Bob Mould "Blue Hearts" (2020)

Blue Hearts

release date: Sep. 25, 2020

format: digital (14 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]

producer: Bob Mould

label: Merge Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "Next Generation" - 3. "American Crisis" - 5. "Forecast of Rain" - 7. "Siberian Butterfly" - 8. "Everyth!ng to You" - 10. "Baby Needs a Cookie" - 12. "Leather Dreams"

13th studio album by Bob Mould as usual released on Merge follows 1½ years after Sunshine Rock (2019), and it's as usual with Mould as producer and songwriter and composer on all tracks.

It may not be the strongest progression that we are witnessing here - in fact, it's as if in his older days Mould seems to have sought back towards the starting point of his musical career in the harder-hitting punk rock. Where Sunshine Rock was more upbeat, Blue Hearts is its unpolished counterpart. It's a mixture of energetic and raw guitar-driven melodies with an angry and wronged older man, and on the other hand the few more harmony-driven and melodious compositions. Taken together, you are easily led to believe that you are back in the late eighties and are about to listen to music that was to shape the foundation for the grunge rock wave of the early 90s, but this is Bob Mold in 2020. And strangely it's not the experience of old music sounding as something he has already made several times before. It's a collection of solid rockers exuding sheer energy fronted by an artist who appears as someone with a desire to play, and you may think it's a lie when this guy three decades ago explained his withdrawal from music because of acquired tinnitus as he nearly hasn't been this loud before. Bob Mould has always been a kind of valve for the political climate and the living condition of Americans, and you could say he has rarely faced so much to open up about. He comments on the infected political climate, on our collective global climate as well as the handling of a worldwide pandemic. And by that, it's like gasoline on Mould's eternal fount of inner lyrics just waiting to be ignited. As good as anyone, he can compose a 2-3 minute hard-hitting song with three verses, a bridge, and a rich chorus - 'Bang-bang-bang! On to the next one!!'. In fact, three tracks are under two minutes long, and at the other end, only one track plays for more than three minutes, and the entire album of fourteen tracks is over in under 36 minutes.

Never has he released a solo album that bears so many similarities to the music he helped create in Hüsker Dü, and the album emerges as a beautiful essence and a bit of a late journeyman work of art showing us what Bob Mould is capable of as a songwriter: that commenting with a rare directness and precision on social conditions that affect most people - and done with finesse, with and without noise! Some might argue that the album comes 30 years late, but the messages are contemporary and the music is just universal.

Blue Hearts is quite simply one of Bob Mould's very best solo albums and therefore highly recommended.

[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, 👍Rolling Stone, Clash 4 / 5 stars ]

Protomartyr "No Passion All Technique" (2012)

No Passion All Technique [debut]

release date: Oct. 8, 2012

format: cd (2019 reissue)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]

producer: non-produced

label: Domino - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "In My Sphere" - 4. "3 Swallows" - 6. "Jumbo's" - 10. "How He Lived After He Died" - 11. "Feral Cats"

Studio album debut by Detroit-based post-punk revivalist quartet Protomartyr consisting of vocalist Joe Casey, guitarist Greg Ahee, bassist Scott Davidson, and drummer Alex Leonard. The album was originally released on independent label Urinal Cake Records, and after releasing the critically acclaimed The Agent Intellect (Oct. 2015) the band signed with Domino.

This their first album out doesn't mention producer credits apparently because it was recorded as is by recording engineer Chris Koltay. Stylewise, it sounds much like proto-punk as played by MC5 and The Stooges with some tracks pointing more at the early British punk rock scene with especially The Fall as an obvious influence. Although, it's garage rock-styled in sound and probably hasn't been submitted to any post-production techniques, the sound is still better than what it's inspired by. Drums, bass, guitar, and vocal all have a certain crispiness that makes one aware that it wasn't recorded several decades ago when musical equipment just didn't always suffice to transport the actual energy back on vinyl or to a tape.

No Passion All Technique is hard proto-punk, which doesn't aim to satisfy anyone's request for traditional harmony-driven melodies. Protomartyr are in that regard strongly inspired by other ways of musical expression, and without it being tribute material, it does echo strong references to MC5, The Stooges, Pere Ubu, and The Fall. The album stands as the band's most simplistic and also only actual garage-rock album as all preceeding releases contain more complex compositions. The front cover feature a photograph of Julius Robert Oppenheimer.

