Sugar albums
- For his previous band see, Husker Du
- For Mould solo career, see Bob Mould
1992
Copper Blue - 92%
With ex-Husker Du songwriter Bob Mould leading them, Sugar has tons of potential and has created a fully formed concept of an album here- the concept being a breakup (a common Bob Mould theme) specifically for a person of his stature and place in life. The first song starts as a sort of freight train, Mould’s guitar bringing an almost industrial noise to the proceedings, but as usual the melodic proceedings take over and like a prelude to a great book “The Act We Act” begins. Sugar’s first album is a great new intro into the world of rock with a guitar-bass-drum trio. It shows Mould wanting to form another group that focused more on the pop side of music. There are new influences seeping into the music, as really Pixies is the best reference of the catchy bass driven “A Good Idea”, and Cheap Trick’s insatiable joy on the flawless power pop of “Helpless”. “Hoover Dam” gets an amazing mileage out of making a synthesizer be the driving force in the bridge, painting an image of the great dam and getting a new outlook on life ‘standing on the edge’ of it. It is a whole lot more effective listing to these songs than it sounds on paper, as Mould has mastered the song craft that will burrow into your brain.
There of course are the more emotionally battering songs, showing Mould has more tempered his control then created something new, like “The Slim” which pulls your heart out (the apex of the breakup) and “Changes” and “Fortune Teller”, hard driven rock songs that talk about paradigm shifts but how there is hope at the end of the tunnel (especially the latter, one of Mould’s more underrated tunes.) Speaking of optimistic, “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” harks back to the 1960’s folk rock but driven with the emphasis of punk rock (punk-folk?) and “Man on the Moon” is one of Mould’s more uplifting album closers, all sprightly and arena rock ready like he has never quite created so ‘openly’ before. While a couple of songs are not quite as great as the others, notably “Slick” is the weakest and I’m not as big on the opener and closer as most people I know, Copper Blue is over all a success for what it achieves. It puts the verve and power back into focus for Mould and his amazing power trio- David Barbe on bass, Malcom Travis a spectacular snare drum force in particular.
Best Songs: Helpless, The Slim, Fortune Teller, A Good Idea
1994
File Under: Easy Listening - 95%
The second and final Sugar full length, this album finds the perfection amongst all the noise. While there are still walls of guitar noise first and foremost, it in no way fits in with the ‘grunge’ of the mid-1990s. In fact, the sound and style of alternative rock owe almost everything to Sugar and mainly Bob Mould himself. Malcom Travis still drums like he is battering down the world on opener “The Gift” while Mould has his walls of sound build and give away in the verse to the drumming’s power. Sugar is an instrumental tradeoff, back and forth, proven by track #2 “Company” being bassist David Barbe’s first lead vocal and songwriting credit yet. It is power pop supreme, and in a way my favorite song on the record, giving way to a ‘happier’ for friendly version of Husker Du’s sound for sure. Elsewhere, perfect of guitar rock that is catchy and insanely memorable is found in another outstanding song, “What You Want it to Be”, a song which always gives my mind the image of a building being torn down very slowly. “Gee Angel” has that unbelievable guitar intro and thereout proving Mould to be perhaps the great guitar player of all time. “My Favorite thing” comes that version of the perfect pop song by stealing a tad from My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless track “Blown a Wish” from 1991, but everything Mould does has a nod and a wink to it (as that band owes a huge debt to Husker Du in Terms of ‘wall of guitar Sound’.
File Under Easy Listening, shortened to FUEL and sort of an oxymoron for sure, is just about as perfect as melodic rock n roll gets, especially on the first 5 tracks- a more outstanding first half of a rock record I cannot think of. On the second half, Mould’s songwriting is more expansive as he writes some amazing emotional ballads (as where he used to just specialize in emotional ‘rock’) with “Believe What Your Saying” and the confessional breakup “Explode and Make Up”. These two songs hark back to his solo album Black Sheets of rain (1989). “Can’t Help you anymore still rides the power pop, full of ‘do-do-do’s’ from the first half, and then you have what might be referred to as the two weaker tracks in “Granny Cool” and “Panama City Hotel”. While the latter I can still listen to as I myself have fond memories of vacationing in that city many times in my life, “Granny Cool” is not really a song I can say much good about, and definitely a dud on the record. Still if you are looking for raw, guitar power and a true form of alternative rock that many people have tried to emulate afterwards (Foo Fighters and Green Day are the biggest contenders for that titles I can think of), F.U.E.L. is the template. If only it could have made them millionaires on its own merits, but the music holds up well enough on its own for any true fan of music.
Best Songs: Company, What You Want it to Be, Gee Angel, Gift
Compilations
1993
Beaster - 96%
Beaster is one of the greatest EP’s ever made- in fact at 30 minutes I pretty much consider it an album; since Mould himself talks about it as an EP though I will go with that recognition. It has an arc to it, the obvious take would be the life of Jesus Christ for each song but also you could just look at it as a life in general- “Come Around” is the atmospheric, cherry version of birth while “Walking Away” is the bliss of death. Either way, this is some of Mould’s best well produced hard rock, coming out of the same production session as Copper Blue and featuring some great, blurry and almost shoegaze-type guitar blue. “Titled” is a smash to the gut, a song so fast and powerful it really had no chance of being a radio hit but wow is it powerful. “Judas Cradle”, quite simply one of the best rock songs ever made and Sugar’s masterpiece, earns it’s length like no other song here and is just a blast of music that should be sent up to the universe as mankind’s signal for extra-terrestrial life.
“JC Auto” sounds like an engine of a car going down the interstate…not sure if that was the purpose or the meaning, but when Mould starts screaming “You look for Jesus Christ/ I’m your Jesus Christ!” it’s hard to resist. “Feeling Better” owes a lot to Barbe’s bass work, and has a beautiful solo in the middle, and is all about aftermath- whether sickness, or resurrection or time heals all wounds- one of the great optimistic rock songs of all time. In actuality, listening to Beaster is an experience that sort of lifts up the EP format though I would argue a couple of songs did not quite need to be so long and get a tad reparative- opener and closer especially; a very minor nitpick. Still, every second of Beaster has something to offer and I can’t give it anything but a close to perfect rating.
Best Songs: Judas Cradle, Tilted, Feeling Better, JC Auto
1995
Besides - 80%
The main point of B-sides are liver versions of songs that already exist on the records, and some B-sides that never were, planned perhaps for a 3rd full length after FUEL came out and didn’t sell as much as Copper Blue. To me though, this is just the 4th Sugar release and while I often skip the liver songs I know well it all plays very well together. Most of the impressive songs are David Barb’e compositions, showing he had quite a lot to offer. “Where Diamonds are Halos” is maybe the best one, fitting the Sugar mold (ha) very well. “In the Eyes of My Friends” is another super catchy blast from him, and “Anyone” is a bit more sounding like the Barbe of old. Barbe and Mould team up on vocals for “After All the Raods Have Led to Nowhere”, a good closing song for the bands short length, and Mould succeeds with the catchy songs that deserve to be more than mere B-sides- “Needle Hits E” and “Mind is an Island”. I wouldn’t say many of the live tracks succeed in surpassing their album versions. “Try Again”, “And You Tell Me”, and “Clownmaster” deserve to sort of be B-side, while “Frustration” is a full on My Bloody Valentine clone song. Die hards of Sugar need this album to complete their collection, but for the beginners of course start with the actual albums. Also….great name for a B-sides comp, surprise it wasn’t taken ;)
Best Albums: Where Diamonds are Halos, In the Eyes of My Friends, After All the Roads Have Led to Nowhere, Anyone