Tag: Husker Du

Five Lost Albums

I thought I would mix it up this week and look at some treasured records that in my personal view, and for whatever reason, did not receive the acclaim they deserved. I have listed these in chronological order: –

Squirrel Bait – Skag Heaven 1986

Hailing from Louisville, Kentucky they were quantified in the emo/mathcore genre (1983-1988).  Influenced by peers Black Flag and more distinctly Husker Du who they supported. I discovered  them via a Bob Mould quote in the NME singles review ‘as the finest thing he’d ever heard’

This second and final album contains 10 songs but is only 25.45 in length. Standout track is ‘Kid Dynamite’ with bracing intro and alarming refrain ‘I don’t need no pig stomping on my buzz’ and has muttered unintelligible incantations. Others to note are ‘Choose Your Poison’ with Black Sabbath War Pigs intro and ‘Slake Train Coming’ which thunders along.    

The record is scuzzy and full of youthful vigour and dark lyrics. It sounded utterly vibrant as an 18-year old and still holds up to scrutiny now.

Former members played with the Breeders and Lemonheads and original member Britt Walford subsequently formed semi legendary Slint.  

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Squirrel Bait -‘Skag Heaven’ album cover. Image Credit reddit.

Dumptruck – For the Country – 1987

Formed in 1983 in Boston Massachusetts. This was their third album and they decamped to Rockfield Studio in Wales for some solitude to record it. It is country rock in the finest tradition evoking comparisons to Neil Young, Green on Red and Buffalo Tom.

It has a yearning timeless quality and it is a ‘go to’ album for me. Standout tracks are ‘Friends’ ‘Brush me Back’ ‘Hung Out on the Line’ and ‘Dead Weight’.

Through no fault of their own the band got sucked into a record label contract dispute meaning no new material could be recorded and subsequently disbanded in 1991. Half of the band reformed and recorded new material as recent as 2018, but with diminishing returns.

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Dumptruck – ‘for the country’ album cover. Image Credit you tube – Tony Fivek

Joy Zipper – American Whip – 2002

Dream pop duo from New York, Tabitha Tindale and Vincent Cafiso, who are also a married couple.

Album recorded initially in Glasgow and then co-produced and mixed by Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine. It has a wonky sugar-coated beauty with a 60’s vibe and razor-sharp lyrics. Gorgeous sultry vocals complement each other perfectly and it is lovingly recorded. I hear snippets of Mercury Rev, Raveonettes and Velvets in there.  

‘Christmas Song’ could just possibly be the most shimmering gem of a Xmas song ever written. I also like ‘Baby you should know’, ‘33x’ and the fine outro ‘Valley Stream’ book ends the record.

Their last known recorded material was a contribution to a Smith covers album in 2011.

Former Cellmates – Who’s Dead and What’s to Pay 2008

Formed in Sunderland by ex-Leatherface bassist. Leatherface received Husker Du comparisons but I never really saw that link and much prefer this album.

The record could arguably be vaguely derivative at times and I can imagine not to everyone’s tastes but for me it is imbued with a lot of soul and passion and chugs along mercilessly and has a shambolic charm. There is a bit of Buffalo Tom and Springsteen in there and it has a country rock tinge.

Stand out tracks are ‘Always’, ‘Here’s to the Pretty Girls’ and ‘Why would you Pray for Me?’. They recorded 4 albums between 2005 and 2014 and I am not sure whether they are still operational.

Sennen – Where the Light Gets In (2008)

Based in Norwich in 2002 before decamping to London. They are named after a Ride track, and they are the only one of the five listed I have seen live.

I bloody love this band, who have produced five fine albums between 2005 and 2016 and I could have picked any of them but have selected the second album. Strictly in the post-rock shoegazing genre, displaying a hypnotic lush yearning sound, coruscating guitar and whispered harmonies resembling Loop and MBV.

Standouts are ‘Your Hand in Mine’ and ‘A Lifetime Passed’ which are gentler lovely tracks, that recall Teenage Fanclub ‘Grand Prix’ era. Also ‘Just Wanted to Know’ which morphs into a long thunderous outro.

