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: 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 – 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.