HÜSKER PÖLL: Warehouse - Songs and Stories

I like the new titles...

e.g. Ice Cold Ice Mould

there's a lot of great songs here (i'm one of those who thinks that the band found it's fractured-pop genius with this disc, and that it's one of the great final-discs of an act's career).

still, i'll stick with what i already said on the other husker thread: she floated away.

I went with that too, mainly (and possibly unfairly) because of how completely overwhelming it was when I saw them play it live.

'friend you've got to fall'? 'no reservations'? 'you can live at home'? tough question...

have we ever polled zen arcade?

no reservations

i associate alot of these grant hart ones with the solo acoustic versions he's done in his live sets for years, so they sound weird to me when i hear the actual album

this is like the only husker du album i'd care to listen to these days tho it's not the best, i guess i'm burned out on the sst stuff
too much spice is the worst, not sure which is the best, need to relisten

I love the way that 'Bed Of Nails' kicks off side 3, and I love the contrasting guitar sounds on that song too.

It's Not Peculiar was always my favorite Mould, and Charity Chastity was my favorite Hart one. Gotta relisten.

i think it's a really good album, good way for them to go out. favorite mould song here is "these important years," but since i'm a hart partisan i'm voting for "she's a woman."

"Ice Cold Ice."

since i'm a hart partisan i'm voting for "she's a woman."

hart partisans unite!

'You Can Live at Home' is underloved I think, Husker Du playing weird funk noise.

My snap judgement is 'You Can Live At Home' but I'm listening to the album now for better perspective.

I don't think there's a band I want to see get back together more than these guys.

Could You Be The One will always be my favourite.

xpost I can't lie, that would be incredible, would fly in an aeroplane to see.

She Floated Away

'Friend, You've Got To Fall', 'Back From Somewhere' and 'Ice Cold Ice' are formidable, but it's still 'You Can Live At Home' for me. The song feels like an angry requiem for the band itself, beyond songcraft and totally from the gut.

A lot of my issues with this album come from Bob. He has a bunch of great songs on the front half, but starting with 'It's Not Peculiar' his stuff goes all limp and dispirited. From there on, every Bob song on the record sucks. How many damn times on this album does he use that same stepwise vocal melody on three pitches (see chorus of Up In The Air for example)?

But that would imply that "Turn it Around" sucked, which I would wholeheartedly disagree with...still one of my fave Bob songs of all time.

"These Important Years" has meant a lot to this cheeseball over the years. #2 would be "She's a Woman".

#1 is "You Can Live At Home", a rare instance of a band's final song being my favorite one by them...#2 is "It's Not Peculiar", my Bob song...

"Ice Cold Ice Mould"

lol

"Sweet Leaf Mould"

"You're a Soldier" from memory, even though I suspect the lyrics may be smug--I can't remember specific lines, so hopefully I'm wrong.

Ice Cold Ice, just a whisker ahead of She Floated Away

"He has a bunch of great songs on the front half, but starting with 'It's Not Peculiar' his stuff goes all limp and dispirited. From there on, every Bob song on the record sucks."

Have you ever even heard No Reservations Mould? Goddamn, thats an awesome song.

I'll go with "Visionary Mould"

It's gotta be Charity Chastity. That is one of the most killer riffs ever.

"Standing in the Rain" by a Googol light years and shit the fuck up, idiots.

"She Floated Away" is fucking silly, btw

14 It's Not Peculiar Mould 4:06

^ Favorite Dü song of all.

starting with 'It's Not Peculiar' his stuff goes all limp and dispirited

I'm glad there is so much Hüsker Dü material, and that it's as varied as it is, because there's room for everyone to love something someone else hates and vice versa.

I'm glad Bob wrote half the songs on Warehouse cos Grant's are mostly shite

Exception being "You Can Live at Home", obv

This was my first Husker Du album, and I have a lot of affection for it. It doesn't deserve the kicking it gets, and I can't see that there are a massive amount of clunkers in there. I'd seriously rep for She's A Woman (And Now He Is A Man), You Can Live At Home, Standing In The Rain, Back From Somewhere, Ice Cold Ice, Could You Be The One?, She Floated Away, as well as several others.

