Day are just... fine but aren't especially memorable.  The stomping riffs of Skintrade are a distinct improvement on a rocker which wouldn't disgrace his stronger albums.

There are three standouts towards the end of the album, though one is for the wrong reasons.  Megamanic opens with a robotic voice chanting "mega mega, mega mega" and foreshadows Mould's move into dance music.  On the other hand, previous track Sweet Serene rocks harder than anything else here, with big riffs outdoing the likes of the Foo Fighters but not Mould himself.  Final track Along the Way sees Mould sounding more emotional than anything else here and works well for that reason.  But overall, not the Bob Mould album to lend to your friends.  Or indeed pester them about on your favourite streaming service.

Album Review: Bob Mould - Beauty & Ruin

Review for www.spillmagazine.com

http://spillmagazine.com/album-review-bob-mould-beauty-ruin/

Album Review: Bob Mould - District Line

Bob Mould's 2008 album District Line is a curious one.  No more so than on opener Stupid Now, which can't decide between being a dance song, or to rock, and ultimately does neither.  Mould at times sounds like he can barely sing on this, and also the Britpop strum of Again and Again, his voice cracking under the strain of reaching the notes, and its not clear whether this is deliberate or not.  Better are the Sugar-y rockers Who Needs To Dream? and Return to Dust.

 

Old Highs, New Lows is another dodgy dance/rock hybrid, while Shelter Me goes the whole 'dad-dance' hog.  He saves the best for last with the reflective, REM channeling strum of Walls In Time, accompanied by Amy Domingues' fine cello part.  This track was apparently written around the time of 1989's Workbook.  It's a shame there aren't more like it here as it suits him down to the ground and is the strongest track on an uneven album.

Album Review: Bob Mould – Body of Song

After the rather strange dance experiment of 2002’s Modulate, 2005's Body of Song was billed as Bob Mould’s ‘return to rock’.  It opens with the reasonably heavy Circles which has a decent tune, but (Shine Your) Light Love Hope and I Am Vision, I Am Sound hark back to Modulate with their dance beats and vocodered, auto-tuned to death vocals.  Really quite jarring.

Thankfully the rest of the album improves on this.  Underneath Days has a strong guitar riff and real passion in the vocals along with impassioned rockers like Paralyzed and Best Thing.  Elsewhere, Days of Rain introduces an ‘adult-oriented’, relaxed, mid-paced sound which really suits Mould, and it’s replicated on High Fidelity and Missing You.  It’s the type of thing Paul Westerberg manages quite well.

Penultimate track Gauze of Friendship is the most emotional track, all busted relationships and sepia-described memories, with a fine guitar solo thrown in for good measure.  The album concludes on a very strong note with the parched, downbeat rocker Beating Heart The Prize, possibly the most anthemic track here and yet another blinding guitar solo.

It’s not the most cohesive album Bob Mould has put his name to but, dance-pop experiments aside, is a good collection of songs.

Album Review: Bob Mould

 

Bob Mould's first album post-Sugar in 1996 starts with the slowly building Anymore Time Between, which starts as a fairly static, brooding affair but it casts off its shackles, turning into a rousing number. Structurally it's atypical of him, and it suits him quite well.

After this departure, most of the rest of the material follows a well-worn path. Tracks like I Hate Alternative Rock, Deep Karma Canyon and Art Crisis are fairly bog-standard Mould rockers. Better are the more anthemic tracks such as Fort Knox, King Solomon and the closing track Roll Over And Die. He also turns his hand to more introspective, bitter numbers like the vicious Next Time That You Leave ("I'm burning everything you own"), and Thumbtack, where Mould sounds worn out.

As the above song titles indicate, Bob Mould was not in a good place at this point in his career. This album has an almost nihilistic feel to it and probably not a great starting point to investigate this guy's work.





Album Review: Bob Mould – Black Sheets of Rain

After the (artistically) successful stripped-down departure of Workbook, in 1990 Bob Mould went back to rocking like a man possessed on Black Sheets of Rain.  This album is for lovers of the heavy guitar onslaught.

The powerful title track sets the tone, an almost eight minute long wall of guitars, coming off like a distorted, rocked up version of The Cure's In Your House (from their Seventeen Seconds days). There are several guitar breaks in this track as Mould sings bleak lyrics: "where will you be in my darkest hour of need? Someone stopped the sun from shining".

