Hüsker Dü - Warehouse: Songs and Stories

'Warehouse: Songs and Stories' wraps up the Hüsker Dü discog with a SECOND double album...but a very different one to 'Zen Arcade'. The band had now moved almost entirely away from their hardcore punk roots and had now settled in alt rock/power pop territory, a sound that signals the direction Mould would take five year's later on Sugar's highly pop-centric 'Copper Blue'.

Tellingly this new approach does seem to suit Mould a lot more than Hart, and finally nearly all the catchiest and most enjoyable songs here are written by Mould; 'Ice Cold Ice' boasts a triumphantly melodic multi layered chorus; 'Could You Be the One?' is a gently evolving number which has a real graceful ease to it; while 'It's Not Peculiar' could easily have been a hit for R.E.M.

Still, Hart has the last word on this album...(sort of) twice - 'She Floated Away' closes the first half of 'Warehouse' like a half adopted traditional Irish folk tune that probably sounds even better singing along to it after five pints of whatever's your poison, while 'You Can Live at Home' ends the second half on a sweetly chaotic note, all disembodied vocals and swirling lead guitar licks.