Seriously difficult to pick just one... maybe She's A Woman.

Thread summary:

The Husker Du songs I like are good, and the Husker Du songs you like are not.

Bob's album :

These Important Years Mould 3:49
Standing in the Rain Mould 3:41
Ice Cold Ice Mould 4:23
Could You Be the One? Mould 2:32
Friend, You've Got to Fall Mould 3:20
Visionary Mould 2:30
Bed of Nails Mould 4:44
It's Not Peculiar Mould 4:06
No Reservations Mould 3:40
Turn It Around Mould 4:32
Up in the Air Mould 3:03

Grant's album :

Charity, Chastity, Prudence, and Hope Hart 3:11
Back From Somewhere Hart 2:16
You're a Soldier Hart 3:03
Too Much Spice Hart 2:57
She Floated Away Hart 3:32
Tell You Tomorrow Hart 2:42
Actual Condition Hart 1:50
She's a Woman (And Now He Is a Man) Hart 3:19
You Can Live at Home Hart 5:25

Um, Greg's album :

lol, voted for "Um, Greg's album."

I think I prefer Bob's, less filler than Grant's songs although he was starting to get a bit too overwrought by this point. Didn't Greg actually write and sing a b-side for one of the singles?

overall, i'd say mould's disc is better than hart's disc, but (a) the peaks of hart's disc are higher than the peaks of mould's disc and (b) as set forth above, i am a grant partisan.

speaking of grant, i do not have either of his last two solo albums (the '09 one or the '99 one). i see they're both on emusic. i should get, y/n?

xp
That's interesting, Daniel! I actually briefly considered asking if the Bob and Grant songs were separated which album you'd prefer, but figured it would be pretty pointless because I figured Grant partisans would automatically say grant and vice versa!

up in the air mould, for me. 's always been.

tipsy, i think grant's 1999 disc -- good news for modern man -- is an overlooked classic (at least half of the album feels that way to me, e.g., Think It Over Now, Run Run Run to the Centre Pompidou, You Don't Have to Tell Me Now, and Little Nemo).

i like the new disc, too, but it never grabbed me the same way.

This 'tape' was tied up into my high school years quite a bit, so I pretty much know the record like the back of my hand. That being said, I pretty much always forward wound through "You're a Soldier". That song has always annoyed me. There is something repetitive about it that ear worms into my head and not in a good techno or krautrock repetitive way. I pulled an erase from history when I ripped the CD to MP3 and didn't pull that track.

Promotion of this album did lead to a great 80s talk show moment, as Husker Du played the Joan Rivers show after this record came out with a stage set similar to the album cover. The crazy thing is that Rivers actually interviewed them on the show. It is definitely up there with the Replacements playing on Saturday Night Live around the same looking like a deer in the headlights.

Grant Hart's songs on this album have kind of a groovy swinging head bobbing 60s sound.

yeah, that rivers performance and interview is on youtube. un momento.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vefkvjcjNj8

Didn't Greg actually write and sing a b-side for one of the singles?

i think everytime, off the living end posthumous live lp, was the greg song from this era

LOL at Joan Rivers' "research" apparently not extending to the name of the song she was introducing!

Paging ILX user Tuomas... Paging ILX user Tuomas... Please help...

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20 tracks in front of green. Guitar Valli is on, embracing. Tasty! Valli is a thick mat and lie, like a forgotten site for the weekend off circular saw.

Last time I tried listening to Warehouse, it was a few years back, on vinyl, and there's something about that record that just gets boring for me. Song for song, the material is stronger than Candy Apple Grey, but they settle into a set of textures and tempos that gives everything a sameness. Pplains adding "Everytime", which is both more bubblegum and more hardcore-ish really helps, as does his sequencing. I know why Huskers used "These Important Years" to start the record - it's jaunty but still has a tense solos, but it sets up the pacing problems. Opening with "Floated Away" sets up a different story - let's start far out, then get smaller. Like The Who Sell Out .

Warehouse would be a lot better if they had more jolting arrangements side by side, like "Never Talking to You" next to "Chartered Trips" or "Powerline" next to "Books about UFOs". Really, it's a problem I have with everything after New Day Rising . It's not the production per se, it's that they settled into a generic Husker Du arranging style. Probably because they ceased to enjoy working out arrangemnts together, and became supporting musicians for each others songwriting efforts.

