We very rarely run reissues as our Record of the Week, but today's release of Hüsker Dü's Savage Young Dü is absolutely essential and we are more than a bit obsessed.
Crate diggers and curators extraordinaire Numero Group were neck deep into a fascinating and pretty thrilling project when the very sad news broke that Husker Du’s Grant Hart had lost a long and difficult battle with cancer. The Minneapolis band, which Hart formed with fellow singer-songwriter Bob Mould and bassist Greg Norton in 1979, was one of the leading lights of the American independent-rock movement of the 1980s. Savage Young Dü is a full appraisal of everything the band released from 1979 to 1982, when they were still a feral young punk band, just figuring out the possibilities of their sound.
Most strikingly, the set includes 47 unreleased tracks and a book with some stunning art and photos that chronicles the band's evolution. The audio has all been remastered from original soundboard tapes, demos and session recordings. Originally released on SST Records, the band's recordings were supervised by the label's in-house producer Spot, who achieved only muddy results. "Spot was a lousy engineer," explains Ken Shipley of Chicago’s Numero Group, "they didn't have the money to make their records sound good." Cleaned up and ready to meet a new generation, no one who loves punk should live without the Hüsker Dü catalogue.
Crate diggers and curators extraordinaire Numero Group were neck deep into a fascinating and pretty thrilling project when the very sad news broke that Husker Du’s Grant Hart had lost a long and difficult battle with cancer. The Minneapolis band, which Hart formed with fellow singer-songwriter Bob Mould and bassist Greg Norton in 1979, was one of the leading lights of the American independent-rock movement of the 1980s. Savage Young Dü is a full appraisal of everything the band released from 1979 to 1982, when they were still a feral young punk band, just figuring out the possibilities of their sound.
Most strikingly, the set includes 47 unreleased tracks and a book with some stunning art and photos that chronicles the band's evolution. The audio has all been remastered from original soundboard tapes, demos and session recordings. Originally released on SST Records, the band's recordings were supervised by the label's in-house producer Spot, who achieved only muddy results. "Spot was a lousy engineer," explains Ken Shipley of Chicago’s Numero Group, "they didn't have the money to make their records sound good." Cleaned up and ready to meet a new generation, no one who loves punk should live without the Hüsker Dü catalogue.
