Search - Husker Du :: Candy Apple Grey

Candy Apple Grey

Flint Salinger | Albany,NY USA | 04/25/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Husker Du has made a history of being one of the seminal punk bands of the 80's. Listening to their albums, you notice their range of being able to play almost any kind of music. With Candy Apple Grey,Bob Mould(guitar/vocals), Grant Hart (drummer/vocals)and Greg Norton(bassist)show their ability to sing about one of the hardest things in life, breaking up. Mould and Hart write songs that get right to the truthfulness of breaking up. Hart's "Don't Want to Know if You're Lonely" is a rocking plead to an ex-lover to stop tempting the narrator to come back for another heart break. Hart's songs have a full sound that give an encompassing atmosphere of what the singer is feeling. His optimistic "Sorry Somehow" is an organ driven punk anthem about a couple trying to give it another try. Bob Mould's songs are straight and direct, hitting you right in the chest and not letting go. The beautiful (and my personal favorite)"Hardly Getting Over it" shows a man trying to tell the story of a friend being ripped up by post-relationship depression and dealing with his own depression. You can hear Mould's heart tear when he lowly sings "Now he's hardly getting over it/Hardly getting used to getting by".It's one of the most emotional songs I've ever heard. "I Don't know for sure" and "all this I've done for you" give Mould a little more kick to his emotional punch. " Dead Set on Destruction" is a hard punk song that call to the day's of Husker Du's suicidal opus Zen Arcade.Mould's "Crystal" fails to live up to the rest of the album with muddy melodies and swampy riffs that just don't give you the real Husker feel. The same goes for Mould's "Too Far Down" except that "Down" has that dark feel that Candy Apple Grey keeps after "Crystal". "Eiffel Tower High" and "No Promise Have I Made" keep the emo punk light burning with smart lyrics and melodic guitars. Over all this album doesn't live up to the thrash melodies of the amazing Zen Arcade, but it's a great album on it's own terms. Grey blends acoustic emotions and alterna-punk strumming in a way that is unbrassingly evocative, and it sets Husker Du as one of the most ambitious artists from the 80's punk scene."

"She buys herself a seat and sits on the floor"

mwreview | Northern California, USA | 04/04/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This was Husker Du's first album with Warner Bros., having adopted a totally mainstream sound. I like their later SST material (New Day Rising, especially), and some of their earlier stuff ("In a Free Land," "Diane," "Gravity," "Amusement," "Chartered Trips," "Pink Turns to Blue," "Statues," etc.) but I find the final era of their career incredible! I consider Candy Apple Grey as well as Warehouse: Songs and Stories to be their most solid albums. Pretty much every track here is amazing, especially Grant Hart's songs. Whereas, I tend to prefer Bob Mould's music to Hart's on the early Husker albums, Hart really emerged as a excellent singer-songwriter on Flip Your Wig through Warehouse. Three of my all-time favorite Hart tracks are here. Bob Mould was getting rather introspective on this album, perhaps he was already looking ahead to his brilliant Workbook solo project.



"Crystal" (Mould) 3:28: One more angry, noisy, pre-Flip Your Wig-style song before diving into the mainstream sound.

"Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely" (Hart) 3:29: Excellent single and one of Hart's best. Addictive track! I don't know about the line "I don't want to know if you are less than lonely," but it's such a great sound, who cares?

"I Don't Know For Sure" (Mould) 2:27: My favorite Mould track on this album. Very catchy. Killer drumming by Hart.

"Sorry Somehow" (Hart) 4:25: Another excellent Hart track. I love the organ sound and Mould guitar solo. Hart's vocals are great, too.

"Too Far Down" (Mould) 4:37; "Hardly Getting Over It" (Mould) 6:02: Two slow, depressing tracks by Mould. A nice change-of-pace, but two in a row is a little much, especially considering how long they are. They tend to drag, but they are not bad songs by any stretch. I'm not sure what was going on in Mould's life when he was writing these, but he was certainly getting out some dark emotions: "I wish that I just could die or let someone else be happy by setting my own self free." "Hardly Getting Over It" is so depressing to be almost comical, especially when it gets to the line "Grandma, she got sick, she is going to die." I know it's not meant to be funny, but that line always cracks me up.



"Dead Set on Destruction" (Hart) 2:59: The title would make one think this song is really hard and heavy, but it's just a straight-forward, light rock song about a guy trying to get to his girlfriend but all the means of transportation are grounded (I'm not sure if he really means he's "dead set on destruction," the sound of the song makes that line seem exaggerated). Not as stellar as Hart's other tracks here, but it's a nice little catchy number.

"Eiffel Tower High" (Mould) 2:49: I don't know what this song is suppose to be about, but I really like the sound and you gotta love the line "She walked out to the lobby for a box of Junior Mints." I find myself singing along to the chorus "And I scream `Mary Eiffel Tower Hiiiiiigh!'" without having any idea what I'm singing.

"No Promise Have I Made" (Hart) 3:39: Another Hart masterpiece! A beautiful ballad with piano. Love it!

"All This I've Done For You" (Mould) 3:09: The album ends with a good, solid rocker. This is definitely an album to set to "Repeat All" without having to skip a track, unless the two middle tracks are too much of a downer."

Seriously Underrated

mwreview | 01/03/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Of their "major label" releases, this is clearly the best. As with _Flip Your Wig_, cleaner production and better pacing allow the songs to speak more clearly. Hart & Mould's individual styles begin to become clearer, too -- yet they're clearly still together, as some of their best riffs appear on songs by their opposite number.This is one of the three best Husker albums, each great for its own strength: _Zen Arcade_ for its vision, _New Day Rising_ for its unflagging energy and power, and _Candy Apple Grey_ for the consistent, well, _quality_ of songwriting, musicianship and production. If you have to pick one Husker Du record, pick from these three for the virtue you value most."