Bob Mould - Beauty & Ruin

Bob Mould
Beauty & Ruin
3 June 2014
Merge

3.5 stars out of 5

 

Bob Mould has put out some twenty studio LPs now, either solo, with Hüsker Dü, Sugar, or under other names. The latest, Beauty & Ruin, sounds a lot like the eighth, Black Sheets of Rain, and the ninth, Copper Blue: melodic hard rock that was among the most engaging of the early ‘90s. In fact, the third track on Beauty & Ruin, “I Don’t Know You Anymore,” could be thrown into the middle of Copper Blue and no one would realize it had been recorded twenty-two years after the rest of the album.

One could toss around accusations of “stagnancy,” but for two objections: 1) that horrible detour down Electronica Lane that Mould subjected us to a while back, making his new material a wilful return to form rather than a failure to escape from it; and 2) the fact that this new record, despite breaking absolutely zero new ground, is really fucking solid. How could anyone fault the man who made Copper Blue for wanting to remake it? It was one of the best records of the decade. And while Beauty & Ruin isn’t as expansive or as explosive as its ancestor, it’s a good reminder that Mould, now 53, can still melt the skin off your face with his amplifier if he choses to do so.

At some point during the last decade and a half it was feared that Mould had abandoned his strengths in a misguided attempt to remain “relevant” and “hip.” Thankfully, Beauty & Ruin, like its immediate predacessor, Silver Age, sees Mould saying, “fuck that shit,” and concentrating on writing songs rather than following trends.

reviewed by Richard Krueger