Hüsker Dü - "Savage Young Dü" 4LP/3CD (2017)

Yeah, I should have said I used "the best sources available to me at the time," heh. All the stuff that had been released on CD was digitally-sourced, but I did not have access to all the original vinyl, so in a couple cases I had to use cassette copies of tracks that came from vinyl. The "Sorry Somehow" b-sides were one such case.

I'm curious, is the CD set you have factory-pressed? I'd find it amusing if someone took my little CD-R compilation and put it onto a manufactured CD.

I'm not the guy in England, BTW.

 

There's two songs on Warehouse that I think are not very good: Bob's "It's Not Peculiar" which just grates on me (particularly the part where he sings "ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah all right," over and over like the record is skipping) and Grant's "You're a Soldier" whose lyrics are quite uncharacteristically simple-minded. And on the whole, I'd say the overall quality of songs is a slight step down from the previous four albums. Still love the record, though.

 

HA! I love It's Not Peculiar. You're A Solider not so much but I enjoy it. The cd set isn't factory pressed. It's a cdr. Also I had the name wrong. It's B-sides, Studio Sessions & Outtakes. I added another cd's worth of stuff and now it's a 3-cd set. Since your set had the SST singles I added both pre-SST singles along with anything else from EFA&M, put Do You Remember back in it's spot with matching fidelity (or close to it), a song I love called Don't Try It, the early version of Standing By The Sea, the unedited Hare Krsna, Drug Party live 6/21/85 (The first version I ever heard and still my favorite), All Work & No Play single version, Medley from the Ice Cold Ice ep, live Hare Krsna from the Do You Remember comp, and live Get Along With Me & Trade from 12/3/87.

 

When I went through that album (and all the others) to make a best-of Grant Hart Husker Du compilation, the only one of his songs I left out was 'Actual Condition', which just sounded like a jokey b-side. The rest of his material for that album I thought was really strong, and surprisingly diverse (despite the consistent sonic signature of almost everything the band recorded). I've always really liked the album, but if it has a flaw, it might just be down to overall length and sequencing. Maybe I should take Sandinista's advice have a go at turning it into paired albums (Warehouse: Songs and Warehouse:Stories), folding in the two b-sides as well ('Gotta Lotta' is a lot of fun, at least).

 

I dowloaded this collection with this title from Soulseek several years ago

 

Here my iPod version of the Warner albums I just call Warehouse:

1. Friend You've Got To Fall
2. Don't Want To Know If You're Lonely
3. Standing In The Rain
4. Back From Somewhere
5. It's Not Peculiar
6. Everytime
7. She Floated Away

1. Sorry Somehow
2. Could You be The One
3. Charity, Chastity, Prudence & Hope
4. Hardly Getting Over It
5. She's A Woman (And Now He Is A Man)
6. No Reservations

 

it sounds a little bit like europe's "final countdown", but for me it's the obvious hit single (that never was)

 

I'd love to see the tracklist for your GH compilation if you feel like posting it

 

What was your source for album outtakes and the 79-80 demos? Your comp is where I heard the song Listen for the first time. That became one of my favorite Husker songs. I don't know why they left it off. It kind of reminds me of Erase Today. Maybe that was why.

 

For the outtakes that had not been released on compilations or b-sides, I just used cassettes that I'd traded for and ripped them to digital. That stuff circulated heavily among collectors in the 90s. I tried to EQ them as best I could, but my copies were several generations down. In the digital age there's probably higher quality versions out there, but I haven't bothered to look, and haven't been active in trading for well over a decade.

 

Has it been mentioned that the "alternative" recording of Land Speed Record, does not have Data Control in the set?
That was my absolute favorite track on that record. I"m kind of disappointed about that, especially since it wasn't mentioned.
I can't be the only one who misses that track (Or did I miss something).

 

There's a studio version of Data Control in CD1, track 11.

 

I'm guessing that's a different live version. I would rather have had LSR on here along with the second set that night instead.

 

The original Land Speed Record is still in print... And still slays.

 

I do think you can live at home now and she floated away are top du. Some of the album sounds dead I agree but I don't agree about your a soldier. I think it's mostly sad and it bums me out in a good way.

 

Grant was a highly intelligent man who who often came up with complex, multi-faceted views of whatever subjects he addressed lyrically. But "You're a Soldier" takes the simpleminded viewpoint that since war is bad, soldiers are bad, and it resorts to hippie-slogan-cliches like "how many people did you kill today?" Blaming soldiers rather than say the leaders who give them orders or the sociopolitical situations that create war is shallow and simplistic. I would have expected a more thoughtful analysis from Grant. I have no problem with the song's music, but the lyrics are terrible, and there's few (perhaps no) other Grant Hart songs I would say that about.

 

I always thought it was about David though. Maybe just the boyish face?

 

I don't think it's about an actual soldier.

 

Maybe he was just writing from a simple minded point of view, not necessarily his own point of view. Maybe those are not his opinions but he is considering what the opinions of a simple minded person would be. Not every work of art is about the artist own point of view.

 

David who? Savoy? I admit I know nothing about him at all, aside from his tragic death. Did he have a military background?

Fair enough. It's always possible the lyrics of any song might be intended ironically, so that is certainly a possibility here. I don't see anything in the song that indicates that was his intention, however.

 

I don't know I just remember that David Savoy had killed himself just before that record came out and he had a boyish face and ran around like an insane maniac, but I could be all wrong. It seems like it's partly David and partly Bob. Music isn't literal after all. Who knows? The song just sounds sad. Could be something else in

 

From what I see online, Savoy killed himself a month after Warehouse was released, so if it's about him in any way it does not refer to his death.

The lyrics don't strike me as sad, they strike me as contemptuous and disdainful toward the subject of the song. It's possible he intended them ironically, or it's possible that he's using "soldier" and the imagery of military and war as a symbol of something else. But it's also possible it's simply a straightforward diatribe against soldiers with no deeper meaning. There's certainly nothing in the song itself that suggests an ironic or symbolic interpretation.

 

Yeah I could have just been how I experienced it. I probably didn't know that it was already out. It's just when I got it so I could just be completely wrong. Also I wasn't aware that they were in the process of breaking up so I didn't think about it being about Bob at the time but it's more likely that's probably just about him. Who knows?

 

'Murica

 

When there's animosity in a band or they break up, people tend to jump to the conclusion that any negative songs written must be about that animosity or band conflict. But it's not always the case. I remember reading reviews of Chris Mars' first solo album that presumed every single song expressing any kind of a negative sentiment must be directed at Paul Westerberg, and I remember Mars talking in an interview about how that was not the case. I don't think "You're a Soldier" really seems to fit Bob Mould or the issues he had with Hart. The only line that in any way reflects their relationship might be "knocking over everything that's standing in your way." But nothing in the rest of the song seems to fit. I don't think Hart perceived Mould as an insane maniac or a murderous soldier. He perceived him as a selfish and inflexible control freak.