A metà degli anni '80 gli Hüsker Dü (Bob Mould: chitarra/voce, Grant Hart: batteria/voce, Greg Norton: basso) sono entrati nell'Olimpo dei più grandi gruppi di sempre; questo disco, dopo il supremo capolavoro Zen Arcade, ne é la prova ulteriore.

È incredibile come le canzoni siano orecchiabili e trascinanti come nel pop ma allo stesso tempo pervase da una violenza e una disperazione tipiche dell'hardcore. In particolare è la chitarra di Mould, dal suono ronzante e pastoso più che mai, a distorcere e trasformare in violente baraonde anche i pezzi più folk. I brani più orecchiabili sono composti (e cantati) da Hart: la strampalata ballata pianistica "Books About UFOs" e la stupenda "Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill" con un coro indimenticabile. Mould compone (e canta) i pezzi più introspettivi e commoventi ("Celebrated Summer" su tutti) e gli uragani sonori più devastanti e insensati, ma trascinanti ("New Day Rising" e "Plans I Make").

Purtroppo verso la fine c'è una caduta di tono, soprattutto dovuta all'aspetto da "demo tape" delle canzoni. È nella natura della musica degli Hüsker Dü: musica scritta e suonata col cuore in mano, di getto, che lascia senza fiato per la sincerità e la violenza delle emozioni.

Una pietra miliare per tutto il rock underground a venire.

Elenco tracce testi e video

01   New Day Rising (02:34)

New day rising...

02   Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill (03:06)

There's a girl who lives on Heaven Hill
I go up to her cabin still
She keeps a lantern lit for me
And a bottle up on her mantelpiece

She's the girl who lives on Heaven Hill

She's got a big room and it's always a mess
Worn out shoes and a worn out dress
A worn out smile that she'll wear some more
And a worn out welcome mat by her door

I'd trade big mountains and rooms full of gold
For just one look at the beauty of this woman's soul
Up on Heaven Hill is where I wanna be
That girl, that bottle, that mattress, and me

03   I Apologize (03:37)

All these crazy mixed up lies
Floating all around
Making these assumptions brings me down
And you get tight-lipped, how do I know what you think?

Is it something I said when I lost my mind?
Temper too quick, makes me blind

I apologize...
Said I'm sorry, now it's your turn,
Can you look me in the eyes and apologize?

So now sit around staring at the walls
We don't do anything at all
Take out the garbage, maybe, but the dishes don't get done

04   Folk Lore (01:36)

Women sewed the Stars and Stripes
And the men, they fought the wars
The children learned arithmetic
And everyone was poor

Young man was the hero of the day
Long long hours, short short pay

Lesson I learned in history book, now
It's not what they told me
Folk lore, folk lore, folk lore
Your momma never told you

Now the women scream for equal rights
Their man wants to have an affair
Children learn to hate the world
And no one seems to care

Now the kids play vids instead
Their heroes are living on Wonder Bread

Lesson I learned in history book, now
It's not what they told me
Folk lore, folk lore, folk lore
Your momma never told you that

Some things never change
Some things stay the same
Some things rearranged
One thing I know for sure, your heroes always die

05   If I Told You (02:08)

06   Celebrated Summer (04:02)

Love and hate was in the air, like pollen from a flower
Somewhere in April time, they add another hour

I guess I better think up a way to spend my time
Just when I'm ready to sit inside, it's summertime
Should I go swimming or get a friend to hang around
It's back to summer, it's back to basics, hang around

Getting drunk out on the beach, or playing in a band
And getting out of school meant getting out of hand

Was this your celebrated summer? Was that your celebrated summer?

Then the sun disintegrates between a wall of clouds
I summer where I winter at, and no one is allowed there

Do you remember when the first snowfall fell?
When summer barely had a snowball's chance in hell?

