Sugar
Copper Blue
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NATN Recommended
Sugar
Copper Blue
Rykodisc, 1992
RiYL: Hüsker Dü, The Pixies, Dinosaur Jr., Swervedriver, Jimmy Eat World |
Indeed, old habits seem to die hard for Mould, whose hard-rocking days in Hüsker Du provided the inspiration and impetus for the next generation of American alternative music: The Pixies, Dinosaur Jr., Nirvana and even transatlantic colleagues such as Swervedriver. So Mould returned to Hüsker's power-trio configuration, drafting bassist David Barbe and drummer Malcolm Travis for Sugar's debut album, Copper Blue.
The results are nothing short of outstanding. Mould has an absolute knack for writing loud, extremely catchy pop songs, more often than not buried under thick sheets of guitar. That he can also pen meaningful lyrics with the best of them is certainly a plus. And on Copper Blue, Sugar maximizes Mould's strengths to create a record that really grabs the listener by the head and, occasionally, the heart too.
Travis' thunderous drumming transforms what are more or less simple pop songs into visceral slabs of emotion, especially on the chiming "Changes," with its jagged solo section, and the awesome, Pixies-esque "A Good Idea," a tale of love's ulterior motives. And while Travis and Barbe's accompaniment certainly motivated Mould to indulge his love of all things loud, the pair do not trample on the disc's lighter moments. "If I Can't Change Your Mind" is the kind of classic pop song that probably could have been a hit for any teen idol back in the day, and the acoustic guitar at the beginning of "Hoover Dam" only gradually morphs into a thicker, keyboard-tinged rumble. Shifting gears like that gives Copper Blue a great variety (although subsequent live tracks released as b-sides demonstrated the band's difficulty with switching from loud to soft).
Mould's lyrics are meaningful without submitting to clichés or conventions. On "The Slim," the album's most powerful and musically creative cut, his internal conflict over the death of a lover to AIDS simmers and ultimately boils over into relentless riffing and lyrical rage: "in sickness and in health / for richer / for poorer / for anything / til death do us part."
Copper Blue does not contain one weak number, from the rock-out splendor of "Fortune Teller" and concrete-thick opener "The Act We Act" to the odd chord progressions of the hazy "Slick" and the exasperated pop of "Helpless." One of the more unheralded debut albums of the decade, and further proof of Mould's significant creative vision (six songs recorded during the Copper Blue sessions were released in 1993 as Beaster).
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"