S/D -- The Numero Group

the Creation set is so good
sounds way better than those dodgier 90s comps

So, remember how a few of us were encountering 'gee I thought they said this was sold out' demi-glitches? Just got this email:

Remember when vinyl was back? Well now CDs are back, and all it took was a ridiculously low-priced Numero Group CD sale to single-handedly juke the stats. Here’s what happened: the analog magnetic tape mainframe that hosts our wildly outdated and derelict website failed to stop selling items when they sold out of the quantity that we actually have. Once we get it sorted out, heads over here will proverbially roll. In the meantime, we want to offer you the opportunity to swap out the item we simply don’t have any more of, for an item we actually do have.

Everything after that is specific to my order, so anyway. Point being, though, hope you all got your mp3s as I suggested!

i didn't get an email (yet)--fingers crossed.

It all depends on if something you bought was actually sold out at the time of sale. About half my order was like that -- the only thing I will really miss was that Scientists set, sadly, but as I've been able to get (among a few other things) the Ork set in exchange, not complaining.

yeah I missed out on Guitar Soli, Boscoe and Scientists - but did get the mp3 so still worked out

subbed those for the Ork 2 cd box and Syl Johnson 4cd, which not complaining about those at all

yep out of Guitar Soli and Scientists for me, I just took the refund

Guitar Soli here, too - and I didn't get the mp3s. Balls. Got the Belize compilation though, so all good (albeit I had to get it delivered to my sister in Denver and won't be seeing her until September, so...).

got my stuff today; the bedhead set is super tight.

Belize Boil Up is so fucking fun

otm

Ork Records was such a glorious fucking mess of a label. Loving this comp so much.

Great liner notes too -- hell of a deep history.

yeah the CD box set and book and packaging is remarkable, what a document

my only complaint so far with the stuff i got is that the packaging for the purple snow set is lovely but not very portable if you care about preserving the book from having car-coffee spilled on it regularly (yes i am a slob)

yeah they are more for display at home than portability

Kenneth Higney was a real piece of work, don't know anything about him

So! The Husker Du box is streaming.

http://www.npr.org/2017/09/05/547854997/first-listen-husker-du-savage-young-du

And the story's great too.

Very exciting, and yet, the early years of Husker Du is not why people like Husker Du.

As long as Greg Ginn is being kept alive by his cat menagerie, this may be as good as it gets.

ugh hate how hard it is to get anything from these guys in the UK. shipping prices are ridiculous, most likely no shops will bother getting it and sets like this don't really get any amazon uk distribution so i guess i'll not be getting it

I'm expecting Norman Records may stock it, probably Monorail. I got the Bedhead and Codeine boxes over here so would expect to get the Husker Du one.

I agree that the shipping is brutal though. Had this in my cart but couldn't justify it to myself.

the early years of Husker Du is not why people like Husker Du
know what you mean, but this early Du is the period I'm least familiar with, so I think it'll be interesting to do a deep dive here ...

ordered

tyler u gotta check out Everything Falls Apart especially, that record is killer

As long as Greg Ginn is being kept alive by his cat menagerie, this may be as good as it gets.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, September 5, 2017 8:21 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Form what I gather second or third hand (Mpls not a very big town) we should be amazed we are even getting this.

The other Katzmann Land Speed Record tape is something I have heard abt for like 25 yrs, can't wait to finally here it.

xp i've heard it, just haven't really given it a lot of time compared to the SST jams.

Ginn as punk supervillain still bums me out.

Also the personalities of this band & their relationship are...complex

Ginn as punk supervillain still bums me out.

Weed is a helluva drug

sets like this don't really get any amazon uk distribution

I would be really REALLY surprised if this isn't available via amazon uk

tyler u gotta check out Everything Falls Apart especially, that record is killer

yep, that whole burma-meets-keith levene sound they had, it's great

i feel like i learned a lot about early HD from reading Bob's book -- imagining Bob and Grant meeting and becoming friends truly warms my heart and gives me hope for humanity in spite of how their relationship has turned out. it seemed like the kind of intense friendship that doesn't happen every day.

a hell of a lot of work went in to make even this happen

and all legal avenues to rescue the later stuff from Ginn

Also the personalities of this band & their relationship are...complex

― chr1sb3singer, Tuesday, September 5, 2017 10:03 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and let's just say a certain member is in many many ways less motivated to make stuff like this happen for fairly obvious reasons

personally I think this early period will be more fascinating and contain more surprises than a later set

I think there's more of substance that hasn't been heard

Very exciting, and yet, the early years of Husker Du is not why people like Husker Du.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, September 5, 2017 8:10 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think Everything Falls Apart is as good as anything they ever did and better than some of the later albums (IMO)

agreed, this release is essential and I expect it to redefine how people see these early years

I think there are some people that think Sorry Ma is the peak of the Replacements, too. But I don't think Everything is better than any subsequent HD record save maybe Candy Apple Grey on a bad day.

