Hüsker Dü -- bassist Greg Norton, drummer Grant Hart and guitarist Bob Mould (L-R) -- was one of the most influential (and prolific) rock bands of the 1980s. Beginning in July 1984, they released five albums (two of them double albums!) in 2½ years. I was lucky enough to see them in Providence on May 4, 1985 and in New York City on March 27, 1987. The band broke up later that year. (wiki)
Early Demos (1979-1980) 01 Nuclear Nightmare 02 Do The Bee 03 Uncle Ron 04 Don't Try To Call 05 Sex Dolls 06 MTC 07 Picture Of You 08 Can't See You Anymore 09 The Truth Hurts 10 Sore Eyes 11 All Tensed Up 12 Writer's Cramp 13 All I've Got To Lose Is You 14 Writer's Cramp
Metal Circus - Original Mixes (12/1982) 01 Real World 02 Deadly Skies 03 Today's The Day 04 You Think I'm Scared 05 First Of The Last Calls 06 Won't Change 07 Out On A Limb 08 Standing By The Sea 09 Diane 10 It's Not Funny Anymore 11 Lifeline
Metal Circus - Outtakes (12/1982) 01 Today's The Day 02 You Think I'm Scared 03 Standing By The Sea
Zen Arcade - Complete Outtakes (10/1983) Disc 1 01 Something I Learned Today 02 Broken Home, Broken Heart 03 Chartered Trips 04 Hare Krsna 05 Indecision Time 06 I'll Never Forget You 07 Beyond the Threshold 08 The Biggest Lie 09 Pride 10 What's Going On 11 Masochism World 12 Standing By The Sea 13 Somewhere 14 Pink Turns To Blue 15 Dozen Beats Eleven 16 Turn On The News 17 Newest Industry 18 Whatever 19 Eight Miles High 20 The Tooth Fairy And The Princess Disc 2 01 Reoccurring Dreams 02 Chartered Trips 03 Hare Krsna 04 One Step At A Time 05 Monday Will Never Be The Same 06 [untitled piano piece aka Granted] 07 Never Talking To You Again 08 Somewhere 09 One Step At A Time 10 Pink Turns to Blue 11 Newest Industry 12 Monday Will Never Be The Same 13 Whatever 14 Something I Learned Today 15 Broken Home, Broken Heart 16 Chartered Trips 17 Indecision Time 18 I'll Never Forget You 19 Beyond The Threshold 20 The Biggest Lie 21 Pride Disc 3 01 What's Going On 02 Masochism World 03 Standing By The Sea 04 Somewhere 05 One Step At A Time 06 Pink Turns To Blue 07 Some Kind Of Fun 08 Turn On The News 09 Newest Industry 10 Monday Will Never Be The Same 11 Whatever 12 Eight Miles High Rehearsals (October 1983) 13 Whatever (3 takes) 14 Indecision Time 15 Somewhere 16 Dozen Beats Eleven
New Day Rising - Rehearsals (07/1984 - instrumentals) 01 New Day Rising 02 Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill 03 I Apologize 04 Folklore 05 If I Told You 06 Celebrated Summer 07 Listen 08 Terms Of Psychic Warfare 09 59 Times The Pain 10 Erase Today 11 I Don't Know What You're Talking About 12 Books About UFOs 13 How To Skin A Cat 14 Whatcha Drinkin' 15 Plans I Make
New Day Rising - Rough Mixes/Practices (07/1984) 01 I Apologize #1 02 I Apologize #2 03 Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill 04 If I Told You #1 05 If I Told You #2 06 Books About UFOs
Candy Apple Grey - Demos (11/1985) 01 Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely 02 Crystal (instrumental) 03 Sorry Somehow 04 I Don't Know For Sure (instrumental) 05 Hardly Getting Over It 06 All Work And No Play (instrumental) 07 Dead Set On Destruction 08 Eiffel Tower High 09 Misty Modern Day (instrumental) 10 All This I've Done For You 11 Just Be (instrumental) 12 Hardly Getting Over It (instrumental) 13 I Don't Know For Sure
Warehouse: Songs and Stories -
Rehearsal/Rough Mixes (08/1986) 01 These Important Years 02 Charity, Chastity, Prudence And Hope 03 Standing In The Rain 04 Tell You Why Tomorrow 05 Ice Cold Ice 06 You're A Soldier 07 Could You Be The One? 08 Actual Condition 09 It's Not Peculiar 10 Too Much Spice 11 Visionary 12 She Floated Away 13 Friend, You've Got To Fall 14 Back From Somewhere 15 Bed Of Nails 16 You Can Live At Home (semi-instrumental) 17 Turn It Around 18 [Police investigate noise complaint] 19 You Can Live At Home 20 Tell You Why Tomorrow 21 Charity, Chastity, Prudence And Hope 22 She's A Woman (And Now He Is A Man) (instrumental) 01-18: August 5, 1986 Rehearsal 19-22: 1986 rough mixes
New Day Rising / It's Not Funny Anymore
Everything Falls Apart / Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill
I Apologize / If I Told You / Folklore
Terms Of Psychic Warfare / Powerline / Books About UFOs
Chartered Trips
Diane
Celebrated Summer
Every Everything / Makes No Sense At All / Pink Turns To Blue / Ticket To Ride
Plus: Eight Miles High from the 1987 Pink Pop Festival and an appearance on the Joan Rivers Show (?!?).