The rest of the album struggles to measure up to this track, though the brooding One Good Reason comes close to matching the guitar heaven matched with bad moods of the title track (and it's almost as long), and later Hanging Tree is an a similar vein. Elsewhere It's Too Late is a Westerberg-style rocker, Stop Your Crying invents 'emo' alt-rock, The Last Night is a mellow anthem, and weirdly, Disappointed comes off sounding like one of Grant Hart's Husker Du songs!

As with Workbook this album ends with roaring catharsis, this time in the shape of Sacrifice/Let There Be Peace. It's a decent, but barring one or two tracks, inessential follow up to Workbook.

Album Review: Husker Du – Warehouse: Songs and Stories

Husker Du’s second double album, released in 1987 was never going to be a bloated affair with 20 songs zipping by in 69 minutes.  On first listen, all the elements are present and correct, Bob Mould’s furious guitars, Grant Hart’s distinctive drumming… but what’s that… 80s era keyboards on Charity, Chastity, Prudence and Hope and also Turn It Around?!

Mould’s bludgeoning guitars on the likes of Standing In The Rain, Ice Cold Ice, Could You Be The One? and Bed of Nails are a distinctive improvement.  On the other hand, Hart’s songs are a little weaker than Mould’s, particularly Back From Somewhere and the uninspired boogie of Actual Condition, though Too Much Spice makes a good recovery.

The midtempo guitar sprawl of It’s Not Peculiar hits a little harder than most of the tracks here, pointing towards Sugar/Mould’s solo material, as does No Reservations.  Later, the melodic Up In The Air shows the influence of REM, particularly the backing vocals.

However nothing hits quite as hard as previous Husker Du albums, rendering this album as something of a disappointment after Flip Your Wig and Candy Apple Grey.

Album Review: Husker Du – Candy Apple Grey

Candy Apple Grey came out in 1986 and it opens with a noisy, jarring track Crystal… well noisy because of Bob Mould’s crazily roared vocals.  This track is not typical of the rest of album.  Grant Hart is in fine songwriting form, with two perfect power pop songs, the driving Don’t Wanna Know If You Are Lonely and the very Elvis Costello sounding Sorry Somehow (think it’s the combination of Hart’s vocals and the organ in the background).  What’s great about these songs is that they are catchy without being annoying, and Mould plays a fine guitar on both.  Later Dead Set on Destruction possesses the irreverent snarl of the Ramones’ Chinese Rocks.

They indulge in some sensitivity with Mould’s somewhat overwrought acoustic ballad Too Far Down and Hart’s dodgy piano ballad No Promise Have I Made.  But Mould’s repetitive yet great Hardly Getting Over It is a Westerberg/Replacements slice of wistful genius, a yearning tune over ringing guitars. 

Thankfully the second half of the album has a pair of fine rockers in Eiffel Tower High and All This I’ve Done For You (this one especially welcome after No Promise Have I Made).

Album Review: Bob Mould | Silver Age

Review for www.meg.ie http://www.meg.ie/bob-mould-silver-age/

Album Review: Husker Du – Flip Your Wig

In 1985 Husker Du were on a very productive streak, and released their second album of the year with Flip Your Wig.  They had moved further away from their hardcore roots at this point.  The title track which opens the album sets the tone, it’s an almost poppy, catchy tune with Bob Mould’s rocking guitars.  It’s followed up by the breakneck stomp of Every Everything, matched for speed later by Mould’s bawling on Divide and Conquer.

They very much had their pop sensibilities to the fore.  Makes No Sense At All and Hate Paper Doll are two of Husker Du’s catchiest tracks.  When they take things down a bit, such as on Grant Hart’s Green Eyes and Mould’s Games (sounding like a future Sugar track), the band sound effortlessly rocking.

One of the standouts is Find Me, Mould’s guitars lurching backwards and forwards with some great solos.  After the pointlessly awful Baby Song interlude, the band are right back on form with Hart’s Flexible Flyer and Mould’s Private Plane.

The album tails off a little in quality towards the end with a pair of instrumentals: the fast and loose The Wit and the Wisdom and the pseudo-psychedelic Don’t Know Yet but otherwise it’s one of their finer albums.

