Album Review: Bob Mould - "Blue Hearts"

 

Bob Mould is of course somebody who should need no introduction on here and in recent years the former Husker Du and Sugar man has been in a supremely prolific run of form with Blue Hearts being his third album in as many years. Hand on heart, while I enjoyed 2017's dark Patch The Sky, I found last year's Sunshine Rock, while a much more upbeat album than its predecessor, to be a bit anonymous compared to Mould's best stuff.

Blue Hearts though is a much fiercer album which sees Mould railing against the state of the US in 2020 with the doomy anti-war Heart On My Sleeve lulling you into the album gently before the ferocious Next Generation, urging the youth of America to stand up for themselves before it's too late, hits you with a real gut punch to kickstart things in earnest and is followed by the ferocious American Crisis which really doesn't hold back in its anger, almost harking back to the sheer vitriol of early Husker Du with Mould sounding as if he's absolutely exhausted by the end of it.

As you'd expect from a veteran like Mould, he's savvy enough to know when to ease off the throttle and let the songs breathe for a bit so Fireball goes from a full throttle opening to pretty much fading out on itself leaving the vocals remaining in a ghostly chant at the minute and a half mark before the acoustic led Forecast of Rain sees a more restrained take but with the lyrics just as angry as elsewhere. When You Left and Siberian Butterfly come on like more sinister angrier cousins of last year's Sunshine Rock with the frenetic rhythm and major chord sequences masking the darkness of the lyrics.

There's plenty of highlights scattered throughout this album from the frenetic frustration of  Racing To The End, Password To My Soul and Little Pieces through the Taxman-pilfering Baby Wants A Cookie and the tale of thwarted relationships that is Leather Dreams to the slow-building fury of closer The Ocean.

I kind of feel bad for saying that Bob Mould sounds much better when he's angry than he does when he's content but to these ears, Blue Hearts is the sound of the guy well and truly getting back on track after the slight disappointment that was Sunshine Rock. Angry, thought provoking and with an energy that'd be impressive in a band half his age, this is Mould at his best and one of the strongest things he's done for many years. Give it a listen at his Bandcamp page and find out more.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 (9/10)