[stefan]

Just bought Bob Mould's "Body of Song" -- which promised a kind-of return to the power-trio of Husker Du/Sugar.... made all the more tempting because drumming duties are carried out by Fugazi's Brendan Canty - IMO a superb musician.
But I'm disappointed. There are a couple of decent tunes that get close to past material, but there is some real awful stuff on it, meaning this is not a CD that will "grow on me". The particularly bad thing is that Mould decides to use those Cher-style digitised-twangy vocal effects on some of the tracks.

Cringe, but thank God for EAC and the ability to reburn a CD with certain tracks removed -- in which case this album becomes an OK E.P. that can be listened to a couple of times and then forgotten, rather than thrown away in disgust.

In addition there is an 'over-produced' feel to the album. Husker Du was raw, Sugar was polished... but 'Body of Song' sounds digital (in the worst sense of the term), if you get what I'm saying.

Seems Mould has been moving in this direction anyway, and even went further to the techno-side with 'modulate', a previous offering I haven't heard. The last album I've bought of his until now was Sugar's 'F.U.E.L.' (1993), which I didn't like.
"Zen Arcade", "New Day Rising", "Flip your wig", "Copper Blue" and "Beaster" I do love though.

Anyone else heard "Body of song"?

 

[uncle b]

I must agree with you, stefan. I heard A LOT of pre-release hype about this album, and I must say I was a little disappointed by it. Bob has been digging on the club scene a lot lately, so that may explain some of the clean production and Cher vocals...I thought he was just gonna let it rip on this album...but alas, it comes off like another "...the artist's best since/most welcome return to form/etc."

I gotta admit, this album did help me dig out all the Husker Du and Sugar catalog and load it onto my iAudio X5L.

 

[stefan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncle b I must agree with you, stefan. I heard A LOT of pre-release hype about this album, and I must say I was a little disappointed by it. Bob has been digging on the club scene a lot lately, so that may explain some of the clean production and Cher vocals...I thought he was just gonna let it rip on this album...but alas, it comes off like another "...the artist's best since/most welcome return to form/etc." I gotta admit, this album did help me dig out all the Husker Du and Sugar catalog and load it onto my iAudio X5L.

Glad I'm not the only one. I was thinking perhaps I'm an old punk turned musical reactionary.
I just wish they'd sort out the SST label problem and remaster the Husker Du back catalogue (so I can buy it all again). The Husker Du stuff is really badly mixed.

 

[Riordan]

i haven't bought 'body of song' yet, but i know 'modulate'. i guess mould goes further in the digital/experimental direction and hasn't "arrived" yet. give him more time, though - the man has so much musical credit that he can't gamble it away in several lifetimes

by the way, my favorite post-hüsker mould record is the self-titled solo album, sometimes called "hubcab" because of the cover. strongly recommended.

 

[uncle b]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stefan Glad I'm not the only one. I was thinking perhaps I'm an old punk turned musical reactionary. I just wish they'd sort out the SST label problem and remaster the Husker Du back catalogue (so I can buy it all again). The Husker Du stuff is really badly mixed.

I KNOW there are many Husker Du fans who would graciously part with cash for re-issued/re-packaged/re-mastered/slip-cased/bonus-tracks-you-may-or-may-not-listen-to-more-than-once versions of the classic SST albums. I know I would...seriously.

 

[stefan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncle b I KNOW there are many Husker Du fans who would graciously part with cash for re-issued/re-packaged/re-mastered/slip-cased/bonus-tracks-you-may-or-may-not-listen-to-more-than-once versions of the classic SST albums. I know I would...seriously.

Yep, and for me its not about the repackaging and bonus stuff either. Regardless of how great Husker Du was, their back catalogue BADLY NEEDS remastering. An example is 'Warehouse (Songs and Stories)', which was mixed so that it would sound good on a Sony Walkman.
Another is 'Zen Arcade' -- and not just because they wanted a raw live sound "concept" album but also due to the fact they couldn't afford much studio time.
Sadly Bob and Grant are hardly talking to each other, meaning they can't get their act together to take on SST.

 

[marc_dc]

FYI, Bob told me that Body of Song was mixed to sound good on an iPod...

How are the production values? Just curious...

 

[Riordan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by marc_dc FYI, Bob told me that Body of Song was mixed to sound good on an iPod... How are the production values? Just curious...

BOB told you? how, when, why? just curious...

if there's any form of contact going on, why don't you lead him here - and perhaps he'll mix his next album to sound good on headphones