Track Listing

1. These Important Years
2. Charity, Chastity, Prudence, and Hope
3. Standing in the Rain
4. Back From Somewhere
5. Ice Cold Ice
6. You're a Soldier
7. Could You Be the One?
8. Too Much Spice
9. Friend, You've Got to Fall
10. Visionary
11. She Floated Away
12. Bed of Nails
13. Tell You Tomorrow
14. It's Not Peculiar
15. Actual Condition
16. No Reservations
17. Turn It Around
18. She's a Woman (And Now He Is a Man)
19. Up in the Air
20. You Can Live at Home

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25712 in Music
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Album Description
180 gram pressing of 1987 album. Warner.

Amazon.com essential recording
"Ice Cold Ice," in which Bob Mould rails against "barren lands and barren minds" and Grant Hart falls in on the supercatchy chorus, exemplifies the Hüsker Dü career development that peaks on this final album. Without sacrificing the emotional intensity of earlier albums, the Minneapolis trio beefs up the guitar-based melodies and sneaks in pop songcraft in lieu of the old fast-and-loud hardcore style. On this 1987 double album, as usual, guitarist Mould supplies the personal songs ("Standing in the Rain"), while drummer Hart remains more broadly political ("Tell You Why Tomorrow"). --Steve Knopper

Customer Reviews

Beautiful Debate
I'm a Husker Du fan. I was lucky to see them live and then to see Bob Mould solo live (Sugar is a different beast altogether). I like so many have been a fan from the first blast of Land Speed Record. Their last studio recording really is beautiful, and it really does show the way that Grant Hart and Bob Mould challenged each other to the very end of the band. Norton's bass and presence held them together. Each release was a bit different from the other, but it is obvious that Flip Your Wig and Candy Apple Grey complete a story of a sound. This sound is infectious. The assault of guitar and voice is without a doubt the strongest of American rock. I have always viewed them as something of an American folk band with the politics being a politics of the emotive soul. Why? The lyrics explore every emotion possible and then some. And the music stands right beside the words presenting each and every song as the continuing story of Warehouse Songs. This band was pure genius and Warehouse Songs stands tall today. It is fast and then melodious. It has violent emotions and then tender insights ("she lifted her arms and floated away.."). Once in the car CD player this is a difficult disc to take out unless it is replaced with the Ramones Anthology or Elvis Costello Girls Girls Girls. Because I am a fan of the band I can't dismiss one recording over another the way that the epic Zen Arcade is pitched against the boom/crash of New Day Rising, so as a musical essay on it's own Warehouse Songs is fairly perfect.
And that's the way this disc is: fast American rock/punk and emotive song crafting.
I miss the pairing of songs that Mould and Hart were so talented at putting together.

HuDu's final masterpiece
By the time this record came out, it was clear that Husker Du was doomed. While Hart and Mould were on different artistic pages on Candy Apple Grey (Hart more poppish, Mould more personal), they don't even sound like they're reading from the same book in Warehouse. In any given song, the songwriter overdubs his own voice rather than getting backing from the other. Also, as on the Beatles' fragmented White Album, almost every songwriter alternates: Mould/Hart/Mould... And finally, the lyrics contain many frank elusions to the onrushing split -- Mould cries out "The biggest thing to me / Is making this thing work for life / We gotta turn it around," while Hart grimly states "Things didn't go exactly as they planned... There's a vacancy between them every day." Ultimately, the split seems inevitable to the listener -- Mould is simply too depressed and angry, Hart too screwed up and stubborn. However, this record stands as their final collaboration and artistic swan song.

The primary reason that this record is so good is simply the songs -- it is twice as long as their other records but is the most consistent set of their career. Warehouse plays more like an extended single album than an artsy, ambitious double LP such as Zen Arcade -- the songs are almost all straight ahead pop-as-punk, but are more forthright with their debt to 60's rock: Songs such as "Turn It Around" or "No Reservations" carry a singer-songwriter twist, while "She's a Woman" is pure pop and "Tell You Why Tomorrow" is an invigorating hit of psychedelia. In general, Hart experiments more but the overall quality of his songs are lower than Mould's, whose contributions are universally excellent -- he turns in not a single weak track, while several of Hart's tunes are simply a basis for having a good time in the studio.

Which brings me to the second strength of the record -- its production. Much like Pet Sounds, this album matches the band's more mature songwriting with a gorgeous, adventurous, broad-ranging sound, complete with cleaner multitracked guitar and vocal, various percussion techniques and endless studio effects, from the chiming clocks closing "Tell You Why Tomorrow" to the shimmering reverb carrying "Up in the Air" into "You Can Live at Home."

However, due to the fierce rivalry and tension between the band at the time of recording, the album is emotionally a mixed bag -- Hart tends to be more simplistic sad-pop or happy-pop as on the bubbly "Charity, Chastity, Prudence and Hope" or the grim but uptempo "She's a Woman", whereas Mould delivers a broader palette of veiled admonishments and pleas to Hart ("Friend You've Got to Fall," "Turn It Around") as well as incisive self-examination ("Bed of Nails," "No Reservations") and clear-eyed philosophizing ("These Important Years"). The album's closers are majestic and amzing: "Up in the Air" (which is Mould's veiled entreaty to Hart not to leave) and "You Can Live at Home" (which is Hart's epic jam declaring "I can be beautiful without you torturing me / Walk, walk away").

