Album of the Day--March 31, 2008

Bob Mould
Workbook
1989
Virgin Records
Produced by Bob Mould

While watching the NCAA tournament and getting my first exposure to TV commercials in a few months (I really try to avoid TV that isn't on DVD), I discovered that someone has been using Bob Mould's "See a Little Light" in a commercial. I guess Bob needs the money. I hate it when songs I like end up in commercials; so to protest I turned down the sound on the TV and dug out and blared my old copy of Workbook. After the breakup of the classic hardcore speed punk trio Hüsker Dü a year earlier, 1989's Workbook was Mould’s first solo album and demonstrated a breadth of styles that the latter few Hüsker albums only hinted at. Cellos! Keyboards! And Mould even owns an acoustic guitar! From the mellow acoustic instrumental opener “Sunspots,” to “Wishing Well” (my favorite track, which I recall getting some alternative radio airplay at the time), to the Hüskers kiss off “Poison Years,” to the hit single “See a Little Light”—well, it’s all good. Only at the end (“Whichever Way the Wind Blows”) do the amps get turned up. Although Mould has had a pretty decent solo career, despite his unfortunate discovery and love of techno (his latest album—District Line—is not album of the day...yet), Workbook remains the high-water mark. Well, it and the three Sugar albums...