Hüsker Dü: Statues EP (Reflex Records 1980 & Numero Group 2013)

 After being passed over by Twin/Tone Records for local upstarts The Replacements, Hüsker Dü entered Blackberry Way Studios in Minneapolis to record their would-be debut 10" EP. They instead paired it down to a more financially-feasible 7" single and released it on their own Reflex Records. Taken long-thought lost safety masters, it has been issued on Record Store Day 2013 as a deluxe 7" EP on Numero Group Records, including the two tracks that were dropped once the 10" release was scrapped.

"Statues" has a nice cyclical flanged bass-line and is a Public Image Limited-esque Grant Hart song about the straitjacket of punk conformity. "Amusement" is live recording of a Bob Mould-penned song that obliquely refers to the band being slighted by Twin/Tone Records. "Let's Go Die" is a Greg Norton song that was previously appeared on the 1993 Rhino Records compilation Everything Falls Apart And More. "Writer's Cramp" is a previously unreleased mid-tempo Buzzcocks-flavored song written by Bob Mould.

It's a fine debut single, and it barely hints at the direction the band would next take. It neither points toward the amphetamine-fueled live album Land Speed Record nor the debut studio album Everything Falls Apart.

Released as part of Numero Group's 700 Line (reissues), limited to 4,000 copies (2,000 on white vinyl & 2,000 on black vinyl) and packaged in a 28pt board gatefold sleeve. The artwork is exactly duplicated from the original Reflex issue on this very nice release. If there are still any post-punk aficionados who have not yet heard Hüsker Dü (which to my mind is like a baseball fan not being all that familiar with who Nolan Ryan was), you need to hear this release, or New Day Rising, Flip Your Wig and Zen Arcade asap.

Here's the video review:

Thanks to Numero Group Records, Fake Name Graphx & Stephen Gersztoff.