To me, this is a fine debut, but also one that sits somewhat on its own as living its own life as a release that could nearly fill in a spot in musical history together with some of the band's influences.

Not recommended.

Skids "The Saints Are Coming - The Best of the Skids" (2007)

The Saints Are Coming - The Best of the Skids (compilation)
release date: Feb. 26, 2007
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: various
label: EMI / Virgin - nationality: Scotland, UK

Compilation album by Skids. Like the live album Masquerade Masquerade (2007) this was released after the U2 and Green Day tribute single "The Saints Are Coming" (2006) when these two bands released their collaboration cover single. I used to have Skids' first compilation album Fanfare (1982) on cassette, however, this is an even better best of album. The '82 album consists of 12 great tracks, and this one not only include all tracks from that album but it contains 21 tracks of which only two are not really great, and in a fine way shows the band's potential.

Skids "Masquerade Masquerade - The Skids Live" (2007) (live)

Masquerade Masquerade - The Skids Live (live)
release date: Feb. 2007
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,58]
label: EMI / Virgin - nationality: Scotland, UK

Live compilation album by Skids released shortly after the U2 and Green Day tribute single in 2006 when these two bands released their collaboration cover single "The Saints Are Coming" after their live concert in the aftermath of the damages by the hurricane Katrina (Aug. 2006) supporting the victims of New Orleans. This album was released simultaneously with the compilation album The Saints Are Coming - The Best of the Skids. This consists of 22 tracks recorded Live at Hammersmith Odeon Oct. 21, 1980 (tracks 1-16) and at Glasgow Apollo Jun. 16, 1979 (tracks 17-22). For a fan of Skids this is great but if one isn't that familiar with the band I would recommend the best of compilation album with studio production sound.

The Specials "The Specials" (1979)

The Specials [debut]
release date: Oct. 19, 1979
format: cd (1989 reissue) / cd (2002 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,02]
producer: Elvis Costello, The Specials
label: 2 Tone Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "A Message to You Rudy" - 2. "Do the Dog" - *[ 3. "Gangsters" ] - 4. "Nite Klub" - 5. "Doesn't Make It Alright" - 6. "Concrete Jungle" - 7. "Too Hot" - 8. "Monkey Man" (live on the Old Grey Whistle Test) - 9. "(Dawning of A) New Era" - 12. "Too Much Too Young"
*Bonus track on 1979 and '89 Chrysalis reissue (other tracks numbered according to org. 14 track release.

Studio album debut by ska revival and '2 tone' band The Specials, a septet consisting of Terry Hall (aka Terence hall) on lead vocals, Neville Staple on vocals and percussion, "Roddy Radiation" (aka Roderick James Byers) on lead guitar and vocals, Lynval Golding on rhythm guitar and vocals, Horace Panter (aka "Sir Horace Gentleman") on bass guitar, Jerry Dammers on keyboards and vocals, and with John Bradbury on drums. Before calling themselves The Specials they were the Automatics, then the Coventry Automatics before settling with The Special AKA for a period, which was shortened for the album release. Still in '79, a reissue was released with the single hit "Gangsters" as track #3 was issued on Chrysalis, which is also on many later versions, but the original album version excluded this track, thus containing 14 tracks in total.
Together with Madness, Selector, and The Beat, The Specials were enrolled at the Jerry Dammers founded 2 Tone Records, which was primarily dedicated to ska revival bands, who all founded their music on the original (Jamaican) ska and combined that with elements of contemporary punk rock and / or British working class pub rock. The name of the record label gave name to the style 2 tone - the 'special' combo of ska and punk rock with stylistic influences from mod revival.
The Specials mostly consists of punk rock arranged cover versions of 1960s rocksteady and ska recordings (six out of the fourteen songs are composed by Dammers and the band; however, some of the Dammers' compositions are reworks of original Jamaican ska songs, e.g. "Too Much Too Young" and "Stupid Marriage").
Track #1 became the song that will always be associated with The Specials, although, it's really a 1967 rocksteady composition by Dandy Livingstone. Also track #8 was a popular remake of a 1969 Jamaican ska Frederick "Toots" Hibbert song, originally recorded by The Maytals, but it was track #12, the song "Too Much Too Young" that became the band's #1 single hit in the UK. Also the album fared more than well peaking as high as number #4 on the UK albums chart list.
I recall my fascination for the music by the The Specials, although, I never purchased the album at the time, but together with Madness they were the very best of the ska revival period and as contrary to Madness, The Specials stayed more loyal to the original style of ska and rocksteady and where Madness nearly always commented on life's more serious aspects from a humorous perspective, The Specials were more of the working class band with a clear political critical opinion on life under Thatcher - and they weren't afraid of commenting on homophobia and discrimination of any kind. Despite the band covered many original 1960s Jamaican songs, track #5 is written by Jerry Dammers but later covered and made more famous by the North Irish punk rock band Stiff Little Fingers.
The album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com, Uncut, Q Magazine 5 / 5, Rolling Stone 4,5 / 5 stars ]

