Note to the reader: The opinions of the writers on this site
\nbelong strictly to the writers. While a few discrepancies may erupt
\nbetween the writers, there is a mutual respect of each writer’s
\nopinion on this site.<\/p>\n
On that note… Dear Bob-Why the hell did you give
\nCopper Blue<\/i> a C+ last year?! Arguably,
\nCopper Blue<\/i> was one of the pop gems of the 1990s. It showed
\nBob Mould totally rejuvinated. He had a very capable band to back
\nup his power, a band talented enough to give Mould’s old band,
\nHusker Du, a run for their money.<\/p>\n
Now, much of Mr. Pierce’s criticism of Sugar’s
\nCopper Blue<\/i> album is quite evident on their next album,
\nFile Under: Easy Listening<\/i>. Maybe Mr. Pierce may have
\nlistened to this album instead. I mean, it’s an easy error to do.
\nMost Sugar albums look the same from the side, same font, same
\npackaging, everything.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Sugar will forever have a C+ batting average on
\nthis site.
\nFile Under: Easy Listening<\/i> is a good display of Mould’s pop
\ntalent, but it is a stifling record to listen to. Where Mould and
\nhis band went wrong is anyone’s guess. It turned out that
\nFile Under: Easy Listening<\/i> was the last full-studio release
\nby Sugar. Its overwhelming “average” feel crushes any expectation
\nof the talent this band truely possessed.<\/p>\n
It’s no surprise that Sugar only lasted two albums. Mould was
\nnever an artist to stay in place. But Sugar gave Mould something
\nthat he genuinely needed:an edgy counterpart. Mould may have hated
\nGrant Hart in Husker Du, but dammit, he needed him to make the band
\none of the best alternative\/college bands in the 1980s. Mould got
\nthis counterpart with David Barbe in Sugar. His brief, tight bass
\nburst matched perfectly with Mould’s traditional buzzsaw guitar
\nattack.<\/p>\n
Sadly, by the time
\nFile Under: Easy Listening<\/i> came out, it sounded like Mould
\nwanted things to sound his way, not letting Barbe and drummer
\nMalcom Travis have their say. It’s sort of like what happened to
\nthe Smashing Pumpkins during their
\nMellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness<\/i> recording sessions
\nwhen Corgan basically threw his hands up and the band members and
\nsaid, “Fuck it! If you can’t play the instrument the way I want you
\nto, I’ll play the damn thing myself!”<\/p>\n
Mould didn’t go that far, but most of the songs on
\nFile Under: Easy Listening<\/i> sound so pedestrian. Mould’s
\nlyrics can still feel like you dived into a thorn bush, but the
\nmusic just isn’t as towering as it was on
\nCopper Blue<\/i>. A few exceptions are noted in
\nFile Under: Easy Listening<\/i>. The longing, bobbing sound of
\n“What You Want It To Be” and the great guitar work on “I Can’t Help
\nYou Anymore” still make this album a better buy than most of the
\nwannabe alternative shit out there today.<\/p>\n
Mould even gets happy on “Gee Angel” and “Granny Cool”. But that
\nhappiness must not have come from being in the band. A nice irony,
\n“Explode And Make Up”, closes
\nFile Under: Easy Listening<\/i>. Which is excaactly what the band
\ndid, except for the “make up” part.<\/p>\n
Mould has released a self-titled solo album since Sugar broke
\nup. It was panned by critics, but at least he was trying to
\nestablish a new sound. With
\nFile Under: Easy Listening<\/i>, Mould sounded like he was
\ntreading water. It is no wonder I saw
\nFile Under: Easy Listening<\/i> in the discount bins at the local
\nrecord store. Not that you can’t get a good album in those bins,
\nbut
\nFile Under: Easy Listening<\/i> sounds like the generic brand of
\nCopper Blue<\/i>. Hopefully, Mould will get another chance to
\nmatch that album’s brilliance in the next decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":27751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5672],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-39129","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-sugar","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39129","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39129"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39129"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}