Great stuff Allan!
ReplyDeleteAh, the second half... when off-days seem few and far between (and these posts appear less and less). I guess that means more baseball! :-)
ReplyDeleteRays and Yanks... Rays and Yanks... it will be an interesting week for Sox fans!
I've never listened to these guys at all. I guess I should.
ReplyDeleteAny of the albums in particular I should start with?
I'd check out New Day Rising and its follow-up, Flip Your Wig (esp. side 1).
ReplyDeleteI don't much care for their really early stuff. Zen Arcade is quite good -- and put them on the map -- but I flat-out love the pop/melodic stuff that followed. Unfortunately, the production on Zen, NDR and Wig is not the best. It can be flat, a bit tinny and lacking in muscle.
Candy Apple Grey was their first album after the jump to Warner Bros. and was a bit of a letdown. Warehouse was good -- it would have been an amazing single album.
When they split, I followed only Mould. The first Sugar album is stunning, as is almost all of Last Dog And Pony Show.
I cannot tell you much of anything about Grant Hart's solo career. Anyone else?
I tried to give a good representative sample from each file. Check those out and see what appeals. P.S.: the Zen Arcade OT are in fantastic quality!
ReplyDeleteI don't have much from this band, but as you say, Mould's solo career has been quite good!
ReplyDeleteI love Sugar, they're one of my favourite bands. Yet I can't listen to Husker Du at all.
ReplyDeleteI should try again. I haven't in a while.
Thanks for this bumper crop!
ReplyDeleteHi! I found your blog through a Hüsker Dü list (someone had linked to it). I just wanted to say thanks for posting all this stuff -- there's quite a few songs I hadn't known existed (and it's been pretty cool to hear earlier versions of songs that would wind up on Land Speed Record later, though at higher amphetamine-driven speeds).
ReplyDeleteAs to your question about Grant earlier in the comments, he's not as prolific as Bob's been (it took him 10 years between his last two records) but I think for the most part he's made up for it in quality. His first EP after the Hüskers (2541) was as good as any of their later material, and his first full-length (Intolerance) sounds almost like a lost 60's neo-psychedelic artifact (in a good way). His work with Nova Mob (his band for a good part of the 90's) is kind of hit-or-miss (good singles here and there, but also a lot of filler), but his two albums after have been really decent -- his latest, Hot Wax, is one of the best he's put out. Musically and sonically he's a bit more diverse in his song writing than Bob. He tends to be more experimental. And he's always done Hüsker songs in his live act (he often takes requests, too), which for the past ten or fifteen years has just been him with his guitar, sort of like a hardcore Jonathan Richman.
Anyway, thanks again for the Hüsker tracks (and it was an additional pleasant surprise to find them posted on a fellow Sox fan's blog).
Great post. The early stuff is especially exciting, since I've not heard a lot of it before.
ReplyDeleteHi there,
ReplyDeleteAny chance you could re-up the Huskers stuff?
Would be greatly appreciated!
please re-up this
ReplyDeleteI won't be re-upping this, but keep searching around the web.
ReplyDelete