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Old 03-28-2011, 03:22 PM   #23 (permalink)
Zer0
 
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Hüsker Dü - Candy Apple Grey (1986)



Track Listing:
1. Crystal
2. Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely
3. I Don't Know For Sure
4. Sorry Somehow
5. Too Far Down
6. Hardly Getting Over It
7. Dead Set On Destruction
8. Eiffel Tower High
9. No Promise Have I Made
10. All This I've Done For You

Candy Apple Grey represented a pivotal moment in Hüsker Dü's career. While moments of more pronounced songwriting and melody had appeared on their previous two albums, 1985's Flip Your Wig and New Day Rising, here on their major-label debut the band moved further away from their punk roots and provided a clear template for alternative rock to come over the next decade or so. So what does Candy Apple Grey mean to me? For a start was my first real exposure to Husker Du and is still the only album of theirs that I own a physical copy of, so it has that sentimental value to me. There are plenty of other reasons of course which I will soon reveal.

The album opens with Bob Mould's 'Crystal', some classic hardcore-punk-infused Hüsker Dü which picks up where the band left off. This song is the most aggressive and intense track on the album and featuring Mould bellowing lyrics like "When Civilization falls in its grave. Technology throws on the dirt. You realize the finest things in life. Are the ones that can never be hurt". Bob Mould clearly means business on this opening track, he sounds like he really needed to get something off his chest, but this ferocity doesn't last for long. The album takes a turn for the melodic with drummer Grant Hart's 'Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely', one of the most definitive Hüsker Dü tracks. This track clearly demonstrates Grant's melodic and pop-influenced approach to songwriting and really gives a good indication of the direction that the band were taking on this album. Bob Mould follows suit with 'I Don't Know For Sure' featuring some killer vocal hooks over some catchy guitar riffs, with Bob refraining the line "I don't know for sure" on every second line during the verses. This repetition of the line gives an indication of Bob being uncertain with the direction in which his life is going and what the future will bring. The album tempo starts to slow down a bit for Hart's 'Sorry Somehow'. Hart's vocals here are at their most melodic and are somewhat uplifting to listen to despite lyrics such as "There's no need to talk to you, well to know what's on your mind. There's no need to see you either, no, I'm just being kind". The guitars on this track are backed up nicely by bright-sounding keyboards giving the song a nice uplifting sound. Juxtaposing this quite nicely is the next song 'Too Far Down' which features Bob Mould pouring his heart and soul over an acoustic guitar. This is Bob Mould at his most painfully honest and exposed, singing some deeply introspective and downbeat lyrics such as "If it is so easy to be happy. Why am I so down? All I can do is sit and wonder if it's going to end. Or if I should just go away forever". There's something very uncomfortable about catching a glimpse of this man's soul.

'Hardly Getting Over It' continues the downbeat mood into the second half of the album. Here Mould addresses the prospect of time moving on and losing loved ones along the way, over some beautifully melancholic guitar refrains. This is a very downbeat affair, and lines such as "My parents, they just wonder when they both are going to die. And what do I do when they die?" make you think to yourself about your own mortality and the prospect of people that you care deeply about dying and leaving this world. This track is really the highlight of the album for me. Grant Hart extinguishes the heavy mood of the previous song with the catchy and uplifting 'Dead Set On Destruction' which features some nice groovy guitar riffs from Bob Mould. On this album you can clearly see the difference between the two in terms of songwriting, Grant's songs are quite distinctively melodic and somewhat uplifting while Bob's songwriting is more aggressive and more introspective at times. Despite these differences the pair complement each other almost perfectly. Of course we can't leave out bass player Greg Norton, who provides a key role in glueing their whole sound together into a magnificent force. The energetic 'Eiffel Tower High' displays a more upbeat side to Bob Mould with some nice cleverly tongue-in-cheek lyrics such as "And I scream, ice cream, I scream, I scream 'Merry Eiffel Tower High'". This song also proves that Bob is also well capable of writing catchy and melodic numbers to match Grant Hart and gives a good indication of the more melodic approach to songwriting that Bob would take on the following album Warehouse: Songs And Stories as well as his post-Hüsker Dü band Sugar. 'No Promise Have I Made' is a powerful and emotional piano-led song by Grant Hart. This song builds nicely into an explosive climax just before the end with Hart screaming "No promise have I made" over some full-on instrumentation. I nice way to round the song off. The final track 'All This I've Done For You' ends the album with a bang, with some killer vocal hooks from Mould and once again lyrically coming to terms with growing older and figuring out where his life is going: "Now I'm a little bit older. And I'm not a hell of a lot wiser. So I've gotta sit down and contemplate it". The song is backed-up spectacularly by Mould's energetic and squalling guitar, Hart's pounding drums and Norton's fluid bass holding it all together. Even though the three members had their differences and didn't personally get along with each other, when they played together they clicked and formed the tightest unit you could imagine and were so much more than the sum of their parts.

Although this isn't a concept album as such there does seem to be a reoccurring theme throughout the album. The album gives a great insight into growing older as an adult and having to face the consequences and the uncertainty that comes with it, such as losing direction of your life and figuring out who you are really meant to be. This is a situation I often find myself in and I often worry about what direction to take in life and where I will be in 10 years time. This is one of the main reasons why this album means a lot to me. Overall this album gives an excellent personal glimpse of the band and is a key album in shaping the sound of the American alternative rock scene that would continue well into the 90's.

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