Album Review: Husker Du - New Day Rising

After the leap forward of Zen Arcade, 1985’s New Day Rising felt like a slight disappointment.  The opening title track consists of Bob Mould repeating the title over and over alongside a fuzzy guitar riff.  The guitar fuzz is very pronounced on this album, making it a hard listen initially.  Some tracks such as I Apologize and I Don’t Know What You’re Talking About are almost mod-punk, with Mould sounding like Weller in his Jam days.  There are some fine performances here, Mould riffs hard on Folk Lore over 96 seconds and Grant Hart belts out If I Told You over more fine riffs.

Celebrated Summer is the longest song here at four minutes and represents something of a centerpiece.  It’s a classic rock sounding anthem with a pretty melody played at breakneck speed by Mould’s fuzzy, punky guitars.  The song is broken up by some acoustic guitar midway through and at the end, heightening its anthemic qualities.  The song leads into one of the more relaxed tracks here, the relatively subdued Perfect Example, which sounds like it might pave the way for Wedding Present.  Elsewhere, Terms of Psychic Warfare is like Dylan gone fuzz-punk before 59 Times The Pain heads back into more complex territory, the band showing good grasp of dynamics, plodding along through the verse before sprinting into the chorus, then slowing down again.

Powerline is one of the stronger tracks here, riffing hard at breakneck speed for 2 minutes before easing off the throttle for final few seconds of the outro.  Some tracks don’t really work, Books About UFOs is a little too jaunty, while the demented How To Skin A Cat starts with the sound of a knife being sharpened before descending into aural chaos.

Towards the end the album harks back to their earlier material, as if to prove they can still rock harder than anyone else as in the 93 seconds of Whatcha Drinkin’ and power-speed-riffola of Plans I Make.  It’s an interesting but at times exhausting listen.

Album Review: Husker Du - Zen Arcade

1984's Zen Arcade was a substantial leap forward for Husker Du.  Although many of the tracks were still delivered at breakneck speed, staying true to their punk roots, it's a sprawling double album with 23 tracks and 70 minutes of music.  A sort of Exile On Hardcore Street. 

On initial listening it's hard to digest, but several listens in you'll be hooked. For there are some really great riffs here.  Bob Mould's Something I Learned Today, and Chartered Trips have speedy, complex riffs.  Beyond The Threshold was surely the inspiration for Pearl Jam's Spin the Black Circle.  Further into the album, the unpromisingly-titled hard-rocker Whatever, is surely a guitar god performance by Mould and a standout on the album, laying the groundwork for future classics.

It's not all about fast guitar riffs either.  As early as the third track, Grant Hart slows things down with the Elvis Costello inspired, acoustic Never Talking To You Again, and also delivers a riff that can only be described as wobbly on What's Going On.  Standing By The Sea is a wonderfully lurching track, while Pink Turns To Blue is glorious power-pop drenched in fuzzy guitars.

Less interesting are random nonsense like Dreams Reoccuring, which spawned a longer, thirteen minute version in final track Reoccuring Dreams, and Hare Krsna, while Pride and Masochism World are throwbacks to Husker Du's less melodic, hardcore past.  We even get brief piano interludes One Step At A Time and Monday Will Never Be The Same.  Later, penultimate track Turn On The News is something of an almost obvious rock anthem.

An album of this length with so many tracks is never going to be anyone's favourite Husker Du album, there's simply too much going on, too many different directions.  But it's full of guitar-driven gems, none of which could be described as immediate but stick with it and it pays off.

EP Review: Husker Du – Metal Circus

Husker Du released this somewhat transitional EP in 1983.  It seems them still playing breakneck hardcore to a degree on Bob Mould’s Real World and Deadly Skies, Mould screaming his lungs out.  However it’s Grant Hart’s material that heads in a more conventional, songwriterly direction.  It’s Not Funny Anymore is almost power-pop, with some nice guitar fills, while Diane is another story altogether.  Coming in on a steady, foreboding, insistent beat, before Mould’s guitar shreds like f**k, and Hart bawls “Diane, Diane, Die-Anne”.  It’s four and a half majestic minutes and is Husker Du’s first real classic.

