Bob Mould Band
Oh, Robert … . While we’re glad you seem, well, happier these days, we fans of yours kinda miss those times when you were your old raging, sweating ball of confusion; your guitar and vocal cords screaming in unison at those who’d wronged you. Your recent solo work – The Last Dog and Pony Show, Modulate, Body of Song and your latest, District Line – all have their moments when your raw feelings work in sync with your melodic gifts, creating hard, alt-pop manna from heaven. But plenty of us still remember Sugar and, of course, Hüsker Dü, and those were indeed the days. You don’t need me to tell you about it: You’ve stated over and over that your hearing loss from standing in front of your overdriven amplifiers is reminder enough.
District Line is no Black Sheets of Rain, no Copper Blue and it sure isn’t New Day Rising … but it’s a good batch of mid-tempo tunes that shows you still have a way of letting your emotions bleed in ways few 47-year-olds know how. We’re glad for you that your life in Washington, D.C. is going well, even if you’re still venting some of the old bile on “Stupid Now” and “Again and Again.” But some of us wouldn’t mind hearing Warehouse: Songs and Stories played end-to-end, blasted out at jet-engine-levels by you and your willing accomplices, y’know? That live album Warners put out just doesn’t scratch the itch. But hey, we’ll just hafta wait, won’t we? (Tue. at the El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd., Miracle Mile. For tickets visit Ticketmaster.com.)
For info, see Rock, Pop, Acoustic listings.
Published: 03/19/2008
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