Sunday, January 22, 2012

Compiling Husker Du

I was never much of a fan of the hardcore scene, though I do like bits and pieces. When it came to Husker Du, I liked the poppier side of their output, and fortunately I had a friend who made me a great sampler tape which formed the basis for this compilation. Another friend, years later, offered his suggestions and I added in Allmusic's picks from each album. After reviewing it all I came up with 2 playlists of 16 tracks each. I know there's more room on each disc but this captures everything that was great about the band and shows off their tremendous songwriting. As I've said, sometimes less is more.

Disc 1 (82-85):
1. Sunshine Superman (Everything Falls Apart)
2. Everything Falls Apart (Everything Falls Apart)
3. In A Free Land (Everything Falls Apart)
4. Real World (Metal Circus)
5. It's Not Funny Anymore (Metal Circus)
6. Diane (Metal Circus)
7. Something I Learned Today (Zen Arcade)
8. Never Talking To You Again (Zen Arcade)
9. Chartered Trips (Zen Arcade)
10. Pinks Turns To Blue (Zen Arcade)
11. Turn On The News (Zen Arcade)
12. Flip Your Wig (Flip Your Wig)
13. Makes No Sense At All (Flip Your Wig)
14. Hate Paper Doll (Flip Your Wig)
15. Green Eyes (Flip Your Wig)
16. Games (Flip Your Wig)

Disc 2 (85-87):
1. New Day Rising (New Day Rising)
2. Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill (New Day Rising)
3. I Apologize (New Day Rising)
4. Celebrated Summer (New Day Rising)
5. Terms Of Psychic Warfare (New Day Rising)
6. Books About UFOs (New Day Rising)
7. Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely (Candy Apple Grey)
8. Sorry Somehow (Candy Apple Grey)
9. Too Far Down (Candy Apple Grey)
10. Hardly Getting Over It (Candy Apple Grey)
11. These Important Years (Warehouse)
12. Ice Cold Ice (Warehouse)
13. Could You Be The One (Warehouse)
14. Up In The Air (Warehouse)
15. Eight Miles High (single a-side)
16. All Work And No Play (Don't Want To Know b-side)

3 comments:

  1. This is a great list - I think it really captures their best songs over the years, and it makes me want to listen to every one of these songs now!

    Just this past weekend I was listening to some tracks from Candy Apple Grey, and I was pleased at how well their music has aged. I think having such a distinctive sound really served them well.

    You should do a Singled Out!

    A.

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  2. This is good timing. It's been twenty-five years since "Warehouse..." and the only things we've seen since are a live CD from the following tour and the Rhino repackage of "Everything Falls Apart". Midwestern groups get overlooked generally in the entertainment/arts arena but Hüsker Dü were huge in a way few punks bands ever get (Ramones, Minor Threat, Black Flag, etc.; there might be a dozen in that class out of hundreds). How about a Minnesota/Ohio or Great Lakes show? You've covered just about every base of Australia and between these guys and Pere Ubu and The Replacements I'm sure there's a lot of music from that area that just doesn't get aired.

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  3. What an excellent idea, I'll get to work on a Midwest show or something like that.

    Incidentally, I did compare my picks to your Husker post but didn't feel like I was missing anything. I revisit my homemade compilations from time to time just to make sure I haven't missed something and occasionally make changes. This one feels exactly right to me - pity there's never been a career-spanning anthology officially released. I imagine that's down to the band members choices.

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