07   Perfect Example (03:17)

I never look back at it, but it's always in front of me
It's always worth the hurt, but I know it's hurting me
I'll never let go if it because it's all that's going for me
I'll put it in the past when the past is history

A perfect example is all the things it's done to me
I think I might lose my mind, but not my memory
A perfect example is what we all wish we could be
I think I might lose my mind
I think I might lose my mind

You think you might lose your mind
But not the memory, means a lot to me

08   Terms of Psychic Warfare (02:19)

Well, I see you walking down the road
And the thoughts within my mind explode
But having to hold back taught me a lot about control
And letting all loose at once when it was time to let you know
You occupied my space and you occupied your mind
By jumping off the roof to the first conclusion you can find

Now all the silver you can steal
Can't buy a piece of what I feel
It's sad, but the means, they just don't justify the ends
To be forever haunted by the ghosts of all your friends
Painful, yeah, that's the way you've chosen it to be
C'mon, babe, can't you think of anyone besides me?

These are the terms!

Now don't think you're the only who has harboured a self-hate
I'm just as guilty of selling what my own sweet soul creates
And don't feel bad the next time my memory comes creepin'
You've got your own bed now, I suggest that's the one you sleep in

09   59 Times the Pain (03:15)

10   Powerline (02:24)

What's this humming in my head
Was it something that someone said
It's connecting us with them
Electric wires turned on again

It aggravates, and it pacifies
Hear the power in the lines

Strung high on every pole
How can this power be bought and sold?
Trying to harness solar rays
Making minutes seem like days

It captivates, and it hypnotizes
Hear the power in the lines
Powerline

11   Books About UFOs (02:49)

Walking down a sunny street to the library
Checking out the latest books about outer space
Going to the fruit stand to buy a dozen oranges
Then she and the books and the oranges go back to her place

She tells the same old story to everyone that she knows
She's just sitting in her room reading books about UFOs

Sometimes I see her sitting on the rooftop
Perched on a lawnchair and staring into the sky
I know somewhere in some faraway galaxy
That some gray men with telescopes are gazing right into her eyes

She tells the same old story to everyone that she knows
She's just sitting in her room reading books about UFOs

Her life revolves around all of the planets
And she is constantly aware of all the changes that occur
I'm going to turn into a lens and focus all my attention
On finding a new planet and naming it right after her

She tells the same old story to everyone that she knows
She's just sitting in her room reading books about UFOs

12   I Don't Know What You're Talking About (02:23)

13   How to Skin a Cat (01:52)

Glorious Opportunity To Get Rich!!! -- We are starting a cat ranch in Lacon
with 100,000 cats. Each cat will average 12 kittens a year. The cat skins will
sell for 30 cents each. One hundred men can skin 5,000 cats a day. We figure a
daily net profit of over $10,000. Now what shall we feed the cats? We will
start a rat farm next door with 1,000,000 rats. The rats breed 12
times faster than the cats. So we will have four rats to feed each day to each
cat. Now what shall we feed the rats? We will feed the rats the carcasses of
the cats after they have been skinned.

Now Get This! We feed the rats to the cats and the cats to the rats and get the
cat skins for nothing! We feed the rats to the cats and the cats to the rats
and get the cat skins for nothing! We feed the rats to the cats and the cats to
the rats and get the cat skins for nothing!

14   Whatcha Drinkin' (01:33)

I don't care what you say, I don't care what you're drinking today
I don't care what they say, I'll be drinking today
I try not to drink anymore
I try not to drink anymore, and try not to think anymore

15   Plans I Make (04:22)

I gotta make plans for the plans I make
Gotta have friends for the friends I make
I gotta make plans for the friends I make
Gotta have friends for the plans I make
Go make plans

Carico i commenti...  con calma

Altre recensioni

Di  Franci!

 Ci sono dischi che, come le persone, sono destinati a far parte di me fin quando tirerò le cuoia.

 New Day Rising disse pressoché tutto quello che sarebbe stato detto nel decennio successivo.


Di  Nevadagaz

 “New day rising è un disco saturo e rumorosissimo... un'effetto finale potente che lascia il segno.”

 “Quasi tutto il resto è nelle mani di Bob, ma non parlatemi di passo indietro per cortesia.”