[clip about the band]

The Undertones "All Wrapped Up" (1983)

abridged issue

All Wrapped Up (compilation)
release date: Nov. 1983
format: vinyl (abridged issue) / 2 lp vinyl (ARD 1654283) / digital
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: various
label: Ardeck - nationality: Northern Ireland, UK

1st compilation album by The Undertones originally released on EMI sub-label Ardeck is issued after the disbandment that followed the release of the band's fourth album The Sin of Pride (Mar. 1983). The original UK album is a double vinyl album containing 30 tracks. The abridged version of the album is the most common, which was issued in North America, Japan, and for the European market. The abridged version contains many great songs as it's a compilation of the band's A-side singles, but it's really the C- and D-sides of the double album, which also happens to be the B-side singles that makes the issue a must-have. Songs like "True Confessions", "Smarter Than You", "Emergency Cases", "Mars Bars" all have that extra wit and bit that defined this great band of the North, and which ultimately reveals what a great band they were to produce such great material as their B-sides.

org. double album

Ebba Grön "Live" (1998) (live)

Live (live)
release date: Apr. 1998
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: Ebba Grön, Tony Thorén, Stefan Glaumann
label: MNW - nationality: Sweden

Live album by Ebba Grön released posthumously. It's a 19 tracks collection recorded live between Oct. 24, 1980 to Jul. 25, 1982.

24/10-1980, Folkets Park, Huskvarna - tracks 9-14
25/10-1980, Bellevueparken, Karlshamn - tracks 7-8
25/01-1981, EFMD, Västerhaninge - tracks 2-4
31/01-1981, Ultrahuset, Handen  - tracks 1, 5; 19 (last unlisted track)
17/11-1981, Kulturama, Stockholm - track 6
25/07-1982, Rockslagsfestivalen, Karlshamn - tracks 15-18

How do you really rate this? It's completely impossible to enlist any highlights as all 19 tracks seem essential. The band sound like you wish you'd been there. This is music history and there's luckily no traces of over-dubs. It's recorded as is, and it's pumped with energy.
This is fan-material - and better late than never, 'cause this really should have been released at some point back in 1982 when the music was much more relevant, but thanks a bunch to whoever belived in it.

Jello Biafra With The Melvins "Sieg Howdy!" (2005)

Sieg Howdy!
release date: Sep. 27, 2005
format: digital
[album rate: 2 / 5] [2,14]
producer: Ali G. North, Marshall Lawless
label: Alternative Tentacles - nationality: USA

[ full album ]

2nd collaboration album release by Jello Biafra With The Melvins after the 2004 album Never Breathe What You Can't See. The music here doesn't have the same playful approach to music. Stylistically, this is raw hardcore punk close to the metal universe associated with The Melvins and Canadian band NoMeansNo. Of course, with Jello Biafra writting lyrics and bashing out the songs there's a heavy satirical element but it sounds more like a return to the sound of Lard (and / or Ministry) and another time and place. I don't really enjoy this release.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Buzzcocks "Singles Going Steady" (1979)

Singles Going Steady (compilation)
release date: Sep. 25, 1979
format: vinyl (2014 remaster) / digital (2001 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: Martin Rushent; Martin Hannett
label: Parlophone / Music on Vinyl - nationality: England, UK

Compilation album by Buzzcocks originally released on I.R.S. Records in the US only to promote the band's US tour. It wasn't issued in the UK until 1981 on United Artists.
[ allmusic.com, Mojo, Q Magazine, Rolling Stone 5 / 5, Uncut 4,5 / 5 stars ]

The Stranglers "Black and White" (1978)

l-r: JJ Burnel, Hugh Cornwell
Jet Black, Dave Greenfield

Black and White

release date: May 12, 1978

format: vinyl (Greek issue) / cd (2014 remaster)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,82]

producer: Martin Rushent

label: United Artists Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: A) 1. "Tank" - 2. "Nice 'N Sleazy" (TOTP appearance)- 3. "Outside Tokyo" - 4. "Sweden (All Quiet on the Eastern Front)" - 5. "Hey! (Rise of the Robots)" - 6. "Toiler on the Sea" - - B) 1. "Curfew" - 4. "Death and Night and Blood (Yukio)" - 5. "Enough Time"

3rd studio album by The Stranglers following 8 months after No More Heroes (Sep. 1977) is the band's third and final to be produced by Rushent.