Well said.

I like the erratic sequencing of Warehouse. Candy Apple is possibly the only HD I don't really like a lot, though I do love the Grant songs.

CAG and FYW are my favorite Husker albums.

You're half right.

sides 3 & 4: mostly terrific
sides 1 & 2: mostly boring

Sides 1-4 all awesome

CAG and FYW are my favorite Husker albums.

Same here! I'd probably rank this one third - it's great but there are definitely a few songs I could lose - I've got to admit I've no idea why You Can Live at Home is so well-liked. That bassline is so clunky! Also I just think the vocal fade-out of Up in the Air would be a perfect album/career closer.

Teasing: https://twitter.com/numerogroup/status/777259538776854528

If it's what I heard a few years ago it's a full scale remasters/reissues of the catalog plus all sorts of extras

Remasters you say???

If these albums are actually remastered--as in, you can play them without getting a headache--I will write Numero a blank check

Wow numero group???

This is exciting

I just realized the idea of huskers demos would be really enticing to me. I hope there's demos in the extras.

the idea of non-spot (and non-warners-80s-glossy) huskers albums is both thrilling and terrifying to me.

Extras/demos are very appealing but spending $$$ on music I already know by heart, less so.

Interesting. The post mentions "seven years in the making." The first I'd heard of anything re: Numero and Husker Du was back in 2012, I'd say, but when I asked Mould for confirmation then the best he would give was that all three members of HD were for the first time sharing the same legal representation. Which is not nothing. Why now and not then, though, I dunno.

Wait, is this ... this: New Double CD of previously unreleased Husker Du pre-Landspeed/Everything Falls Apart demos coming out!

It could be! So hard to say. Also, my comment upthread about remasters... That was the plan at some point I think, keep in mind grant hart is involved in all these decisions so things can be.... fluid I would imagine

I always heard Mould was the sticking point, that for the longest time he wanted control of the masters in exchange for his Ok.

yeah that could be, they both seemed to shit on greg a couple years ago in the press, too so who know if that was part of it

I'd always heard that the masters were shitty and that remastering them wouldn't make the sound any better. I think that was Mould's take over the years.

But after hearing the cleanup on the Beatles' Live At the Hollywood Bowl, it seems that technology is going to allow some true turd polishing.

Also:

https://twitter.com/numerogroup/status/778368625849864192

Jeepers. Too bad they waited until no one pays for music anymore.

feel like the target market for that husker set is literally the only people who pay for music anymore

was gonna say

why are we assuming it's a box set?

I actually hope it isn't

Numero has teased demos and New Day Rising so far; I can't imagine they'll release them separately.

it's just that I can probably only afford the paid-download option (bc I can chip away at it album by album), and if it's a box I won't be able to afford that either

My disposable income is 20 dollars a month at most rn

the great thing about numero is it will be in print for some time--i save up for their pricier box sets myself and then splurge

Gonna start a "never remaster HD" campaign

Bleh I'm seeing that numero doesn't even have a pay to download option by itself. You have to buy the physical (presumably LP only?) to be able to download.

yeah good point i think they just did that

not from Numero, but missed this when it was announced (Walker Art Center is putting out the record):

Join us in the gallery as Yousif Del Valle performs the complete drum track from the newly released, limited-edition LP Land Speed Record. A set by his thrash metal band Hate Beast follows.

The limited-edition, clear vinyl LP contains a rendition of Hüsker Dü’s original drum track played by Del Valle and recorded live at 7th St Entry on April 14, 2016. Published by the Walker, the album serves as the catalogue for Larson’s exhibition and includes liner note essays by Walker exhibition curator Siri Engberg, Walker artistic director Fionn Meade, independent curator Dieter Roelstraete, and Rev. Russell Rathbun, founding preacher at St. Paul’s House of Mercy. A separate, deluxe edition of the LP additionally features a color photograph, signed and numbered by Larson, of the salvaged objects from the home of Hüsker Dü drummer Grant Hart, which are the subject of his film on view in the Walker galleries.

