Warehouse: Songs and Stories

Certain Songs #664: Hüsker Dü – “Up in The Air”

September 29, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Year: 1987

(Mould)

With the happy exception of Drive-by Truckers (who have a new album coming out tomorrow!) (that I’m not going to get to buy for a week cos I’m on vacation in Maui) (yeah, I know, poor me), bands with multiple front men tend to dissolve into acrimonious competition.

And so, as it went with The Beatles and The Eagles before them, and Uncle Tupelo and Pixies after them, the competition between Bob Mould and Grant Hart proved too much, and Warehouse: Songs and Stories — the only album of theirs that I think had a clear winner — proved to be the final Hüsker Dü record.

Certain Songs #662: Hüsker Dü – “No Reservations”

September 27, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Year: 1987

(Mould)

Perhaps the prettiest song in Hüsker Dü’s catalog, the glorious “No Reservations” closes out side three of Warehouse: Songs and Stories with neither a whimper or a bang, but rather a long, extended sigh.

And nearly all of that sigh belongs to (let’s assume) Greg Norton’s bass, which intros the the song with a short, backwards fade in, followed immediately by a contemplative drum beat and shimmering guitar accompanying Bob Mould’s first verse:
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #662: Hüsker Dü – “No Reservations”

Certain Songs #661: Hüsker Dü – “Actual Condition”

September 26, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Year: 1987

(Hart)

In a dynamite bit of sequencing, Hüsker Dü sandwiched this uptempo coulda been rockabilly if they’d taken more time romp between two of Bob Mould’s more contemplative songs, as a seeming burst of light in the overall darkness.

And to be sure, the overall musical tone of “Actual Condition” is playful and fun, with background “ahhhs” floating throughout the verses and shout of “my soul” leading into the first guitar solo.

Certain Songs #660: Hüsker Dü – “It’s Not Peculiar”

September 25, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Year: 1987

(Mould)

While I totally get that Zen Arcade is the landmark that will forever show up on “best of” lists from various publications, that New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig are probably the favorites of anybody who was there at the time and the experimentation of Candy Apple Grey has its adherents, my favorite Hüsker Dü album has always been Warehouse: Songs And Stories.

I realize that’s probably the least popular album among anybody who purports to like them as much as I purport to like them — and I’m hoping that spending a month writing about them fully establishes my bona fides as a big fan — I love the utter generosity and ridiculous consistency Warehouse shows from start to finish.

Certain Songs #659: Hüsker Dü – “Ice Cold Ice”

September 24, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Year: 1987

(Mould)

In the early spring of 1987, I lived in a loft in Clovis that was five minutes away from Video Zone. That meant that I could wake up at 7:30 and be at the store by 8:00 to open it up and start checking in and shelving the overnight returns in time for the store to open at 9:00.

And since I was the supervisor for that early shift, it meant that I could put the tape I made of Warehouse: Songs and Stories in the boombox in my office and blast it while we got the store ready to go.

Certain Songs #658: Hüsker Dü – “These Important Years”

September 23, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Year: 1987

(Mould)

After Candy Apple Grey, there was almost an interminable wait for the next Hüsker Dü record. The 10 months we had to wait for Warehouse: Songs and Stories was actually the longest time between new Hüsker Dü albums since the year between Land Speed Record and Everything Falls Apart back in 1982-1983.

And with the appearance of the double-album Warehouse: Songs and Stories in January, 1987, Hüsker Dü capped off one of the greatest bursts of creativity in rock ‘n’ roll history: seven albums worth of material — A to A+ material, to boot! — in 30 months. July 1984 – January 1987.