I’m about to draw an analogy that’s sure to anger some people:
\nThe partnership of Husker Du’s Bob Mould and Grant Hart was to punk
\nrock what John Lennon and Paul McCartney were to pop.<\/p>\n
Although both bands started out as leaders in their respected
\nfields, each band soon found themselves torn as the principal
\nsongwriters each tried to go in their own directions. Like Lennon,
\nMould wanted to be the innovator in sound and texture, throwing
\ncaution to the wind in favor of a sound that was pleasing to him.
\nLike McCartney, Hart had the heart of a pop star, daring to follow
\nthe road marked by melody and well-crafted songs.<\/p>\n
Eventually, all of this must come to a head. With The Beatles,
\nit was the untitled “White Album”. With Husker Du, I hear that
\nmusical tension in
\nThe Living End<\/i>, a posthumous release chronicling the final
\ntour of this Minneapolis trio.<\/p>\n
Recorded during Husker Du’s brief 1987 tour, this album could
\nalmost be seen as a live compilation (I hesitate to use the term
\n“best-of”, for that’s usually thrown onto albums from groups who
\nachieve superstardom) of their all-too-short career together. While
\nsuch a set might be a little too much to take for the person who is
\njust discovering the napalm attack that was Husker Du, for the
\ndiehard fan, this album is sure to please.<\/p>\n
In these performances, one hears Mould pouring everything into
\nhis own performances, his voice cracking under the strains of his
\nvocal shouts, his guitar wailing almost like it’s alive, and Mould
\nis merely trying to guide it back onto the road. Hart happily
\npounds away on his drumkit, and makes the most of each opportunity
\nhe gets to be the lead vocalist. (I found it intriguing to hear a
\nmore punked-out version of “Now That You Know Me,” a song that Hart
\neventually put on his first solo album.) All the while, bassist
\nGreg Norton seems to be the anchor for the band, plunking away
\nwhile watching the musical tension unfolding on stage.<\/p>\n
As a band, Husker Du was a bit sloppy – but in this case, that
\nstyle worked well for them, as having a neatly structured sound
\nwould have defeated the whole purpose. From the opening notes of
\n“New Day Rising,” that style is showcased in a devil-may-care
\nmanner, almost as if the band knew they were creating something
\nthat was going to last a lifetime.<\/p>\n
And there are some incredible performances on
\nThe Living End<\/i>. While I have never been able to get into
\nWarehouse: Songs And Stories<\/i> (the band’s last studio album),
\ntheir rendition of “Ice Cold Ice” here is enough to warm up the
\nChicago lakeside. Other numbers like “Friend, You’ve Got To Fall”,
\n“Celebrated Summer” and “In A Free Land” all show just how
\nunderappreciated Husker Du was in their time. And who can’t resist
\ntheir closing number, a cover of The Ramones’s “Sheena Is A Punk
\nRocker”?<\/p>\n
But there are a few miscues on
\nThe Living End<\/i> as well. I wonder why the band chose to do
\n“Hardly Getting Over It”, when there were better selections off of
\nCandy Apple Grey<\/i> they could have chosen. To me, “What’s
\nGoing On” (from the classic
\nZen Arcade<\/i>) will never top the original – and you need the
\nplinking piano to make this song sound right. Other numbers like
\n“Terms Of Psychic Warfare” and “Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill” are
\nvery much hit-or-miss, and will depend on your own personal likes
\nand dislikes of Husker Du’s catalog.<\/p>\n
For that matter,
\nThe Living End<\/i> is an album that has to grow on you over
\ntime. I’ve owned this album since it came out five years ago, and
\nthis last time that I listened to it (I think it was the first time
\nI’d dug this tape out in two years) found me enjoying it the most.
\nWith
\nThe Living End<\/i>, the key word is patience.<\/p>\n
Husker Du has been broken up now for over a decade, but their
\ninfluence is still very much felt.
\nThe Living End<\/i>, even with its few problems, shows us how
\nmuch this band is still missed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5761],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-38715","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-husker-du","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38715"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}