Available in the Walker Shop, this 2016 LP release coincides with the 35th anniversary of Hüsker Dü’s Land Speed Record and Del Valle’s in-gallery performance. Album $19.81 ($17.83 Walker members); deluxe edition $500 ($450).

I give ranking this album a go.

Can we talk about the bridge in "No Reservations" (from 1:35 - 2:47):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyOnt77oSOg

I think I'm picking up 4 guitar tracks:
1) there's the up-stroke beeping pulse
2) then there's 2 (reversed?) kinda "glide-guitar" (to borrow a name for a technique that would show up a year or two later on MBV's Isn't Anything).
3) once Bob's vox come in there's this strong, deep drone descending from C#m-B-A-E pedaling over the chiming open b-e strings.

It's one of the more psychedelic & noisy moments on the record and I'm trying to draw parallels to earlier predecessors like the 2nd half of Wire's "The 15th" but "No Reservations" is far more blurry & hazy. What other art-rock has a similar feel or plays in a similar space?

I missed this one but I probably would have picked "Ice Cold Ice" even though the live version on The Living End is better than the version on the album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHoYXSdhjAQ

XP - Perhaps the (unjustly) forgotten about live record from Rain Parade, Beyond The Sunset, may have similar things going on?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slNikQBXKCA

What an album. Bed of Nails is the only dud. Bob should've let Grant have another one in its place.

This album weirdly presages not just (aspects of) shoe gaze, but also the all-treble sound of a lot of '90s Brit rock.

That section *does* sound a lot like parts of Isn't Anything. I listened to Warehouse a lot right when it came out and very little since. Spot's production never bothered me, but these interesting bits wash out on the late records. I only tenuously heard a HU-MBV connection by the time the time MBV came on my radar a year after HD was kaput. If Isn't Anything pulls a lot from Husker Du sonics, it also lets go of traditional Beatles/Buzzcocks song conventions, which Mould and Hart kept emphasizing more and more. Like, "Feed Me with Your Kiss" is easy to imagine as a late Du track, with the storm of fuzz and drawled vocals, but what sets it free is the conceptual bit with the incrementing count of blam-blam-blams. "From the Gut" Huskers might have done something like that, but not the final stage of the band.

I always thought this captured something of shoe gaze:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzzP29fw930

fwiw "Psychocandy" came out two months later.

What other art-rock has a similar feel or plays in a similar space?

Maybe some of the songs with layered guitar segments on third and fourth Camper Van Beethoven albums?

(The self-titled one and Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart)

Very overdue, but thanks for all your replies (esp. bendy, Josh, tim). I realized in retrospect that Bob came back to this proto-shoegaze sound for Sugar (post-shoegaze?) which is kinda awkward.... yet I think the moments on the Sugar records that get psych-gaze are not sloppy enough for me to love, which is why I keep coming back to "No Reservations".

Ok hold on a second!

From a Kevin Shields interview on how he created the MBV "glide-guitar" sound:

So I'd been playing the song 'Slow', and previously I'd been using this reverse reverb which I'd read about in a Bob Mould interview

https://thequietus.com/articles/08745-kevin-shields-interview-mbv-my-bloody-valentine

lol, Josh in Chicago from 4 years ago upthread:

Apparently Mould was also doing proto MBV stuff (slowing guitars down, blending them) pretty early, which maybe in those days accounted for his stun guitar sound. I know Shields has cited a Mould interview for giving him the idea of using reverse reverb. Billy Corgan cites Mould, too.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, August 8, 2016 7:59 AM (four years ago)

I seem to remember reading in Tape Op or somewhere that it was a rackmount fx unit, Alesis Midiverb II that had a short reverse reverb setting that inspired the glide guitar sound.

Any deep Husker fans know of any earlier reverse reverb examples prior to "No Reservations"?

And what the hell is "stun guitar" anyway? The only other place I've seen it referenced is on Blue Oyster Cult album credits.

There's a guitar part during the intro to Eiffel Tower High that sounds a bit reverse reverbish

Also Don't Know Yet off Flip Your Wig has a lot of backwards guitar but whether or not that's rev reverb I don't know. They obv played the tape backwards for the cymbals though