release date: Nov. 30, 1999
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,06]
producer: Grant Hart & Brent Sigmeth
label: Pachyderm Records - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "Think It Over Now" (4 / 5) - 3. "Run Run Run to the Centre Pompidou" - 4. "You Don't Have to Tell Me Now" (4 / 5) - 6. "A Letter From Anne Marie" - 7. "In a Cold House" - 8. "Seka Knows" - 11. "Little Nemo"
[ full album ]
2nd full-length studio album by Grant Hart follows more than five years after the final album by Nova Mob and ten full years since his first solo album Intolerance. And just like his solo debut, he has here written and composed all music as well as being the only performer playing all instruments, doing all vocals except for the lead guitar on track #8 by Mato Nanji (from the band Indigenous). The album was originally released on the small independent Minnesota label Pachyderm and only issued in the US and via Rough Trade in Germany, but in 2014 the album was reissued on Hart's own label Con D'Or Records as most of all his older albums.
This new updated version of Grant Hart doesn't carry a lot of the alt. rock style he showcased in Hüsker Dü, the folk rock-simili as introspective solo artist on his first solo, nor the more electrifying power pop of his band Nova Mob from 1991-94. Instead, it's a quite original blend of pop / rock with influences from a rock tradition with strong roots in 1960s psychedelic rock. The production sound has improved considerably compared to his previous albums, and it's quite a wonder how this one-man army is able to make such a distinct sounding album only based on his own material.
Hart isn't and never was afraid of blending styles and the album is rich of various stylistic impressions without losing coherency. He also possess a distinct and lively vocal, which glues it all nicely together. Some tracks sound as if they were covers of classic psychedelic rock songs by e.g. Jefferson Airplane ("Seka Knows"), experimental rock by e.g. Captain Beefheart ("Let Rosemary Rock Him, Laura-Louise") but they are all strictly originals of 1999 in a fine production.
So what's not to like? I don't know! And I frankly do not understand how Hart maintained status as a cult figure. His former band associate of Hüsker Dü, Bob Mould was recognised from early on as an important musician and songwriter of the 90s, and he was honoured as one of the forefathers of the grunge rock-movement. Grant Hart somehow stayed in the shadows where only few people knew of his importance. This is not even his first acclaimed album - and it was met by positive reviews, but Grant simply didn't make the big break in the business of music, but with this and other albums he will be remembered.
In total, Grant Hart released four solo studio albums and one live album after the disbandment of Hüsker Dü from 1989 to 2013. Of all five, this very album is from my perspective his best ever and therefore highly recommended.
