Land Speed Record [Live]

Tracks:

All Tensed Up/Don't Try To Call/I'm Not Interested/Guns At My School/Push The Button/Gilligan's...
Bricklayer/Tired Of Doing Things/Your'e Naive/Strange Week/Do The Bee/Big Sky/Ultracore/...

Amazon.com

Land Speed Record fully exposes the rage and manic energy that drove Hüsker Dü to dizzying heights of creative and critical success; it's an incredible (though appallingly poor-sounding) document of a live Minneapolis show from 1981 featuring the band in its embryonic form. Bob Mould and company seem bent on driving themselves to the brink of insanity as they plow through the performance with all the subtlety of a freight train out of control. As part of Hüsker history, it is of great interest to die-hard fans and rock critics alike. Unfortunately, it also exposes shortcomings--most notably sloppy playing--though these are easily forgiven considering the band's future contributions. --Mike Corrigan

Customer Reviews:

I love this album with all my heart. Ultralistenable HC.......2006-01-04

Ordinarily I don't write a review for items with over say, 5 reviews. But, not surprisingly, this record gets love it or hate it reviews. All hardcore punk rock enthusiasts love it (how can you not?) and all heaven's to Murgatroid alt post punk lovin' musical sweethearts (we could use other terms but maybe you get the idea? Sure we do) hate it because it is so intense and unrelenting.

1) There's less time between songs on this baby than possibly any other record. Cool man.

2) Actually, it's very fast rock. That may not be obvious. If you slowed this stuff down it'd just be a rock 'n roll album. But the breakneck pace launches it into the world of hardcore punk rock. Virtually by the speed of the music alone. Let's just say that 24 or so years after its release it still deserves its title of a speed record. Sure, there's probably some bands that have performed faster (NEIGHBORS of San Diego did a 22 song set in about 24 minutes about 4 years ago and I thought the singer would have an anurism - that his blood vessels would explode - while he was singing and the other 4 band members were each going at maximum possible speed every single song. By the time the set was over everyone in the place was fully satisfied. I still regret not video taping that gig. Unbelievable). But for the year this came out it was stupendously stunning then and I'll still put it on once a year or so and revel in its full out blasting of some high quality music.

3) Sure, it's not the highest quality recording quality. Although it's actually higher than a bunch of punk rock that was released back in the day - late 70's, early 80's. Mainly cuz so much of it was Do It Yourself. Think about it, SST is a giant indie punk rock label. They remained, all these years, and certainly then, a label for and by punx with a very eclectic range. Ok, so most of their records blew. But this is a classic that will stand the test of time. Of course, so will SST's BLACK FLAG Damaged and earlier records and their MINUTEMEN records. Virtually everything else they released is suspect (see HUSKER DU's post Everything Falls Apart records as a for instance, yuk).

When big business is not involved,

A) the artist makes what they want, with no filtering by big business producers trying to make the music more appealing to the masses ie. watering it down, popifying it

B) there is less money to work with so live recordings like this one don't always get recorded with expensive equipment so the recording quality is less than what we're used to hearing from big name artists and

C) there's fewer copies of DIY records because only a thousand or 10,000 are made rather than 500,000 copies. As it is, this recording quality is quite nice compared to a number of other DIY punk live releases. Quite listenable I'd say and I don't care to hear poorly recorded live recordings.

Thank you SST and HUSKER DU for making something that still today brings a mighty smile to my face and 1000's of other hardcore fans today and into the future. The rest of you who can't take this sort of thing, don't. Go buy a nice GUIDED BY VOICES album. The existance of this album doesn't diminish what HUSKER DU did later. It just shows us they sailed a different ship and left us this, their one pure classic. DRI and DIE KREUZEN, each with an amazing first 7" of defining, everlasting pure hardcore and then both bands just flaked off into, well, they left and made music that is still an embarrasement to listen to, at least to a punk. chrisbct@hotmail.com

Refreshingly non-sterile.......2005-10-25

I guess for youngsters who only grew up with sterile, wanna-be punk or "hard" music, this is difficult to get.
Sloppy? Of course its sloppy, it's punk! Not that punk has to be sloppy, but if it is, who cares? You can go and buy the latest Green Day or other Kindergarten bands CDs, if you prefer..
I love it!

Ear-splitting tripe.......2005-10-04

Husker-Du may be a great band. This album does not show that. It is tuneless, artless and worthless. Bob Mould should be embarassed it is still for sale.

Actually I give it 4.5...except for the sound quality...........2005-03-30

...for the sound alone. After releasing a mini-LP, an EP, and a single, all on their own label (all of which are collected on Everything Falls Apart and More), Husker Du signed to SST and released this live album (an entire set from a recent show) as their first proper album. The sound is not terrible, but leaves a little to be desired. And the way the CD is sequenced, you get "Part 1" and "Part 2", which are each 12-14 minutes long and contain a ton of songs. So you can't really pick an individual number. However, this is absolutely balls-to-the-wall hardcore punk that kicks you in the face, chest, and crotch all at once. It is absolutely storming in its power. Some of the best songs are Data Control, Ultracore, Let's Go Die, and Bricklayer. However, the whole album is just savage. Not for everyone, but for the true Husker Du fan, a great document.

HUSKER DU as in DO buy this.......2005-03-23

This is a must-have for any Husker Du fan and a fan of hardcore. People who do not like this album are people who do not like hardcore. Husker Du was hardcore, get over it, like it, enjoy it.

Average customer rating:

The Corporate Secret
Land Speed Record
Manufacturer: Resin Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000QSK3KI

Average customer rating:

Road to Flight

Manufacturer: Zoroastrian Yardsale Music/Dischord
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0008IUVAS

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