Hüsker Dü - Celebrated Summer Winter Pt. 2: radio interviews, Candy Apple Grey demos, and unavailable b-sides.

Hope you're enjoying a happy and heart second night of the festival of lights.  Last night we partook in a couple of primo Hüsker concerts, shrouding ourselves in the full bore roar of Minneapolis unlikely geniuses.  Now it's time to cut a beeline to the studio...and believe it or not, the phone lines.

Chances are Bob, Grant and Greg partook in scores of phone and live-to-air left-of-the-radio station interviews, but the number of which that were captured on tape from those keeping score at home may only number in the low dozens, if that.  Submitted for your approval are two fairly complete exchanges, which to a certain extent may not count as fully representative considering Bob was the only party involved.   The briefer of these two conversations, the May '85 WREK interview is probably ranks as merely good, where as the one conducted with Minneapolis community outlet, KFAI is far more insightful.  There are two reasons for this.  First, Bob himself fields a bevy of unscreened questions from locally call-in listeners.  Secondly, in this comparatively docile context, you get a better understanding of the man himself who is extricated from the stage and his trio's attendant concussive maelstrom.  No egos or airs in the least on his end, and he even engages the DJ regarding his affinity for professional wrestling.  In the interview portion of the download, you'll also find a Bob Mould soundcheck, which was contributed to Vol. 10 of the Tellus cassette zine, circa 1985.  Today, we would likely refer to such an endeavor as a podcast, but I digress.

Next up, the demos for H/D's major label debut Candy Apple Grey may not exude any out-and-out revelations, but anything unreleased by these guys, even if they are just in-progress incarnations, will no doubt fascinate die-hard acolytes.  Many tracks appear in rough, instrumental sketches, whereas "Don't Want to Know if You Are Lonely" and "Dead Set on Destruction" are reasonable blueprints for what would become the finished versions.  We're even treated to some thoroughly unreleased cuts that never made it past the demo stage - "Misty Modern Days" and "Just Be," which granted, are instrumentals - but that latter one kinda cranks.

And finally, I've cobbled together the vast majority of Hüsker Dü's Warner Bros era flipsides.  Like it or not, every band has 'em, and if anything else the band knew what songs to prioritize for the album.  Unbeknownst to a lot of fans, the band would occasionally preform acoustic, and we're treated to live, stripped down takes of the typically shredding "Celebrated Summer" and "Flexible Flyer," from a 1986 Hollywood Roxy show.  "Fattie" is an imposing, Metal Machine Music style piece, the lengthy and underwritten "All Work and No Play" is a strangely alluring slice of naval-gazing rock, while the sprite basher, "Everytime" features the lead vocals of none other than bassist Greg Norton!

A big round of applause goes out to any and all of you that hooked me up with much of this material, in some cases decades ago.  And on behalf of a grateful nation, let's all thank the original three architects of these wondrous and timeless songs.  R.I.P. Grant Hart.

Interviews - MP3  or  FLAC
WREK Atlanta, 5/29/85
KFAI Minneapolis, Jan. 1986
Bob Mould 1985 soundcheck on Tellus #10 cassette zine

Candy Apple Grey demos - MP3  or  FLAC
01. Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely
02. Crystal (instrumental)
03. Sorry Somehow
04. I Don't Know For Sure (instrumental)
05. Hardly Getting Over It
06. All Work And No Play (instrumental)
07. Dead Set On Destruction
08. Eiffel Tower High
09. Misty Modern Day (instrumental)
10. All This I've Done For You
11. Just Be (instrumental)
12. Hardly Getting Over It (instrumental)
13. I Don't Know For Sure (mix)

B-sides (1986-87)  MP3
01. All Work And No Play (b-side, Don't Want to Know...)
02. Helter Skelter (b-side, Don't Want to Know...)
03. Celebrated Summer [Live Acoustic] (b-side, Sorry Somehow)
04. Flexible Flier [Live Acoustic] (b-side, Sorry Somehow)
05. Fattie
06. Everytime (b-side, Could You Be the One?)
07. Gotta Lotta (b-side, Ice Cold Ice)
08. Christmas Greetings (We Wish You A Merry Christmas) (WB promo cassette)