This album is one of the first examples of a post-punk album. Some tracks are held in a 'traditional' Stranglers punk rock tone, whereas about half of the songs introduce a much more experimental approack to their usual song structures with experimental use of percussion and synths. The album opener "Tank" is a razor-sharp punk track but already "Nice'N'Sleazy" is something different with a epic bass-line and bold use of synths. This is followed by a melancholic ballad with off-beat drums, and then back to what appears as blazing punk rock on track #4 but half way through it turns into a new stylistic mix and then ending as it started. Also track #5 is both punk rock and then experimental - is it ska revival on steroids, or rock fusion, pub rock, or garage rock revival?? "Toiler on the Sea" is mostly punk rock with a twist, and then "Curfew" is like the strong second track a new addictive blend of their own. "Threatened" is experimental punk rock with strong bass and keyboard, and then "In the Shadows" is one of the strongest experimental tracks on this album with a new set of tones and what sounds like an influence from jazz. "Do You Wanna" is the other obvious almost improvisitional track, which leads directly on to one of the band's new staples: "Death and Night and Blood (Yukio)", which is a highly original compositions build on an easy-to-remember chorus-line and minimalist bass and drums, but again, with an addition of organ and guitar solos that can only be The Stranglers. The end-track "Enough Time": "Have You Got Enough Time, Have You Got Enough Time, Have You Got Enough Time, Have You Got Enough Time..." is both tight, dark and angry, and then it's also punk, synth-pop and jazz-influenced. The album is anything but a strong coherent whole but thanks to the band's original soundscape and their will to experiment and leave the safe spot of their fans' mindset, this is just one their better works, and an album to appreciate.

Highly recommended.

Dead Kennedys "Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death" (1987)

Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death (compilation)
release date: Jun. 1987
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]
producer: various
label: Alternative Tentacles - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 4. "The Man With the Dogs" - 5. "Insight" - 7. "A Child and His Lawnmower" - 9. "I Fought the Law" - 11. "Pull My Strings" (live) - 13. "Straight A's" (live) - 16. "Night of the Living Rednecks" (live)

A compilation album released after the band had split. This is so far the only compilation released on Alternative Tentacles, the record label that released all their original studio material. It's a rather fine collection with tracks from their initial period and a majority of tracks that are previously unreleased or in alternate takes. It also contains a couple of rare and very special live recordings, i.e. the hilarious and famous "Pull My Strings" live performance in front of guests at a music award show where the band had rehearsed and was scheduled to play "California Über Alles" but to everyone's surprise they stopped the song at the very start, and continued with a song written for the occasion and built on "My Sharona" by The Knack, but with new lyrics about selling ones soul for money, which of course was hinted at the whole music industry, and a majority of the invited guests. The satirical chorus goes: "Is my cock big enough - for you, to make me a star?" Another fine live recording is "Night of the Living Rednecks", which is a fine example of Jello Biafra's spur-of-the-moment spoken word story, accompanied by bass and drums, about an experienced incident, just to waste time while the band's guitarist was changing a guitar string.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Hüsker Dü "Candy Apple Grey" (1986)

Candy Apple Grey
release date: Mar. 1986
format: cd (1992 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,84]
producer: Bob Mould, Grant Hart
label: Warner Bros. - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely" (4 / 5) - 3. "I Don't Know for Sure" (4,5 / 5) - 4. "Sorry Somehow" (4 / 5) - 5. "Too far Down" - 6. "Hardly Getting Over It" - 7. "Dead Set on Destruction" - 8. "Eiffel Tower High" - 10. "All This I've Done for You"