Well, we just have different tastes in Husker Du I guess. I also very much love Stink (even moreso) and Sorry Ma.

If there are people who like say Don't Tell a Soul or All Shook Down more than Sorry Ma, which I'm sure there are, we just value dif things abt the band.

I think because their mature period was so much better than most hardcore bands people actually underrate HD as a hardcore band.

Now that they're redoing the CD model to be like 2,000 copies each, should I expect Rough Trade to carry these, or do I have to do mail-order?

xp Stink is totally the best Replacements record in my world

sorry ma is my favorite
i went to look for my everything falls apart cd to listen to in the car only to find a cruel joke i apparently played on myself the last time i went down this stretch of memory lane: the HD cd had been replaced by Let It Be
lol

the ol' minnesota shuffle

is that really right about them just doing 2,000 of the CD sets? Yow, I better get mine. one of the best things about numero is that the CD sets are so nicely priced.

extra 7" is essential btw

Yeah, I'm basically vinyl for the proper numbers, CD for the 200 series

Everything Falls Apart is incredible, but I agree, this is not the boxset or reissue that will expose Hüsker Dü to new generations like they deserve. Hearing Flip Your Wig at 19 for the first time was a revelation - I was a massive Nirvana & Green Day fan, how had no one told me about this amazing power pop hardcore record?????

any Mpls heads wanna dish some dirt on why the above scenario is unlikely to happen?

You mean more reissues? I think that can be broken down to:

1) Bob is doing really well, musically and financially, and doesn't need the aggravation.
2) No one in the band has stayed on particularly good terms.
3) Label woes.

Anyway, I like early Huskers just fine, for what it is, which is generally good. But I think they really hit their highs a couple of years later. That's not a terribly controversial opinion, I don't think. I listen to the early stuff for aaaaargh, the later stuff for ahhhhhhhh!

not really dirt basically, worked w/same lawyers who had worked w/other SST acts.

in some way that was a technicality and not explained, somehow even in the realm of shitty unfair SST contracts, the Huskers have a worse contract than, for ex., Dino or Meat Puppets or ppl who have been able to wrest control from Ginn

I live in eternal hope that one day there'll be a Slovenly box, but I can't imagine anyone ever lawyering-up over that :(

I live in eternal hope that one day there'll be a Slovenly box, but I can't imagine anyone ever lawyering-up over that :(

Oh me too. Didn't someone else here say Tom Watson has been working on it for years?

Well, it helps that Dino, Puppets, even Sonic Youth were able to get their SST stuff back because they did so at the height of the '90s alt-rock boom, when they all had resources, when their visibility was at a premium, when they weren't, you know, broken up. HD was one of the first indie bands to sign to a major, but they broke up before they could reap those benefits. It's somewhat ironic that when Bob had his biggest success piggybacking on the '90s boom it wasn't on WB but on Ryko!

I think there are some people that think Sorry Ma is the peak of the Replacements

Definitely my second favourite, after Let It Be. Tim/Pleased have lots of filler imo.

Puppets didn't get their albums back until late 90s, and that was via Ryko.

Yeah, but this was still more or less right after their commercial success on a major, right? I assume it took major label money/lawyers to extract the catalog. I mean, it can't be a coincidence that everything thinks Ginn is a dick, and SST trouble, and yet pretty much every single band *but* Husker Du has eventually escaped it grasp/wrath, save the Minutemen, and they seem fine stuck there.

If I haven't cleared it up, I love Sorry Ma - stuff from that album was a highlight of the reunion shows, iirc - but if that album was the end of the Mats they would just be a lil cult thing. Hit or miss or full of filler, it's the next few that made the band's legacy. That's what I meant re: HD. The Early Hardcore Years have a lot to love, but LSR was basically the end of the beginning before the group came out of its pupa. Again, love the hardcore stuff fine, but Metal Circus and beyond was (for me) essentially life changing.

Ok. Now that your official position is on record is it ok if we are excited about this?