Spot
--
SST
's house producer who manned the boards for
Zen Arcade
and
New Day Rising
-- didn't produce
Flip Your Wig
,
Huesker Due
's second album of 1985, and the difference is immediately noticeable. Everything on
is cleaner and brighter than on its two immediate predecessors, which is appropriate, considering that
Bob Mould
Grant Hart
have only increased their debt to '60s
pop
. The hooks and melodies are on the surface, right from the kick-start call-and-response of the title track. On paper, it might sound as if
have watered down their
hardcore
ideals, but it doesn't play that way.
is
played as
punk
, as if this is the only time these songs could ever be heard. Which means
Hart
's love song
"Green Eyes"
Mould
's pure
single
"Makes No Sense at All"
are delivered with the same rage and passion as
's blistering
"Divide and Conquer"
's
"Keep Hanging On,"
or the pair of surging, neo-psychedelic and noise-wracked instrumentals that close the album.
would be a remarkable record on its own terms, but the fact that it followed
by a matter of months and
by just over a year is simply astonishing. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine