CANDY APPLE GREY

Husker Du: Bob Mould (vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion); Grant Hart (vocals, keyboards, drums, percussion); Greg Norton (bass); Recorded at Nicollet Studios, Minneapolis, Minnesota from October 1985 to January 1986. Personnel: Bob Mould (vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion); Grant Hart (vocals, keyboards, drums, percussion); Greg Norton (bass guitar). Recording information: Nicollet Studios, Minneapolis, MN (10/1985-01/1986). Photographer: Daniel Corrigan. After six releases on the indie label SST, the Huskers finally jumped to the majors for CANDY APPLE GREY--though not surprisingly, since it was their most polished effort in terms of production. Yet the general tone is every bit as despairing as ever. At this point, Mould and Hart were moving apart from one another due to personal and creative differences, and it is clear that there are two very different songwriters at work here. Mould sounds like the living embodiment of angst as he shouts himself hoarse on the thrashy opener, "Crystal." On "Eiffel Tower High," he manages to make the lines "she walked out to the lobby/for a box of Junior Mints" sound like the poignant ending of a tragic romance. But on the soft, elegiac "Too Far Down" and "Hardly Getting Over It," Mould's singing is uncharacteristically subdued and conveys real heartbreak for the first time on a Husker Du record. Grant Hart mellows out, too, on "No Promise Have I Made," but straightforward pop-rockers like "Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely" and "Dead Set on Destruction" are where he really shines.