5th studio album by Hüsker Dü follows the recipe of Flip Your Wig with Bob Mould and Grant Hart as producers and for the first time now they approach an equal share in the writing credits with 6 - 4 in Mould's favour. The album is the band's first on a major label, and with this they demonstrate the conflict between Mould and Hart as the songs appear as individual representations rather than the end result of their combined forces. For the first time in the band's history Hart really challenges Mould as the band's most prominent songwriter - an issue of debate, which may have led to the band's dimise only 1½ years later. On the predecessor, Mould manifested as a songwriter with an ear for melody structure and Hart locked on making something contrary, whereas Hart here proves his worth on the same arena.
The style has evolved slightly to a broader profile with clear folk rock references, especially heard on the Hart compositions (tracks #2, #4, #7, #9), but with its energetic power pop alt. rock, or college rock, it's also a clear reference to artists of the later grunge rock movement.
With Candy Apple Grey and via their new label they reach a larger crowd and they succeed in holding on to their characteristic sound while producing their best-sounding album to date. So once again, the band moves some steps up the ladder and simply launches its so far best album.
Highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, 👍Rolling Stone, Q Magazine 4 / 5 stars ]

Stiff Little Fingers "Now Then..." (1982)

l-r: Jake Burns, 'Dolphin' Taylor,
Henry Cluney, Ali McMordie

Now Then...
release date: Sep. 24, 1982
format: vinyl / cd (2000 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,48]
producer: Nick Tauber
label: Chrysalis / Captain Oi! - nationality: Northern Ireland, UK

Track highlights: 2. "Won't Be Told" - 3. "Love of the Common People" - 4. "The Price of Admission" - 6. "Stands to Reason" - 10. "Talkback" - *12. "Good for Nothing" - *16. "Two Guitars Clash"
*Bonus track on cd reissue

4th and for a time the final studio album by Stiff Little Fingers originally released on Chrysalis is made with producer Nick Tauber, who had previously produced for Thin Lizzy and Toyah. Shortly after releasing Go for It (Apr. 1981) drummer Jim Reilly left the band and was subsequently replaced by (Brian) 'Dolphin' Taylor (former Tom Robinson Band). The band's usual cover song is here "Love of the Common People", which works quite nicely in this punk rock version.
With this, it's clear that the band has embraced a lighter and more mainstream sound building on bolder traditional pop / rock melodic traditions with less focus on the punk rock roots.
The album failed to attract fans and was met by luke-warm reviews, and as a consequence, Jake Burns single-handedly decided to shelve the band as he found this was an artistic peak they wouldn't be able to pass anyway.
The best tracks are the most energetic ones and the cd reissue with an additional five bonus tracks does make it a better bargain as it also contains the fine non-album composition "Two Guitars Clash", but the overall impression is that Now Then.. is the band's least favourable studio release. At the time, the split seemed inevitable unless they could come up with a new direction after leaving punk rock behind. Soon after the split, the fine double All the Best compilation was released.
Jake Burns began working with former The Jam bassist Bruce Foxton - a collaboration project that ended in '86 after which Burn found together with some of the former band mates and Stiff Little Fingers then reformed in '87 - initially only for a reunion tour, but as it proved quite a successful decision they decided to revive the band, and it has been active ever since and adding another six studio albums to their discography.

Dream Police "In Combat" (1986) (single)

In Combat, 7'' single
release date: 1986
format: vinyl (green vinyl - NAR 001)
[single rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,65]
producer: Dream Police
label: No Aarhus - nationality: Denmark

Tracklist: A) 1. "In Combat" - 2. "No One Cares" - - B) 1. "U.R.1.2." - 2. "Brainchild"

Single release by Danish punk rock band Dream Police consisting of vocalist Johnny Concrete (aka John Østergaard Frandsen), guitarist Michael Krickau, bassist S. E. Frog (aka Svend Erik Mortensen), and drummer Michael Anthony (aka Michael Kirk). This formation of the band is the third and last incarnation of the Dream Police. Johnny Concrete founded and led the label No Aarhus, on which he issued some live concerts featuring American 'hardcore punk' artists The Minutemen and Black Flag - this is the only vinyl release from the label.
I purchased the single almost without no knowledge about the band. All I knew was that they took part in the Danish compilation album Pære Punk from 1979, an album I purchased in the early 80s. Their contribution on that wasn't an unforgettable one, and this only follows closely in that regard. The band plays a garage rock-styled, or proto-punk version of the original punk rock with bonds to style of MC5.

