Husker Du- "Land Speed Record"

Husker Du

"Land Speed Record"

New Alliance Records

1982

Who woulda thunk it after hearing “Land Speed Record,” that within 4 years this blitzkrieg trio of Minnesotans would go on to become the best band in the world? It all started with this ramshackle live album, a pummeling, nearly atonal mesh of erratic bass drum thumps and razor-thin guitar screed held together with chicken wire.

Bob, Greg, and Grant unveiled themselves to the world of recorded sound with this 2 sided live nugget, a bootleg quality slab o' tunes straight from the soundboard. The record's comprised of 8 songs on side A, and 9 songs on side B, undeterred by something as frivolous as groove separations between songs (the CD version later on SST Records is literally 2 tracks, Part 1 and Part 2 of this live recording). One can only guess that those at New Alliance Records had no fucking clue when these songs began and ended, possibly not even the Huskers themselves.

However, the argument of unidentifiable song bleed doesn’t hold up after the bombastic opener, “All Tensed Up.” In “Don’t Try to Call,” Gran Hart holds it altogether not with his drumming, but by somehow managing to yell “DON’T” at the appropriate times in the song’s chorus. A head scratching accomplishment upon second and third listens, as if 2 songs in the band need to already provide a vocal reference point in the song for us to wrap our heads around.

From there, the songs don’t differentiate much. It is more of the same with a few “fucks” and “yyyyyaaarrggg”s thrown in, played at literally one of the fastest tempos punk had seen so far. And with the overly appropriate-to-the-point-of-chuckling title, “Land Speed Record” brings to mind images of a runaway soapbox down “Dead Man’s Curve” or some arbitrary, impending-doom filled name, with an angry amphetamine fiend behind the wheel who doesn’t give two shits if he happens to mow down grandma on the way down.

It’s a shame that Husker Du never got a proper recording of these songs as there are some stunning blasts among the mess. Luckily, “Bricklayer” and “Let’s Go Die” survived on later studio recordings. But one can’t help wonder how Bob Mould’s frantic, guitar noodling on “Guns at My School” would’ve sounded spewing out at studio quality. Or to actually be able to identify what Greg Norton was playing on the bass during “Ultracore,” or, uh, actually every song on this album.

The Huskers not only wanted to emulate their heroes, Black Flag at the time, but possibly wanted to put them to shame. But t hey fall short, but with valiant effort. However, it was a phase they would begin to slowly abandon with the passing of the interesting, brief, and delightfully frustrating document of a night in Minneapolis.

6/10