Earth Is Burning

 

Mr. Mould does what he has to do in these dystopian days and delivers a really angry record with all the intensity of his Hüsker past. Chapeau! For further reading, go here to sample an endearing interview in this week's Guardian. Nice to hear that Grant Hart and him were able to bury the hatchet in the end.

Bob Mould - Forecast Of Rain

Time Hurts

Just got the sad news that Grant Hart has passed away. Hüsker Dü's legendary singing drummer was only 56, way way too young. Miss him.

Hüsker Dü - Sorry Somehow
Hüsker Dü - Pink Turns To Blue
Grant Hart - 2541

Behold The Man

Just found out that a documentary has been made about Grant Hart, with loads of footage from his Hüsker Dü  and Nova Mob days. Hope to catch it soon somewhere. In the meantime, here's our barefoot singing drummer live in '94, with just a guitar for company. Straight from the gut.

Grant Hart - Evergreen Memorial Drive
Grant Hart - Back Somewhere

Cares For Me

From Heroin to Sister Morphine and from The Needle And The Damage Done to Chinese Rocks, there's loads of great junkie laments out there. My fave has always been Love's Signed D.C. Not the fine but just a tiny bit too sweet first incarnation on their 1966 debut mind, but rather the hard rockin', desperate-sounding remake from their '69 Out Here album. D.C. is said to refer to one-time Love drummer and dopefiend Don Conka by the way. "My soul belongs to the dealer, he keeps my mind as well..." Pick your poison below. Bonus: two blistering cover versions.

Love - Signed D.C. ('66 version)
Love - Signed D.C. ('69 version)
Grant Hart - Signed D.C.
Dead Moon - Signed D.C.

Wild Weekend Vol. 25

It´s the silver jubilee of Wild Weekend, which means the ghost in the iPod cooked up a six pack of eclectic tunage for aural advancement twenty five times already. Fifty beckons. Get with it and get down.

Let´s start with Gram and his Flying Burrito Bros, giving a glorious Aretha-inspired soul injection to their cosmic American music. From The Gilded Palace Of Sin, a countryrock masterpiece everybody should own. All together now: "Take me to heart, and I´ll always love you..." And don´t forget: Nudie suits (see album sleeve) rule. Next up are Ohio´s prime noisemakers the New Bomb Turks and one of their trademark punk blasts. Stop press: their singer Eric Davidson just published a book on the scene his band was part of in the nineties. I just got my copy of We Never Learn - The Gunk Punk Undergut 1988-2001 and it looks übercool, so expect the full lowdown in these pages real soon.

Flying Burrito Brothers - Do Right Woman, Do Right Man MP3

New Bomb Turks - Cryin´ Into The Beer Of A Drunk Man MP3

Nothing beats Sandy Denny singing ye olde Wild Mountain Thyme. From Fotheringay 2, the aborted second album that finally saw the light of day a couple years back. Not as amazing as the eponymous debut mind, but still well worth it. "All around the bloomin´ heather, will you go, lassie, go..." You can almost smell the stuff. Off to Washington DC now, where Eggs fried up some adventurous indiepop in the mid-nineties. Their homage to the city of Evanston in Illinois features some fine trumpets to boot. Over easy indeed. Find it on Exploder (´94).

Fotheringay - Wild Mountain Thyme MP3

Eggs - Evanston, IL MP3

Grant Hart will forever be known as the singing drummer in Hüsker Dü, but this doesn´t mean his solo work should be underestimated. His stint with Nova Mob for instance, yet another band name derived from the Burroughs oeuvre, produced such majestic songs as Admiral Of The Sea. Here´s the 79 A.D. version. And the last track of this Wild Weekend milestone happens to be a roots reggae monster from ´78 by the rather obscure duo of Albert Bailey and Clifton Howell, also known as Earth & Stone. Dig that Channel One rockers sound. "False rulers of the world, them have to get a beatin´..." Hear hear.

Nova Mob - Admiral Of The Sea (79 A.D. Version) MP3

Earth & Stone - False Ruler MP3