Customer Reviews

Hot Wax

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Grant Hart was one of the most important figures of
indie rock in the 1980's with Husker Du. After that group's breakup, he continued the high quality of his work with his band, Nova Mob, and as a solo artist.
"Hot Wax" is the first album of new material from
Hart in almost a decade. The wait was worth it. Every
song on "Hot Wax" is good to great.
Hart explores new territory with the chamber pop of
"Barbara", and the ballad, "I Knew All About You Since Then". He has never sounded more whimsical than on the
rollicking tale of "Sailor Jack". Other highlights include the zen-like "You're The Reflection Of The Moon
On The Water", the politically charged "School Buses Are
For Children" and the very catchy "Charles Hollis Jones"
and "California Zephyr". The album concludes with the
defiant, triumphant, "My Regrets".
Unlike so many of his peers, Grant Hart has never
compromised his artistic integrity. While most of his
oontemporaries have released albums to diminishing
returns over the years,what is abundantly clear after
listening to "Hot Wax" is that Grant Hart is still in
top form as a songwriter,vocalist,and musician.
If you are a Grant Hart fan, you will love this
album. If you are unfamiliar with his music and like
melodic rock 'n' roll, do yourself a favor and pick up
a copy of "Hot Wax". You won't be disappointed because
"Hot Wax" is easily one of the best releases of 2009.

After Husker Du exploded 22 years ago, Bob Mould went on to solo work and Sugar, both of which were well received by critic and fan alike. Grant Hart, the other singer and songwriter of Du, stayed in the shadows of the underground, releasing the cathartic Intolerance, then forming Nova Mob. Though his recording career has been infrequent, Hart's solo work has shown an impressive consistency throughout...he has a high standard of songwriting excellence, varies his tempos and instrumentation, and truly, his solo releases remind us why Husker Du was so much more than just Bob Mould, even if Mould had more overall influence on the band's sound.

And so, Grant Hart returns after an extended hiatus from recording with Hot Wax, a record that could have been released in...wait for it...1968. This is by no means a bad thing...Hart keeps the organ and piano front and center, giving songs like the opening "You're the Reflection of the Moon on the Water" a fat, San Francisco sound even as his lyrics cut sharply into the essence of his subject. ("You're the reflection of the moon on the water/But you're not the moon"). Wow. Throughout the record, Hart takes in both social issues ("Charles Hollis Jones," "School Buses are for Children") as well as personal ones ("Narcissus, Narcissus," "My Regrets"), all the while maintaining the album as a low-tech, high energy affair. Oh, it's true that the guitars are higher in the mix sometimes than they would have been 40 years ago...this is a modern album, after all. But the spirit of Hot Wax seems to have roots in that San Francisco past. It's as if he found a stack of Airplane LPs and a couple of early Bowie or T-Rex imports, played them incessantly for a month, and then recorded this album.

However, at no time does the LP sound derivative in any way. This isn't an echo of another time, or a celebration of the past, but rather a way to catch the feelings that he wants to get across to us, the listener. Hart remains a true American original, and has released an album that's more fun than Bob Mould's ever been, but just as insightful. Recommended for fans of Husker Du, fans of the 60s, and just plain fans of good music. Wonderful stuff.

Grant Hart, known better to many as "the other guy from Hüsker Dü," has been quietly putting out fantastic albums once or twice a decade, including the great Nova Mob semi-concept album "The Last Days Of Pompeii" (1991), The solo offering "Good News For Modern Man" (1999), and his latest "Hot Wax" (2009) which was recorded in Montreal with Howard Bilerman (from the Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Arcade Fire) camps. The results are easily the best Hart has ever etched, mixing his chamber pop sensibilities with the strummier side of indie rock.

Hart also manages to capture an endearingly loose performance with a vintage feel from effective use of organ (especially on opening track "You're The Reflection Of The Moon On The Water"), simple harmonies and guitar effects. Hart has mellowed some in the last decade, put some heroin issues to rest, and emerged with the rough-hewn gem of a criminally underrated career. Lyrically nimble, conceptually expansive, musically concise and just daring you not to press "play" repeatedly, Hart's latest is on a smaller label but really deserves widespread listening -- if not airplay.