Ultimately, this album is a collection of 20 songs of the first order, fabulously produced and driven by one of the best songwriting teams since Lennon and McCartney. It stands as their final statement, and what an eloquent statement it is.

"Familiar places that we turned into gardens"
Warehouse: Songs and Stories was the last Husker Du studio album. It was released in 1987. They are one of my all-time favorite bands and they seemed to get better and better with each album they made. In Warehouse they left their fans with a double-album filled with great tracks and absolutely no fillers. It's unfortunate that they broke up seemingly so soon, but both Grant Hart and Bob Mould continued with excellent solo records (I especially recommend Intolerance by Hart and Workbook and Black Sheets of Rain by Mould) as well as new bands Nova Mob and Sugar. Here is the warehouse-full of awesome tracks offered on this album:

"These Important Years" (Mould) 3:49: An excellent track to begin the album. Great rocker.
"Charity, Chastity, Prudence, and Hope" (Hart) 3:11: Grant Hart kept getting better and better as a songwriter and here he offers up some amazing rockers that even have a slight country rock sound. This track just flies and never lets up. The guitar solo is yeehaw good!
"Standing in the Rain" (Mould) 3:41: One of Mould's more popular tracks but it is not one of my favorites. It's good, of course, but seems a bit mundane.
"Back From Somewhere" (Hart) 2:16: Another country-style, yeehaw rocker by Grant Hart. I like Hart's vocals on this one (yeehaw style again).
"Ice Cold Ice" (Mould) 4:23: One of my favorite Mould tracks here. It begins with menacing guitar and then rocks. I wish Hart's backing vocals were clearer as I think it would have made the song even better. It sounds great on the live album The Living End.
"You're a Soldier" (Hart) 3:03: This song is just OK. I can actually take it or leave it. Anti-war songs are so prevalent and this one isn't very special. I don't like the backing vocals and the line "knocking over everything that's standing in your way. Can you tell me just how many did you kill today" line sounds like another song, but I can't put my finger on which song that is.
"Could You Be the One?" (Mould) 2:32: This is probably the most recognizable song from this album. They made a music video for it. I never thought I liked it that much but I find myself humming this track a lot, so it must be pretty addictive.
"Too Much Spice" (Hart) 2:57: Another yeehaw rocker by Hart. I love this stuff! I like the lyrics and Hart's vocals are crisp and clear and not barely audible like on some of his tracks. Definitely a sing-along-to song. And a rockin' guitar solo, too.
"Friend, You've Got to Fall" (Mould) 3:20: Catchy track. Up there with "Ice Cold Ice" and "Up in the Air" as my favorite Mould track on this album. Great guitar as always.
"Visionary" (Mould) 2:30: This track is OK, but is not a memorable as most of the others here. I don't care for the chorus that much.

"She Floated Away" (Hart) 3:32: A nice change-of-pace. It has a hard, pulsating beat between the verses, but at the verses and chorus it has a transporting almost gospel-like quality (well, not as gospel as "She Can See the Angels" off Hart's solo album Intolerance). Interesting track.
"Bed of Nails" (Mould) 4:44: Rough Mould rocker that bites like a rusty saw. The "Please don't drive your nails into this heart of mine" line always bugged me as it seems very contrived.
"Tell You Why Tomorrow" (Hart) 2:42: A track that builds with intensity and also has a groovy bass line.
"It's Not Peculiar" (Mould) 4:06: Starts out with this pulsating riff which if OK but when Mould actually sings to this riff "It's not peculiar, there's nothing to devise at all-a-a-a-a-a-a-all right." Yuck. The verses leading up to it are actually pretty good, and Hart's higher backing vocals help it a little but it just bugs me.
"Actual Condition" (Hart) 1:50: Another Hart rocker, but my least favorite. This one is a bit too yeehaw for my tastes.
"No Reservations" (Mould) 3:40: Nice, slower-paced track.
"Turn It Around" (Mould) 4:32: This song is the only one on this track that I really do not like. It is almost embarrassing to listen to. I'm surprised Mould wrote it. It is just so contrived, silly, and mundane. I like the line "But the biggest thing to me is making this thing work for life." That really hits it home but most of the other lyrics and the musical aspect of the song I can definitely leave. Oh well, one ringer out of 20 is not bad.
"She's a Woman (And Now He is a Man)" (Hart) 3:19: I LOVE THIS SONG!! It may be my all-time favorite Grant Hart track! Great lyrics, great vocals, rocks, never lets up! I can't praise it enough!
"Up in the Air" (Mould) 3:03: Mould turns it around (so to speak) with this track. Excellent, catchy track. The chorus with the backing vocals is superb.
"You Can Live at Home" (Hart) 5:25: Appropriate ending to an incredible double-album. A long rocker that sounds like everyone is involved in the vocals and fades out. The bass really drives this one.