My overall favourite track of theirs is ‘Falling Down’ off third album Age of Denial which builds layer by layer to a tumultuous conclusion, resembling ‘Ithica 27/9’ by Mogwai and ‘Dirge’ by Death in Vegas.

In my humble opinion, they remain the most criminally underrated band I have encountered.

Now, I would be fascinated to know what would be contained on your lost album list, even if you can only think of one.

East Midlands Gigs

I am heading over to the East Midlands this week to cover a further two gigs in that area, namely in Derby and Leicester.  

On 20/02/09 myself and my brother headed out to Derby on the train from Nottingham for a pub crawl incorporating a gig at the end of the evening. We did a circular monorail route starting and ending at the train station and found some decent old hostelries en route.

Our gig destination was Derby Victoria Inn, handily placed opposite Derby station. It was a traditional pub with a bar area and a function room at the back where the venue was located. It looks like the future of the pub is currently in doubt and is up for sale.

Victoria Inn pub in Derby. Image Credit whatpub.com

We arrived a tad later than expected but it worked to our advantage as we managed to wander straight in the gig without paying and the main band Switzerland were just about to start. They were only young scamps, but they created a hell of a racket and they were very good.

The only other attendees were patently friends and family and they were looking at us trying to work out if we were perhaps agents hunting for new talent, so we played on that clear misunderstanding and maintained an enigmatic presence at the back of the room. Unfortunately, the band due to their age and other constraints split the following year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/derby/hi/people_and_places/music/newsid_8877000/8877874.stm

My only other visit to Derby was on another pub crawl spoilt in the middle by watching North End being battered 5-1 at Pride Park!

Husker Du were a seminal band of my youth and it is widely acknowledged that they were grossly underrated at the time. They broke up in 1988, and the two songwriters Bob Mould and Grant Hart subsequently produced sporadically decent solo material.

Bob then put together another three-piece combo called Sugar circa 1992. Their first album ‘Copper Blue’ was by far his most commercially successful record which was named the Album of the Year by NME. I distinctly remember hearing the chiming chords of ‘Changes’ for the first time and the album also contained their jaunty single ‘If I Could Change Your Mind’ which surprisingly but deservedly received airplay on Radio 1. I remember driving out at lunch one day and even that pillock Simon Bates was playing it!

The commercial level they reached was exemplified by a couple of reverential students approaching me around the time in the Exchange pub in Preston to wax lyrical on my Husker Du T-shirt.

So, we decided to stalk Sugar on their first British tour starting with a gig at Leicester Princess Charlotte on 25/09/92.

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Princess Charlotte in Leicester. Image Credit Flickr.

I set off to my brother’s current girlfriend Fiona’s parents house in Nottingham about 1pm on the Friday of the gig. On arrival I became the designated driver so drove the 30 miles over to Leicester in torrential rain with the Allegro making strange noises on the way over.

The venue was an old Victorian boozer and the music/gig room within opened in the 1970’s. It was a famous stop on the toilet circuit and Radiohead and Oasis played early gigs there, the venue finally closed in 2009.

Leicester legacies: The life and times of The Charlotte
A fascinating back story to the venue

The music venue was a cellar at the back with shared loos and a capacity of about 250 and served some very watery Ansells. Venus Beads supported with an ok set.  

I was very excited as it had been 5 years since the last Huskers gig. They came on at 10pm and in true Huskers style launched the set with the first five songs played non- stop. Bob still had the lowest strung guitar I have ever seen as it was virtually down to his knees.

Unfortunately, it was marred by an awful sound system, which the band picked up on and started to play louder which covered some of the impurities. I recall they played ‘Hoover Dam’ and then a couple of tracks off upcoming album ‘Beaster’. The bassist David Barbe had a great voice on a couple of tracks. They finished the set with ‘Man on the Moon’ and came off about 11.15pm. Fiona and Steph were completely bladdered and fell straight asleep on the back seat and we arrived home about midnight.

Sugar released a total of 3 albums before splitting in 1996.

My only other subsequent visit to Leicester was to visit their curry mile and I remember seeing a  shop there with the fabulous name of House of Sarees!