release date: Jun. 3, 2014
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,64]
producer: Bob Mould
label: Merge Records - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 2. "Little Glass Pill" (live) - 3. "I Don't Know You Anymore" (live at KCRW) - 4. "Kid With Crooked Face" - 6. "The War" (4 / 5) (live at WFUV) - 7. "Forgiveness" (4 / 5) - 8. "Hey Mr. Grey" (live at WFUV) - 9. "Fire in the City" - 10. "Tomorrow Morning" - 12. "Fix It"
10th studio album by Bob Mould as solo artist. Like always, Bob is his own producer, and that just seems to work fine. This is another strong album after several years off and a fine follow-up to his strongest album in this millennium, Silver Age (2012). It took me a while to get accustomed to this one. Initially, I thought of it as vague and an attempt to be more aggressive and in that way come closer to his best albums of the past just without much new to offer. However, over a span of 2-3 months I now find that the album is not only packed with fine compositions - they may need time to open up, but it's even an improvement to his fine 2012 album. One peculiar observation suggests that the best tracks don't figure on the first half of the album but are stowed away in the last part. With his fine 2012 release, I don't find this as surprising but musically it's even better proving there's still many fine years back in the father of grunge. The front cover features a double shot of Bob with one photo from his youth ['beauty'?] and a recent photo ['ruin'?].
Not only do I find the album a very fine collection of songs at this point of a long career; for now, I simply consider it no less than his second best album - ever.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]
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