[ collectors' item 'green vinyl' ]

Dead Kennedys "Bedtime for Democracy" (1986)

Bedtime for Democracy
release date: Nov. 1986
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]
producer: Jello Biafra
label: Alternative Tentacles - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Take This Job and Shove It" (4,5 / 5) - 4. "Rambozo the Clown" - 5. "Fleshdunce" (3,5 / 5) - 6. "The Great Wall" (4 / 5) - 7. "Shrink" (3,5 / 5) - 8. "Triumph of the Swill" (4,5 / 5) - 11. "Cesspolls in Eden" (4 / 5) - 15. "Gone With the Wind" (3,5 / 5) - 17. "Chickenshit Conformist" (4 / 5)

4th and final studio album release by Dead Kennedys. The album was released while the band and Jello Biafra were dealing with the lawsuit against the band for having "distributed harmful matter to minors" after their inclusion of an art poster on the previous album Frankenchrist (1985). The music is a return to faster and shorter hardcore punk songs dealing with political and moral issues, and mostly all-American issues with the Reagan administration and moral majority at center of attention (e.g. listen to "Triumph of the Swill"). The vinyl album was released with a newspaper collage by Winston Smith titled "Fuck Facts". The band split after the release, and Jello Biafra continued as solo artist of spoken word performance art, primarily (e.g. 1989, or 2013) but also released a number of collaboration albums as well as forming and continuing in the band Lard.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

Hüsker Dü "Flip Your Wig" (1985)

Flip Your Wig
release date: Sep. 1985
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,65]
producer: Bob Mould, Grant Hart
label: SST Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Flip Your Wig" - 3. "Makes No Sense at All" (promo-video) - 4. "Hate Paper Doll" - 5. "Green Eyes" - 6. "Divide and Conquer" - 11. "Private Plane"

4th full studio album by Hüsker Dü released only eight months after New Day Rising introduces the two dominant forces in the band, Bob Mould and Grant Hart as album producers. The album contains 15 tracks of which Mould is credited as songwriter of 9 and Hart of the remaining 5.
With the two vocalists and songwriters as producer-duo, the sound has now improved. Stylistically, the album continues a style of primarily alt. rock and power pop with links to punk rock, or simply: post-hardcore, although, the punk rock element seems further and further away, and what remains is basically one of the finest examples of sources to the initial grunge movement in the early 1990s. For the first time around, Mould and Hart almost share the writing credits - Mould is credited nine, Hart five of the fourteen tracks - not as partners, and not even as co-writers, but more as individual contributors. Hart delivers folk rock and singer / songwriter political and more experimental and introspective material, whereas Mould here outbeats Hart on strong harmony structures, energy and choruses with catchy tunes.
Without being great, this is clearly the band's so far best album, imho.
[ allmusic.com 5 / 5, Rolling Stone 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Hüsker Dü "Everything Falls Apart" (1983)

Everything Falls Apart [debut]
release date: Jan. 1983
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Hüsker Dü and Spot (aka Glen Locket)
label: Reflex Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "From the Gut" - 2. "Blah, Blah, Blah" - 5. "Afraid of Being Wrong" - 6. "Sunshine Superman" - 8. "Everything Falls Apart" - 12. "Gravity"

