SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: HÜSKER DÜ – 1985: THE MIRACLE YEAR

HÜSKER DÜ
1985: THE MIRACLE YEAR
NUMERO GROUP

The trailblazing and endlessly entrancing Hüsker Dü has returned to the limelight on your favourite streaming apps, in the form of a 43-song live compilation comprised of tracks recorded at various live shows throughout one of the most exciting years in the band’s history, 1985. The first half of the record, which captures the entirety of a show the power-pop rockers played at Minnesota’s First Avenue concert venue, is 23 songs. Meanwhile, the second half of the record is 20 miscellaneous live tracks from the semi-eponymous year. It’s a monumental collection of recordings that are mixed and mastered to perfection, while still maintaining the slicing and gritty, yet incredibly catchy sounds that made Hüsker Dü so attractive as a musical act during its origins.

The First Avenue performance that immediately captures the listening audience is a treat to experience in such a pristine fashion. Not only does it feature my personal favourite Hüsker Dü song, “Diane,” about 14 songs into the setlist, but it also features a jarring and exciting collection of covers at the climax of the set. Various songs by The Beatles are covered, including “Helter Skelter,” which sees Hüsker Dü reimagine the rhythmic and sonic progression of the seminal song by The Beatles. This section features a notable amount of classic Hüsker Dü tracks as well, such as “Pink Turns To Blue,” “I Apologize,” “The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill,” and “Makes No Sense At All.” During a cover of Sonny Curtis’ “Love Is All Around,” which acts as the closing track to the first section of the compilation, the recording captures continuous applause from the live audience at First Avenue on January 30th, 1985. One can’t help but feel the impulsive urge to clap along with the roaring audience in this situation, as the seamlessly stitched together performance, which just took place in your eardrums, can only be described as electrifying.

The miscellaneous collection of 20 songs on the last half of the compilation, aptly titled More Miracles, doesn’t pull any punches in terms of auditorial excitement and a feeling akin to mainlining adrenaline. The gritty and grainy vocals, that push and strain with glorious intent, get emphasized every time you go one song deeper into the tracklist. An eight-min performance of the fan-favourite track, “All Work And No Play” ends with an instrumentally lone, pulsing drum beat and the attending audience screaming the words of the chorus back to the band. This is one of the many moments on the compilation that remind contemporary rock ‘n’ roll scenes where their mantras regarding ultra-fast riffs, passionate playing, and audience involvement come from. This chapter of the compilation also features a bountiful amount of classic Hüsker Dü tracks, which will intrigue new listeners and delight long-time fans alike. Tracks such as “Flip Your Wig,” “Eiffel Tower High,” “Chartered Trips,” and the seminal “Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely,” are among the sprawling list of inclusions.

One wouldn’t be blamed for assuming that an exercise like this could grow tedious in practice; listening to 40+ songs straight with such high-octane energy that you can hear how physically strenuous it must’ve been to perform does sound draining. However, Hüsker Dü prove that they can pull off the borderline-impossible and keep listening audiences hooked for a compilation that runs for multiple hours and stretches through four different LPs on its physical release, with their unique and groundbreaking brand of rock ‘n’ roll. There are a few archived moments of banter that will either appear at the beginning or the end of a track; these moments act as description cards that emphasize and provide context as to why Hüsker Dü was, and still is, so essential to its local community and (eventually) global music scenes at large. Before anything else, it’s because they cared significantly about giving it 110%; the band wanted to give it their all, their blood, sweat, and tears, to ensure that everyone listening (whether it be at the First Avenue show or on this compilation) would never forget the sounds they just heard. That is what 1985: The Miracle Year is all about.

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