On of MRML's most commented-upon series was the one in which I argued that Hüsker Dü singer/drummer Grant Hart's solo career had been unfairly marginalized in contrast with the justly celebrated work of his former partner, singer/guitarist Bob Mould. Now following a well-recieved 2009 comeback album backed by Godspeed You Black Emperor, a new documentary,Every Everything, currently looking for support at Kickstarter, we may be seeing a redress in the balance of praise.
Surprisingly,
considering how he'd referred to Mould's late period Hüsker Dü work as
"square", Hart's debut was even more more sensitive singer-songwriter
fodder than Mould's! "2541" is however, a moving song of loss with a
fittingly mournful melody. The fine lyrical details and the the swelling
chorus make for the perfect eulogy for the Hüskers. It's blatantly
autobiographical but unsentimental and it contains many a stinging line
like, "It's probably not be the last time I'll have to be out by the
first".
The rest of the EP "Come, Come" and "Let Go" is less-than-spectacular but as this recording of "2541" is very different then the one on Intolerance, it's a crucial release.
So what do you make of Hart's comeback? Of "2541"? Let us know in the COMMENTS section(where you'll find the 2541 EP link).
Well, I'm not sure how well I've convinced the skeptical to reappraise former Hüsker Dü drummer Grant Hart's (see here) accomplishments. However, I have apparently done a number on myself, as yesterday I purchased his long out-of-print 1990 solo album, Intolerance, alongside the Japanese-only, Bob Dylan Live 1961-2000. This pair of purchases forced me to haul out the old Dylan Stick, that crude tool we who feel compelled to write about music so often use to determine just how well any singer who write his own words and music measures up to the mighty Bob.
It's an endlessly fascinating activity, but the outcome is never in doubt. Bob's untouchable, even if he puts out endurance-defying crap (Christmas in the Heart for fuck's sake!) during his cyclical nadirs, he still fascinates more than most artists at their apex. That being said, Grant Hart and Bob Dylan share more in common than you'd think. They're both Minnesota boys, influential underground song-writers who were later branded sell-outs and who, after hitting their greatest commercial successes (assisted by near-lethal doses of narcotics), crashed and had to rebuild their reputations. Of course Dylan never played drums in a hardcore band and Intolerance isn't Hart's Blood on the Tracks. Instead Intolerance is like the mid-way point between the soundtrack for Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and the almost-comeback album Planet Waves. Listen to the fluttering harmonica on "Now That You Know Me" or the rueful anger in "2541" or that warping of a traditional folk melody (probably "A Pair of Brown Eyes") to devastating effect on "The Main" and judge for yourself how high up on the Dylan Stick he gets.
Another of the sad joys scattered throughout Hart's sketchy discography, is the 1990 single. "All of My Senses". In the A-side, an organ-driven dose of thin wild mercury music, there's a weighted pause after Hart sings "I'm using" which might hint that this is a record about heroin. Then the b-sides, "The Main" (an eerily familiar cross between a Lennon ballad and an old Irish one) and the Love cover, "Signed D.C." will remove any doubts about the role of the junk herein. A mighty, sad and beautiful record
Grant Hart's fall from rock n roll grace was swift and brutal. As we said last time, "it seems that in the divorce settlement that Mould got to keep the cultural cache that Hüsker Dü had built up. Hart's solo career did began with brilliance but he soon stumbled and has never fully re-gained his footing."
While the stories from people I know who've met Hart are usually grisly (it's an eight-hour drive to Minneapolis from Winnipeg but it's still our closest urban neighbour) the comments section here at MRML has been alight with Hart defenders. To those die-hard Hart-ians (I can sympathize despite my Mould fandom) here's one of Hart's other highlights, the glowing, "Shoot Your Way To Freedom". The 1991 CD-EP from his band Nova Mob also contains the fine "Ballad Number 19" and, unfortunately, two more "funky B-sides" which are actually not entirely terrible.
So while Mould's solo debut came after Hart's, it seems that in the divorce settlement that Mould got to keep the cultural cache that Hüsker Dü had built up. Hart's solo career did began with brilliance but he soon stumbled and has never fully re-gained his footing.
Surprisingly, considering how he'd referred to Mould's late period Hüsker Dü work as "square", Hart's debut is even more more sensitive singer-songwriter fodder than Mould's! "2541" is however, a moving song of loss with a fittingly mournful melody. The fine lyrical details and the the swelling chorus make for the perfect eulogy for the Hüskers. It's blatantly autobiographical but unsentimental and it contains many a stinging line like, "It's probably not be the last time I'll have to be out by the first". While "Come, Come" is a respectable, if a bit duff, "Let Go" is the dreaded "funky B-side" which is, as it always must be, a real low point in the entire artist's discography.
{MRML readers leave a comment: Who's first A-side, Mould's or Hart's, was better?}
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