So Bob Mould announced he has a new record in September which has me pretty psyched. So psyched I am secretly thinking of flying to the States to see one of the shows on his tour (he's playing new stuff plus Copper Blue in its entirety). Anyhow, through the dark powers of Satan I have obtained a bootleg of the Copper Blue show in London on the 1st of this month. Kudos to the taper as the sound is solid and it sounds like a great show. However, the real highlight is that it contains four new tracks in pretty great clarity: Star Machine, The Descent, Round the City Square and Silver Machine.
So, how do they sound? Well, it's been a few hours with them now and the lyric interpretations are speculative but they sound great. Star Machine sounds closer to the Body of Song stuff to me than anything else and appears to be a critique of celebrity culture and the thirst for fame. Built on a riff which is like a sped up, rocked out Circles, it certainly pushes all the Bob pleasure buttons. Better still is The Descent, a rocky relationship song which was on youtube a few weeks ago which is a short, hectic sugar rush. Round the City Square was also part on that youtube clip which strangely (probably incorrectly) reminds me of Warehouse era Hüskers - most likely Ice Cold Ice once it kicks in. Finally, Silver Age is just a classic Bob rocker but he sounds capital A angry on it. Not sure about the lyrics, it's either about a bad relationship or young punks calling Bob old. Either way it sounds great.
Should I wait for the album proper instead of listening to shitty bootlegs? Yes. But I justify it in the knowledge that if I lived within a thousand miles of any of the shows at the moment I'd be there (so I'd hear these songs live) and Bob's already got my money safely in his pocket. Shit justifications but I don't care - excitement abounds...
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So, how do they sound? Well, it's been a few hours with them now and the lyric interpretations are speculative but they sound great. Star Machine sounds closer to the Body of Song stuff to me than anything else and appears to be a critique of celebrity culture and the thirst for fame. Built on a riff which is like a sped up, rocked out Circles, it certainly pushes all the Bob pleasure buttons. Better still is The Descent, a rocky relationship song which was on youtube a few weeks ago which is a short, hectic sugar rush. Round the City Square was also part on that youtube clip which strangely (probably incorrectly) reminds me of Warehouse era Hüskers - most likely Ice Cold Ice once it kicks in. Finally, Silver Age is just a classic Bob rocker but he sounds capital A angry on it. Not sure about the lyrics, it's either about a bad relationship or young punks calling Bob old. Either way it sounds great.
Should I wait for the album proper instead of listening to shitty bootlegs? Yes. But I justify it in the knowledge that if I lived within a thousand miles of any of the shows at the moment I'd be there (so I'd hear these songs live) and Bob's already got my money safely in his pocket. Shit justifications but I don't care - excitement abounds...
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