Studio debut album by the American trio Hüsker Dü released after the first full-length release, the live album Land Speed Record released exactly one year earlier. The band was formed in Minneapolis in Mar. '79 and consists of Bob Mould on guitar and vocals, Greg Norton on bass and backing vocals, and with Grant Hart on drums and vocals. This is American hard-core punk, which only had a little in common with the early stages of what became known as punk rock, meaning 1976-77. Hüsker Dü is one of a few dominant bands of the genre when speaking of the American version of hardcore punk, which included Black Flag, Bad Brains, D.O.A., Circle Jerks, and Dead Kennedys. The UK scene included bands like The Exploited, Charged G.B.H., Subhumans, Crass, Anti-Nowhere League, One-Way System, and UK Subs, but the two scenes were not identical. The American scene was a primary source and link to noise rock, which more or less evolved at the same time, and that may be heard on this album. I recall being interested in the British scene, which had more evident roots in traditional punk rock with some focus on harmonies, chorus-lines, political subjects, and with the addition of intensified energy. A few bands with Crass as the extreme forerunners were on the edge of punk making highly political music with bonds to experimental art rock and rock satire, which was labelled anarcho-punk - and this only really happened in the UK, whereas the American artists more or less concentrated their energy in playing with speed, high-voltage energy and anger as driving forces - rebelling with either nihilism or what resembled 1960s anti-war protest-songs engagement, and not seldom as a huge (strange) mix of founding inspiration.
Everything Falls Apart is however, also one of a few albums that closes the gap between American and British hardcore punk. Listening to Subhumans, The Exploited and One-Way System this has an equal expression of harmony structures and short-lived tunes build on guitar-chords and wry statements.
I rejected this as too much noise for my liking. My first experience with the band was Zen Arcade from 1984, and that didn't do much for me like the band's last releases, which failed to my appeal. At the time, I thought, this was just a matter of playing fast, running wild with energy, and with too little diversion. Today, I actually enjoy some of the tracks from this. It has it's moments and moreover: it's quite evident how the band became a source to other styles and genres, including grunge, but also how close this was to noise rock and American alternative rock, which helped giving birth to bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Red Hot Chili Pepper - all of these seem unthinkable without Hüsker Dü in this incarnation.
"From the Gut" is a great, simple, but original starter, which points to music by Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers. "Blah, Blah, Blah" and perhaps even more "Bricklayer" are fine examples of music bonding with chanting chorus lines from the UK scene, experimental 'art rock' by Frank Zappa, Dead Kennedys, and Nirvana at the same time. The production sound is... of course on the low side of things but that's how it is with the genre. "Punch Drunk" (30 secs of distilled raw energy) could easily have thought made by Crass, The Exploited, Charged G.B.H. of the British scene, or by Dead Kennedys. Most songs are written by Bob Mould and one track "Sunshine Superman" is a cover of a track by Donovan, however, here highly transformed. The original album issue has a total playing time of just above 19 minutes making it a rather short long-player. In '93 the album was reissued as Everything Falls Apart and More on cd with seven bonus tracks including the band's first two singles.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

Angelic Upstarts "Reason Why?" (1983)

Reason Why?
release date: 1983
format: cd (1997 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,48]
producer: Mond (aka Ray Cowie)
label: Summit - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Woman in Disguise" - 3. "Waiting, Haiting" - 4. "Reason Why" - 5. "Nobody Was Saved" - 7. "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" - 8. "42nd Street" - 10. "Solidarity"

3rd studio album by Angelic Upstarts with guitarist and main musical songwriter Ray Cowie as producer originally released on Anagram. The '97 reissue comes with two bonus tracks.

The band has taken a move away from the initial (primitive) punk rock toward more harmony-founded melodies, which could be described as pop punk, but they still play anarcho-punk songs with strong social commitment.

The album was my first encounter with the band, and it was an immediate favourite for several years in the 80s. However, the music hasn't aged that well, and today many of the songs appear as rather naïve compositions tied closely to the early 1980s Thatcher England. And the album came out at a time when music had moved elsewhere - production-wise and also stylistically. The band continued to play, and as of 2014, they still play live concerts, however after Reason Why? the band sort of vanished from the British clubs and instead focussed on a growing popularity in the Eastern European countries, and especially in the Balkan area Angelic Upstarts aas well as many other punk rock bands faced great support in the mid to late 80s.

In retrospect, the album lives its own life as what could be described as a 'time stamp'.

Buzzcocks "Another Music in a Different Kitchen" (1978)

Another Music in a Different Kitchen [debut]
release date: Mar. 10, 1978
format: cd (2001 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]
producer: Martin Rushent
label: EMI Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Fast Cars" - 3. "You Tear Me Up" - 7. "I Don't Mind" - 9. "Autonomy"
*12. "Orgasm Addict" - *13. "Whatever Happened To…?" - *14. "What Do I Get?"
*Bonus tracks on 2001 remaster

Studio album debut by British punk rock and pop punk quartet Buzzcocks originally released on United Artists. The album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
The 2001 remaster contains four bonus tracks.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, Rolling Stone, Q Magazine, Uncut 4 / 5, Mojo 5 / 5 stars ]

Toy Dolls "Dig That Groove Baby" (1983)

Dig That Groove Baby [debut]
release date: Mar. 1983
format digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]

Track highlight: 7. "Nellie the Elephant"
[ full album ]

Studio debut album by Toy Dolls. The band, which seemingly still exists in some form, was a strange project. The original line-up consisted of three members, Michael Algar (aka 'Olga', vocals, guitar), Phillip Dugdale ('Flip', bass), and Robert Kent ('Happy Bob', drums), and their style was a strange mix of primarily punk rock cloned with children's music and satire. The track "Nellie the Elephant" became their signature song. It's kinda fun and original, but also tedious in the long run.