I had the opportunity to see Grant Hart play all the way over in Western Australia to a devoted but small audience (for all the rockers in Perth, it seems many of them were too ignorant to know that Hart was in their midst). He played the kind of blistering, passionate set that all who attended will rave about for years to come. As well as drawing from the past, he plucked tracks from this killer album... and the new songs sat well alongside the classics. It's a diverse collection, covering a lot of lyrical and musical ground, yet clearly soaked in America's sonic myths and legends. There are fuzzy guitar songs, Sixties power-pop songs and Springsteen-meets-Warren-Zevon songs. It is a shame that it's been so long between Grant Hart LPs but hey, let's just love the fact that such a cool performer is making such excellent music.

I loved Grant Hart's first solo CD ("Intolerance"), and his first CD with the band Nova Mob ("Last Days of Pompeii"), but his solo CD "Good News for the Common Man" left me cold (though I liked the track "Letter from Anne Marie") as did Nova Mob's second CD. Thankfully Grant Hart has done a pretty good job of recreating on "Hot Wax" what was so great about his early solo work and his early work with Nova Mob: The instrumentation and production of the new CD reminds me of the sound of his classic CD "Intolerance", the song "You're the Reflection of the Moon on the Water" reminds me of the Nova Mob single "Admiral of the Sea", and the entire CD has a spur-of-the-moment-looseness that recalls the energy and enthusiasm of his earlier work. And, for those of you who were fans of "Good News for the Common Man", the new song "School Buses Are for Children" reminds me a bit of "Letter from Anne Marie".

Never mind the old admonition about not judging a book by its cover - in this case, yeah: the cover tells us a lot about what to expect from Hot Wax. For background, I remain a Husker fan, enjoy some of Bob Mould's solo work, and still listen to Good News for Modern Man.

From that perspective, I was initially disappointed in Hot Wax. I mean, I felt cheated: where Good News was a calliope of sounds and well-written lyrics - Hot Wax seemed almost a collection of pencil sketches. I waited 10 years for this??? The songs - for the most part - either have strong lyrics or good musical grooves, but seldom both. Initially, I thought that Hart had lost interest, and shoved the disc out just to be done with it.

Fast-forward a week or two, and frankly - I reach for this disc often. There's something about the songs that just strike me as having just enough to them: not over-produced by any stretch. Weirdness and adventure are present (30-second fade-in for Charles Hollis Jones?), but overall the songs won me over. Favorites include...oh, heck - I start at track 5 (Narcissus, Narcissus), and ride through the rest of the disc, returning to the front for the rest of the tracks.

I have to admit I was a little worried when I found this disc used a week after it was released, especially since I was underwhelmed by the sample audio clips. But this is a pretty good album, although a little more lo-fi than "Good News" was. Hart's always been an adventurous songwriter, and every song is different on this album - it never gets repetitive. The rockers like "You're The Reflection...," "Charles Hollis Jones" and "California Zephyr" all get revved up, while the quieter songs like "Barbara," "School Buses" and the downright weird ballad "I Knew All About You Since Then" have great melodies and really linger in your head.

Not to play amateur psychiatrist, but listening to this disc kind of seems like an album long middle finger directed at Bob Mould. The lyrics of "Reflection," "Narcissus," "My Regrets," "Barbara" and especially "I Knew.." all seem like thinly veiled digs by Hart at his former Du bandmate - along the lines of "get over yourself, dude." Even the Icarus-styled album artwork and title suggests it's more of a commentary on the two songwriters' history together. I was a big Mould fan back in the day, but rarely listen to his solo albums anymore. I think I'll still grab "Good News" more often since it's a bit poppier than this disc, but Grant's done another fine job stretching his songwriting talent here and it's an enjoyable listen. Check back in 2019!

Well worth the price. Starts out fast with reflection, goes quirky with barbara and is a roller coaster ride the rest of the CD. I play this all the time.

Years of addiction tend to obscure Grant Hart's considerable strengths as a songwriter, a situation not helped by his erratic post-Hüsker Dü work. After 1999's Good News for Modern Man, Hart drifted away, spending some time as a musician for hire but generally existing outside the spotlight, taking a full decade to return with Hot Wax, his third solo album and easily his richest collection of songs to date. Hart hasn't abandoned the buzzing guitars that have defined much of his music since the days of Dü, but he's certainly downplayed them, preferring to ramp up a latent Baroque pop obsession and spend some intimate, quiet intimate moments with just a keyboard or two. There's variety here, and also craft, a bracing and overdue reminder that there were two excellent songwriters in Hüsker Dü. -
Stephen Thomas Erlewine