The Living End

Metal Circus This is the album on which the monster that was Hüsker Dü truly came alive. From here on out, this Minneapolis trio would define new directions and open new vistas for rock music with every release. Bob Mould's spectacularly demented lead work and furious vocal delivery are dri...	Flip Your Wig Brutality was always the central selling point for this loud and fast Minneapolis trio, but there was a strange development after five years on the independent SST Records. Melodies happened. The last album before jumping to big Warner Bros. Records, 1985's Flip Your Wig contains...	Warehouse: Songs and Stories "Ice Cold Ice," in which Bob Mould rails against "barren lands and barren minds" and Grant Hart falls in on the supercatchy chorus, exemplifies the Hüsker Dü career development that peaks on this final album. Without sacrificing the emotional intensity of earlier albums, the Mi...	Everything Falls Apart and More	New Day Rising The first four seconds of this influential Minneapolis trio's fifth album pretty much set the table: drum shots like an anxious heartbeat, then a sudden wall of fuzzy, high-treble electric-guitar noise. The choruses are occasionally catchy, especially on "The Girl Who Lives on He...
Eight Miles High/Makes No Sense At All [EP]	Zen Arcade Even when this Minneapolis trio dabbled in familiar sounds, such as the strummed folk of "Never Talking to You Again" or the Bo Diddley-style R&B of "Hare Krsna," what came out on this swirling 1984 double album was clenched, emotional, and intense. Over 23 short songs that helpe...	Candy Apple Grey	Land Speed Record Land Speed Record fully exposes the rage and manic energy that drove Hüsker Dü to dizzying heights of creative and critical success; it's an incredible (though appallingly poor-sounding) document of a live Minneapolis show from 1981 featuring the band in its embryonic form. Bo...	Bob Mould: Circle of Friends - Live at the 9:30 Club Filmed live at the legendary 9:30 Club in Washington, DC on October 7th 2005, Bob Mould reaches deep into his songbook for a career-spanning electric band performance. Joined onstage by Brendan Canty (Fugazi), Richard Morel (Morel), and Jason Narducy (Ro

"Nostalgia is the symptom of a dying culture"---Grant Hart
I had just became a Bob Mould/Husker Du fanatic in the early-1990s and was buying up their back catalogue of stuff when this CD came out in 1994. Anything "new" from Husker Du was a BIG thing, so I snagged it as soon as it hit the record stores. This live CD was compiled from shows from 1987 when they were promoting Warehouse: Songs and Stories, their last studio release, so many of the tracks come from that album. That's OK by me, as I love that album. I don't usually care for live records but there are a few track here that sound even better here than on the studio releases. "Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill" is one example as Grant Hart doesn't scream it at the top of his lungs like on New Day Rising. "Keep Hanging On" (recorded on Bob Mould's birthday) is another example. This version makes me like the song even more. I also like how you can really hear Hart's backing vocals like on "Standing in the Rain" and "Ice Cold Ice." Sometimes the backing vocals sound lost on the studio albums, but Hart and Mould sound great together and it really adds to the tracks. Mould sings the chorus to "Ice Cold Ice" a little differently which I also like. "Everytime" is sung by Greg Norton, the bass player with the cool mustache. He has a rough, buzz-saw voice. The song is pretty good. I have it also on a Warehouse Interview record. Unfortunately, "She Floated Away" sounds a bit stale here as it's missing the backing vocals (Hart provided both lead and backing vocals on the studio version). "It's Not Funny anymore" also sounds great here. "Now That You Know Me" was a pleasant surprise. It was recorded on Grant Hart's Intolerance solo album. "Ain't No Water in the Well" is way too yeehaw for my tastes. Fans can find a lot of omissions here: "Diane" comes to mind, as well as singles "Could You Be the One?", "Makes No Sense At all" (actually, I don't miss them that much), "I Don't Want to Know If you Are Lonely," "Pink Turns to Blue," "She's a Woman (And Now He is a Man)" (one of my all-time favorites), and "Charity, Chastity, Prudence and Hope," but I think it is a good mix of early stuff ("From the Gut", "Target," "Data Control" [great rendition here], "In a Free Land") and later material. It ends with an ode to the Ramones, "Sheena is a Punk Rocker." I remember Joey Ramones on MTV's 120 Minutes saying he thought Husker Du was a Ramones rip-off band. Husker Du may have been influenced by the Ramones, but they created a style all their own and developed their style with each album, and it shows here. The booklet has a history of the band and a few photos including a long colorized one from the "Could You Be the One?" music video.

Please find a way to hear this album!
This band deserves so much more than they got. I really, really believe that aside from lack of big label promotion (of course!) their NAME killed 'em as a more referenced punk band. If that sounds stupid, I know from experience trying to get friends to hear them that the name is an immediate turnoff. It's too bad. If you like your punk rock tough and hardcore, this album can suffice - with lightning speed, but the melodies, changes, and soaring choruses will break your heart. "Keep Hanging On", "Celebrated Summer", and the way Husker Du plays "Terms of Physic Warfare" live are testaments to the songwriting abilities of Bob Mould and to a lesser extent Grant Hart and the band's capacity for pushing the emotional, yearning, nostalgia, bittersweet buttons. Musically, if you see Green Day's Insomniac as underrated, and emotionally if the Descendants "Hope" or "Bikeage" or "Jean is Dead" are you favorite songs from that band, and if punk anthems are your thing, just give this one a shot.

blistering classic
This is a great introduction to Husker Du, who in a perfect world should have been Nirvana big. Bob Mould's guitar sounds like a chainsaw cutting through a eucalyptus tree. Beautiful. I like the front of house mix sound too, appropriate for this band, who never sounded quite right on studio recordings in my opinion, except for Zen Arcade, what an awesome record! Anyway, this is great pummeling rock n roll and if I could paraphrase Robert Fripp,"Albums are like a love letter, concerts are like a hot date" This is a hot date.

AWESOME Live Epitaph from this classic band
Husker Du were and are one of the best bands ever, one of those bands I wish I was old enough to be into when they were around or that they never broke up. That being said, this live album from 1994, 7 years after they broke up, could be seen as a last-ditch cash-in by Warner Bros. if it sucked, which it doesn't! This is visceral, punch-you-in-the-chest hardcore rock played at full decibel volume! And wow, can they play. Mould's guitar buzzsaw's through everything, Norton's underrated bass playing is like an earthquake, and Grant Hart's drums have never sounded stronger.....he sounds like he's going to break all his drumskins, he hits them so hard. And the songs....awesome versions of Ice Cold Ice, What's Going On, Celebrated Summer, Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill, and more. Plus, three new songs they were working on before they broke up, Greg Norton's "Everytime" (a really heavy, savage rocker snarled by Greg Norton and Bob Mould), Grant Hart's catchy-as-hell and blistering "Now That You Know Me", and Bob Mould's "Ain't No Water In the Well" (which is actually the weakest of the 3 new ones...a romping blues stomper, nonetheless). All in all, even though Husker Du's entire catalog of studio albums are ESSENTIAL listening, after you've experienced those, you need to check this out!

Hard driving sound with a questionable playlist
This live recording did capture the raw power of Husker Du. The guitar is blaring, the bassline thumping and the drumming? Forget about it, about as fast as you can get. This was hardcore Husker Du doing hardcore Husker Du. HOWEVER, so many of their great songs are omitted in this concert. And I know someone is going to say "well they had so many great songs." Yeah, but no "Don't Want to Know if You are Lonely" or "Makes No Sense At All"? Give me a break.