Ducks Battle Satan

When people discuss Husker du the focus is always on the three truly great albums  they produced for SST Zen Arcade, New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig. Anyone who has any interest in music and specificaly pink music of the 1980’s need to have those records in their collection. After producing those three records, Husker Du were signed by a major label and produced Candy Apple Grey which although not without it’s strengths is my least favourite of Husker Du’s records. The record that seems to be often mentioned as no more than a postscript is the truly awesome, Warehouse: Songs and Stories, their last record before calling it a day in 1987. I’ve read that by the time they came around to making this record Hart and Mould were estranged and  as a record it certainly lacks some cohesion. What the record does have is the strongest song writing from Hart or Mould up until that time. The tinny production that is a common criticism of the SST years is gone with a pop sensibility overlayining their punk roots. But at the end of the day the strength of Warehouse: Songs and Stories is the songs. I mean seriously how can anyone not love a record that has Could You Be he One, It’s Not Peculiar and Up In the Air? In my opinion, Warehouse is as important as those three magic SST records and in some sectors that may be heresy but seriously this record is amazing. It was a fitting way to end their career.

Husker Du live on the Late Show (cringe along with the interview at the end!)

This entry was posted on August 2, 2008 at 4:29 am and is filed under Husker Du, Music with tags Husker Du. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.