Silver Age

Bob Mould | Format: MP3 Music

Product Details

• Original Release Date: September 4, 2012
• Label: Merge Records
• Copyright: 2012 Merge Records
• Total Length: 38:04
• Genres:
  • Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo-Fi
  • Rock
• ASIN: B0091W8MJ4
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (74 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,964 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)
  • #35 in MP3 Downloads > MP3 Albums > Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo-Fi

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "Never too old to contain my rage" September 4, 2012

By Little Knives Guy

Format:Audio CD

"Here we go again." It's the very last line of the very last song of Bob Mould's SILVER AGE. And with those words, a journey ends and begins.

On the heels of a brutally honest autobiography published last year, Bob Mould seems to have exorcised some personal demons, affording him the opportunity with SILVER AGE -- arguably his finest album in decades -- to make music as a whole person.

An integrated self who seems much more comfortable now embracing all of the work he has done -- from his haunting first solo effort Workbook (1989) to the entire Hüsker Dü and SUGAR catalogs -- Mould seems to be making no apologies these days. At 51, he has no time for secrets. Likewise, there's little need to pull out the keyboards as he had been doing (to the consternation of many fans). And, rest assured those of you reading this review to inform your decision to buy or not to buy: on SILVER AGE, there's definitely no autotune.

Reminiscent of SUGAR's seminal COPPER BLUE (which Mould is, not coincidentally, out playing in support of that album's 20th anniversary and has claimed as the inspiration for the new album), SILVER AGE is very much the unrelenting sonic assault one would expect from a power pop trio. It's a formula that Mould helped pioneer in the eighties and early nineties, and his signature sound is all over the new record. Blistering riffs are played along / beside / within / on top of and during a barrage of power chords. Melodies rise above the noise, often signaled by faint harmonics or sudden shifts in dynamics. The layers of sound obtained from three basic instruments never ceases to amaze.

SILVER AGE is quintessential Mould.

From the pounding bass line and open hi-hat of "Star Machine" to the primal floor toms and guitar grind of "Fugue State," SILVER AGE could easily be mistaken for a SUGAR album. Drummer Jon Wurster and Mould tour band alum, bassist Jason Narducy adeptly handle the rhythm section and end up making it their own. The production is tight, and there's barely a breath to be had between what amounts to ten songs rolling over you like a thirty-eight-minute freight train.

But make no mistake. This is not SUGAR. Nor would Mould, at this point in his life, want it to be.

Clearly, there's a maturity on SILVER AGE that marries the smokin' riffs and power chords of the angry young Mould at age 32 with the honed musicianship, more sophisticated ear, and, dare I say, wisdom of a man who now, twenty years on, is better able to channel this aggression that once fueled a beast. It's an aggression that, on SILVER AGE, often finds purpose.

Take, for example, the album's title track. "The spring is over," begins Mould. "No more golden race / All the ease and the peace has suddenly faded away." And what a few decades ago might have devolved into incoherent screams here cycles and circles (guitars still grinding, mind you) to a still defiant, but life-affirming statement of hope that "In the silver age, I walk away singing / The silver age is calling out a melody."

Since the release of BODY OF SONG in 2005, there has been a steady progression in Mould's work that sounds metaphorically like a man climbing out of darkness into ever more light. And while the light may not inherently improve this man's station, it is clear that it's the movement that matters. DISTRICT LINE (2008) continued the ride (literally!), and LIFE AND TIMES (2009) reflected on it all.

Taken as a progression, the order of songs in SILVER AGE likewise seems to follow an upward path from dark to light / from despair to hope.

"Descent," the third track and single released from SIVLER AGE, is entirely a journey. "I started out so starry-eyed / Full of hope and wonder," writes Mould. By song's end, he laments that "my world, it is descending." Likewise, "Briefest Moment" is part trial / part trail: a coming of age / dealing with rage kind of story.

But as the journey / album continues, the gloom gives way. The title alone of "Keep Believing" is life affirming (but nonetheless rocking) and the album ends on a track called "First Time Joy." It's a song about impermanence. About cycles of growth and decay. "First time joy and last time pain / Here we go again."

It's as if the 50+ Mould has learned to make peace with his rage. It's still there. But so is joy.

Cycles. Progressions. A new album. A new day.

Here we go again, indeed.

46 of 52 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Age makes you see/hear things more clearly. September 4, 2012

By S. Stalcup

Format:Audio CD

Answer two questions please.
1. Did you love Husker Du's albums but wish the production were clearer in terms of the guitars and vocals?
2. Did you adore Copper Blue, Beaster and FU:EL but still wish Bob's vocals weren't so marble-mouthed?

Congratulations, this is the album for which you've been waiting at least twenty years, depending on when you got into Bob's work. For some reason, the production on this shimmers, even in the face of, or perhaps because of the bombast/distortion of the instruments. His voice has never been better, and it was always pretty incredible from the off.

Brilliant, in a career that's not had many bad steps, mind.

Get it.

EDIT: All the way to 14 before someone decided to be a jerk. Probably not much of a Mould fan, whoever they are.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Amazing Bob Mould album September 4, 2012

By Thomas Feher

Format:MP3 Music

I have loved Bob since '88, when I heard the opening of "See a Little Light". This album seems to drop some where in between Workbook and Copper Blue. There isn't one misstep on this album. Even the free flow at the end of "Steam of Hercules" feels like it belongs. The first single, "The Descent", let's you know what you are in for on this album.