WNEW | Where Rock Lives

WNEW Week in Review

With the year drawing to a close everyone is starting to put their "best of" lists together. So far we're resisting the urge to count down the year's top tunes, but we did get Fusion 45 to look back on 2008 and share some of his Favorite Finds. Check out editions I, II and III which include favorites like Adele, Bedouin Soundclash and an album of cool covers from Glen Campbell, with links to taste-test some of the tunes. Also this week on WNEW:

• Warren Haynes stopped by for an incredibly moving studio session featuring acoustic renditions of Soulshine and Beautifully Broken.
• Evan sat down with the comedy team Stella and talked about their upcoming tour (win tix here).
• Alex previewed new releases from the Decemberists and Neil Young, and proclaimed Canada's the Carps the Next Big Thing.
• Bill Melville's Forgotten Favorites turned us on to Husker Du's Warehouse: Songs and Stories.
• Tom Morello was here to talk about the Nightwatchman, the day of his oustanding show at Irving Plaza (thanks Jeany for the review).
• This week's Rock 101 lessons focused on Elvis circa '68 and the 39th anniversary of the disaster at Altamont.
• Brian Walther sent in this great review of Tea Leaf Green at the Highline Ballroom.

As usual we opened up some great new contests this week - check here for free tickets to Gov't Mule's New Year's show at the Hammerstein, and free tix to those Stella shows at Nokia Theater (going down December 9 and 10). Good luck!

Forgotten Favorites: 'Warehouse: Songs and Stories'

Some albums are just too good to let slip away beneath the sands of time, so each week Bill Melville pulls one out, dusts it off and offers it up for your renewed consideration ...

The story of Hüsker Dü has been written to death, but it's usually abridged to focus on the groundbreaking albums on SST. Sometimes the story includes a chapter on Candy Apple Grey, their uncompromising major label debut. The swan song that followed often get unjustly glossed over.

Bob Mould, Grant Hart and Greg Norton called it a day after Warehouse: Songs and Stories, but they hardly fizzled away. While Warehouse sometimes feels like the work of a band clearing the vaults -- after the masterpiece Zen Arcade, this was their second double album –- few songs come across as filler.

Warehouse is sheer musical catharsis –- the trio lets everything go in one final blast. Sure, it has a ton of studio polish compared to Land Speed Record or Metal Circus. But put it against any long-player from Hüsker Dü's descendants -- the Foo Fighters, Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, the Strokes and scores more -- and it remains true to the band's characteristic rawness.

Nowhere are the band’s songwriting divisions clearer than on Warehouse. Mould and Hart alternate songs, with Mould edging Hart 11-9. Competition drives the album -- Mould brings out These Important Years, then Hart counters with Charity, Chastity, Prudence and Hope.

While not the scalding-hot opener in the vein of Something I Learned Today or New Day Rising, These Important Years shows Mould's songwriting had not dulled. Hart's efforts lead to questions about his virtual disappearance from the music world; the man could build a great pop song.

Mould’s agitated writing sticks to a high standard; it would be hard to omit Standing in the Rain or Ice Cold Ice from his best work with Hüsker Dü. Hart's songs dare you to ignore them -- power by Mould's massive fuzzy guitar leads, Back From Somewhere and You're A Soldier keep the competition rolling.

Hart brings the melody of a sea chantey on She Floated Away, a different touch for Hüsker Dü and one of the album’s top moments. Hart is responsible for the album's other stylistic turn, the rockbilly-inflected Actual Condition. Mould layers enough distortion that it never feels out of place.