Hüsker Dü's fifth album Candy Apple Grey is their major-label debut for Warner Brothers. The band released three albums and an EP for legendary indie SST signing a lucrative deal with Warners in 1985. There isn't anything on the album that screams sell-out; it was produced by Grant Hart and Bob Mould, recorded in Minneapolis, and contains the same approach as Flip Your Wig does.
The
album starts off with the Mould scream-fest of “Crystal” which
clearly indicates the band isn't going soft just because their sudden
major-label status. The albums two singles are both written by Hart
and they are absolute classics; “Don't Want To Know If You Are
Lonely” is a perfect kiss-off pop song and even charted at number
96 on the UK singles chart. It was later covered by Green Day and is
featured in the series Halt And Catch Fire
and the film Adventureland. “Sorry
Somehow” features mournful minor-key organ and a mid-tempo
arrangement.
“I
Don't Know For Sure” sounds like Mould was trying to rewrite “Makes
No Sense At All” and Hart's “Dead Set On Destruction” doesn't
really go anywhere memorable. “Eiffel Tower High” references
getting high and going to the movies and “All This I've Done For
You” is a perfect slice of Du PopPunk. The album features three
acoustic classics;“Hardly Getting Over It” which deals with death
in a mature, thoughtful way, “No Promise Have I Made” a stately
piano piece that is a nice lyrical example of what makes Grant Hart
such a special songwriter and “Too Far Down” is a Mould song that
is almost a blueprint for his solo work. All three work well within
the cold, Wintery-feel that pervades the album as a whole.
The
album was well-recieved at the time by the mainstream music press but
was generally snubbed by the bands hardcore following. It charted at
a dismal 140 in the Billboard Top 200. It is generally overlooked
after the acknowledged classic trilogy of Zen Arcade, New
Day Rising and Flip
Your Wig.
It
certainly deserves wider-currency.
Here's the video review:
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