Tonight: Bob Mould plays Shank Hall in Milwaukee · Mar 6, 07:06 AM by Don
Bob Mould, or, that is, the Bob Mould Band plays Shank Hall tonight. Tickets are $20 each. To get in the mood, I’ve hauled a review of his 1996 eponymous solo album out of the archives. It was written for the Public News, Houston’s equivalent of the Shepherd-Express. Speaking of the Shepherd, read that paper’s Mould profile here.
Unlike Bob Mould’s first post-group solo album, Workbook, Bob Mould sounds a lot like something the previous band, in this case, Sugar, would have done; the songs are tautly rendered and pristinely recorded with premiums on melody and dreary lyrics. Though Sugar’s music was decidedly more vivacious than, say, Mould’s last solo effort, Black Sheets of Rain, it could never have been confused with Weird Al or the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
A common topic for Mould has always been romantic dissolution and he expertly explores it on five of the ten songs here. “Anymore Time Between” feels out the ambiguous space that is left between two people after a breakup. The song is also probably the album’s most inventive, slowly building from a bed of piano-like bass and static. “Next Time That You Leave” finds Mould doing his best to destroy that post-breakup ambiguity: “The next time that you leave, I’m burning everything you own. Then you’ll have no reason, no reason to return.” So there. “Thumbtack” is just singer and guitar, a meditative bit of twisted folk that uses a thumbtack and a map to track the travels of a restless lover.
Not everything on Bob Mould is so dismal. “I Hate Alternative Rock” is one of a few truly uptempo numbers. Though the title is a bit cranky and overly-literal, the actual song is a vaguely stated critique of (insert “alternative” rock band of your choice) that should fail to offend anyone due to its abstract nature. An affliction of bad karma is playfully addressed in “Deep Karma Canyon.”
Don’t look for Bob to tour behind this record. In the press release for this album, he made it clear that he plans on taking it easy and writing another album.
mp3: Bob Mould – Thumbtack :: from Bob Mould (1996)
Timedoor cofounder Chaka and I were once hanging out and about to give our first listen to the Golden Palominos’ Drunk With Passion record. We noted that the title of the Bob Mould-sung tune, “Dying From The Inside Out,” sounded like self-parody. Then we played the song. I hate to say it, but that opening howl of pain sent us into fits of giggles. Self-parody indeed.
mp3: The Golden Palominos featuring Bob Mould – Dying From The Inside Out :: from Drunk With Passion (1991)
The video above is for “See a Little Light,” the first single from the Workbook record.
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Songs in the MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 format are offered for a limited time only. Songs that are no longer downloadable can be streamed at the Timedoor page at Hype Machine. Dead mp3 links take you to the top of page one.
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