Bob Mould's last studio release, "Sunshine Rock," was by Bob Mould standards, a sunshine pop record. None of it resembled The Association or The Millennium, but it certainly was upbeat and melodic and actually quite good. But now Bob Mould is angry and rightfully so. His new record, "Blue Hearts" is the loudest, fastest and hardest music since the glory days of Husker Du and it is one of the best records of his career.
After a brief acoustic set up with "Heart On My Sleeve," Mould lets loose and "Blue Hearts" never lets up. The record flies by aggressively and relentlessly, with songs often bleeding into each other, and though the vocals are somewhat buried in the beautiful noise, much like those classic Husker Du records, when you do occasionally catch the subject matter, you'll find one of the best protest records in recent memory.
6 comments:
Wurster and Narducy as bandmates, both comic gold. That must help in keeping it fresh over the years.
Yeah, baby! Newsker Du! No mold on Bob! He’s killin’ it! Thanks for posting, Sal.
I bought all of the Du albums, none of Mould's solo albums. I think it's because of the wall of sound arrangements he uses; they rarely let up. the hooks are undeniable, but I guess I pine for the Grant Hart changeup more than I thought I would.
Just finished my first listen 15 minutes ago. I'm (almost) the world's biggest Bob fan and my first take echoes Anon's reference to the Grant Hart changeup. It's not the G.Hart tune that I need but a change in tempo every few songs and a touch more melody would flavor my ears well. That being said, I love the speed and delivery and the shortness of the songs. Sunshine Rock Be Damned!!
A couple more listens and I'm sure I'll be locked in to the Bobgoodness as I always am.
Randy
Anon 1... It's a bit harsh to dismiss all of his post Husker stuff. The Sugar records - which lets face it were solo albums - were superb and his last 3 or 4 solo albums are really good and have a lot more tonal varieties than you give him credit for. However, if the relentless intensity and wall of sound arrangements don't do it for you, I don't think this record will.
Totally agree about Grant Hart - his contribution to Husker Du is hugely under-rated. I have all of Hart's solo efforts, though, and just as a few, not all, of Mould's albums could have done with some Grant Hart, equally Hart's records could have done with a little of Mould's intensity.
Thanks for the tip... I've also been in the grant hart camp(sorry somehow and its ilk) but I've been listening to mould again after avoiding him totally since the sugar days.
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