Customer Reviews

Eight Miles High/Makes No Sense At All

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

No incantation can do justice to Husker Du's phenomenal cover of Eight Miles High. I hadn't heard it in fourteen years -- my only copy was taped from a radio-show at Carnegie Mellon circa 1990. I must have listened to it thousands of times before the tape was taken by continental drift. Just now I woke up with a hum in my head and stumble-walked into cyberspace and dug around until I found a 30-second sample. Which I have been listening to, over and over, for the last twenty minutes. It's like finding a bottle with just one sip of your youth and beauty and power inside. Bob Mould's voice isn't human. The guitars are burning off all kinds of fog. My mind is blown all over again.

As definitive a single song as "Stairway to Heaven" was for Led Zeppelin, "Eight Miles High" flies so close to the sun, Bob Mould can't even make his mouth properly form the words at the halcyonic climax. "Love Is All Around" (aka the Mary Tyler Moore song) is equally definitive as the Minneapolis National Anthem (amazing the Replacements didn't think of covering it first, although Joan Jett had no qualms about borrowing the idea a few years later). Pity they didn't include their NME flexi-disk live version of "Ticket To Ride," as the Beatles were the Huskers' true precedent, Grant Hart playing soppy McCartney to Mould's malevolent Lennon, rounded out by Greg Norton's happy-to-be-here Ringo stardom, but I suppose they're saving that for the waaaay overdue 2-CD retrospective (cross your fingers for a supporting tour).

Four songs from two great singles I bought back in the day and still cherish. The live take of "Masochism World" isn't really essential, but that overdriven tear through "Eight Miles High" is pure genius, and "Makes No Sense At All" b/w "Love Is All Around" is Husker Du at their most gloriously pop-influenced. This EP would be a great buy at $3.98 or $4.98, but charging the same price for this that you'd pay for FLIP YOUR WIG, NEW DAY RISING or ZAN ARCADE (the latter a double LP!) is nothing short of ridiculous. Inspiring music, but at this price it's poor value for the money.

This is essential to any Husker Du collection. "Eight Miles High" should have been included with their immortal "Zen Arcade" album - it paints clearly how Hart & Mould drew upon old-school psychedlia to create new sounds.

However, if you can, find the vinyl 45. The CD was abysmally mastered (which is why I dock it a star), and sounds as if it were recorded at the bottom of a fish bowl. The 45 (which has "Eight Miles High" b/w "Masochism World" captures the real sonic intensity of the recordings. The CD is readily available, but an aural dissapointment.

Pop Kulcher Review: "Eight Miles High" and "Love is All Around" (aka the theme from the Mary Tyler Moore Show) are two of the most wonderful, joyous covers ever recorded. Sad, then, that SST is out to rook the public by putting 'em on an overpriced cd-single ("Makes No Sense at All" is already available on the Flip Your Wig cd, which most Husker Du fans presumably already own). Would it have been so terrible to tack these songs onto the end of New Day Rising or Flip Your Wig?

This EP combines the two non-LP singles Husker Du released during their career. Their cover of the Byrds' 8 Miles High is jaw-dropping, especially the way Bob Mould twists and transforms the orginal song's raga-ish 12-string guitiar into a hardcore frenzy. And this version of Makes No Sense At All, released as a single, is a different version from the one on Flip Your Wig, and sounds even better than that fantastic version. The b-sides are a live version of Masochism World (from Zen Arcade) and a cover of the Mary Tyler Moore theme, Love is All Around. This EP is tough to find and as such, can be a little pricey, but to complete your Husker Du collection, it's worth it!

Cover versions are always risky, no matter who the band is or what song they're covering. What a relief that Husker Du hits this one out of the park. The Byrds' psychedelic plane-fright song has been transformed into an apocalyptic, bone-crushing, take-no-prisoners salvo, complete with Bob Mould's speaker-shredding guitars, Grant Hart's machine-gun drumming, and Greg Norton's driving bass. Definitely a must own just for this cut. The rest are wonderful, too, especially Makes No Sense At All (which is also available on Flip Your Wig, although this version is mastered a little warmer and crisper than the mastering on Wig)...

This EP combines two singles from the 1984-1985 period, "Eight Miles High" and the single version of "Makes No Sense At All." The latter of the two was included on a later album ('85's Flip Your Wig), but the version found here has a crisper guitar tone and uses less distortion. The non-LP single "Eight Miles High" is a brutal, yet awesome reading of the Byrds' infamous foray into psychedelia (which goes to show how much the Byrds' "Fifth Dimension" era material inspired Husker Du to take that kind of experimentation to the extreme with "Zen Arcade"). The Husker's version of "Eight Miles High", quite frankly, rocks. The minor key melody is still there, although it's pushed into the background by Mould's frantic shouting and feedback-drenched guitar. Where the original version demonstrated a fear of flying, this version is pure paranoia. This is awesome and it stands as one of the best cover songs I've ever heard. Another interesting cover found here is "Love is All Around," aka the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme song. This song showcases the Huskers displaying a rarely seen naive innocence, and I love the fact that they use both a tambourine and a heavily distorted guitar in the same song, and it actually works. The live version of "Masochism World" isn't a very good recording, but it does showcase the intensity that Husker Du brought to their live performances.

The only problem with this CD is that it's too short. I wish they would put out some more of the band's singles and b-sides (I would also like to hear their live cover of "Ticket to Ride"). Maybe someday, but for now, this is the best we have. So if, by chance, you do see this CD in a music store, pick it up. It should come pretty cheap.

I have seen nearly every band that matters over the last 20 years, and I have only one regret: not seeing "Zen Arcade" era Husker Du live. Husker Du's cover of "Eight Miles High" is, IMHO, the greatest single recorded song in rock history. I agree that the sound quality [...] on the CD but, played at 11 on a suitably powerful and revealing system, this song has an aural punch that cannot be matched. Bob Mould's cries throughout the latter half of the song are a distillation of all the rage, fury, and angst in every rock song that preceded it. Every person for whom I have ever played this song (OK, every male) has purchased this EP. You should too.

Really, is there anything cooler than Husker Du covering 'Love Is All Around'? Contrast that with the 'Eight Miles High' version, and you get an idea of the breadth of this Minneapolis trio's talent.