Also should mention the proto-grunge Out On A Limb, which has a malevolent riff that surely influenced Nirvana, before it goes absolutely mental after 40 seconds.

Album Review: Husker Du - Everything Falls Apart

Husker Du's first studio album, 1983's Everything Falls Apart, followed a similar template to their debut, albeit these songs have actually been produced.  We still get the 30 second thrashes of Punch Drunk and Bricklayer, but we also get Bob Mould's From The Gut and the title track, which pre-empt Mudhoney's sound by a couple of years and a nice cover of Donovan's Sunshine Superman.  It finishes with the epic, lengthy, two and a half minute Gravity.

Album Review: Husker Du – Land Speed Record

Words sure to strike fear into my reviewing heart: seminal, influential.  These words have always been used to describe Husker Du.  Their debut album saw Bob Mould, Grant Hart and Greg Norton release what was basically a live album in 1982.  It’s not particularly well recorded and most of the songs run into each other.  Opening track All Tensed Up sets the tone, breakneck tempos, shouted vocals (by Mould) and thrashing guitars.  The songs are very brief and most run into each other.  The album has 17 tracks and only lasts 26 minutes!

Standout tracks are pretty difficult to find here.  Norton’s MTC starts out a little like Velvet Underground’s I Heard Her Call My Name, ie all over the place, Mould’s Bricklayer is completely manic and over in 53 seconds.  Final track Data Control stands out due to its length, at nearly five and a half minutes it’s by far the longest song here, not a million miles away from a particularly messy Neil Young track.

It’s difficult to recommend this album unless you want to see where Husker Du started out from.

Album Review: Bob Mould – Workbook

Never got into Husker Du, but I greatly enjoyed Bob Mould’s Copper Blue album recorded with Sugar, so decided to check out his solo work. His first solo album, released in 1989, is fairly removed from Husker Du or Sugar, with a lot more acoustic-based tracks. That’s not to say Bob Mould is sitting back, there is plenty of intensity throughout this album.

It kicks off with a Durutti Column style instrumental, Sunspots, featuring plenty of intricate guitar work. Wishing Well is an hard rocking acoustic track, full of angst and vitriol. What sets it apart however is great use of cello, and a blistering electric guitar. A ringing, elegiac electric guitar motif opens Heartbreak A Stranger, which goes right through the track, without making it repetitive. It’s like the moodier side of grunge, before grunge went mainstream. It makes some impression, when you listen to this one a few times, you’ll feel like it’s been part of your life for years.

See A Little Light is a deceptively simple sounding melody, reminding me of those Lemonheads anthemic chord progressions that are so satisfying to play. Poison Years on the other hand is a darker, brooding track with lyrical nuggets such as “the more I think, the less I’ve got to say” which builds into some fiery guitar work before the track’s conclusion.

Sinners and their Repentances pleads like nothing else this side of Mark Eitzel. Later in the album, Lonely Afternoon is a very palatable acoustic rocker and Dreaming, I Am showcases pure passion from Bob Mould over almost Johnny Marr-like guitars. He totally loses it in Whichever Way The Wind Blows, screaming blue murder over a monumental wall of powerful, distorted guitars.

Wish I’d come across this one years ago as these songs sound absolutely timeless. I’m officially claiming this as a great lost classic.

Album Review: Sugar – Copper Blue

I have to admit that I’m largely unfamiliar with Bob Mould’s former band Husker Du, so discovering this 1992 album was an unexpected delight. It’s mostly heavy rock with crunchy guitars and great tunes.

The Act We Act roars out of the speakers with a great riff and a stomping beat, featuring a soaring guitar solo in the middle. A Good Idea cannot really be discussed without mentioning the Pixies (the beginning of the song imitates Debaser) though it turns into a pretty vital song with a nagging, insistent chorus. Changes follows in a similar vein, as do most of the songs on the album.

Helpless is a standout, with a terrific instant classic sounding guitar riff which you can’t believe you haven’t heard before. On The Slim, Mould gets ever more desperate in his vocals, bellowing them out towards the end of the song. It’s intense and hard to know where to go after this one, but the album changes gears completely after this with the acoustic guitar strum-along If I Can’t Change Your Mind, which is probably the poppiest thing on the album.

The album is a feast of guitars, and belongs in anyone’s collection.