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In the 90s, after "Black Sheets Of Rain", Bob Mould reunited with bassist David Barbe and drummer Malcom Travis, and formed Sugar, a band with a brief but intense life. In 1992, this first work was released.
The beginning is entirely devoted to melodic punk, but it's not syrupy to the point of seeming childish. And how will this album sound to the spiky-haired teenager, not just from '92? Will it satisfy his unrestrained craving for guitar chaos and, at the same time, cartoon theme songs? Certainly, Mould's voice is not that of a disheveled teenager, and the adolescent realizes this at the first syllable he hears him sing. He will soon notice, after all, that even the missteps—those things that the spiky-haired kids love so much—are few and far between in this work. The Husker Du fans, on the other hand, perhaps because they're too spoiled, wrinkle their noses at the mere mention of Sugar as if they were talking about Millencollin!
The opener "The Act We Act" is a good non-energetic track with an excellent chorus but a poor and too traditional guitar solo. "A Good Idea" has a mosquito-guitar that you can swat away as much as you want, yet it always returns. By the way, the song is so fun that you'd picture someone with the eternal repeat offender look, tattoos, and platinum blonde dyed hair, certainly not someone like Bob! "Changes" is another teenage punk softened by the bells/cowbells of Santa's reindeer. "Helpless" is emo: just listen to the initial guitar riff. "Hoover Dam" is a nice electrified folk song with, however, in the middle and end, keyboard parts that make Jean Michel Jarre seem like a man of taste in comparison. After the initial quartet, which the spiky-haired teenager will have liked, it really seems like the air has become more adult-oriented. "The Slim", which talks about a friendship lost due to A.I.D.S., is a superb track, though it has no accelerations, in fact, quite the opposite, a rarefied arpeggio mid-song. Bob's voice is no longer out of place in these parts, in fact, it's the best possible. It continues with acoustics for a fast and sweet sweet track titled "If I Can't Change Your Mind", something that could have been written by bands like Lemonheads or Goo Goo Dolls (and will be covered by the sycophants of rock, namely Train).
Teenage punk reappears in the unpleasant "Fortune Teller", while "Slick" is an excellent slow and laid-back rock. The final "Man On The Moon" seems like a clumsy attempt to combine modern punk with glam. The "only music" space in the middle of the track is terrible. A pity, since Bob has always managed to go beyond the boundaries with his concluding tracks, only to emerge with open applause (see more or less all the endings of his records, and read the related reviews, all done by yours truly).
If the goal was to present an "all singles" album, well, the attempt fails at track number 5. From there on, a spiky-haired teenager watching MTV wouldn't be able to enjoy the remaining tracks, except for "If I Can't Change Your Mind" (which will indeed be a single, along with three of the four initial tracks, i.e., the second, third, and fourth), in which, however, he will struggle to recognize a punk band in action. The lover, but what am I saying, the connoisseur, no no, better yet, the sommelier of Husker Du (notice the "slight" polemic vein?), didn't even come close to this record, skeptical—as he is entitled to be, from his point of view—about everything Bob did beyond and outside his superb eighties band. If what we're looking for, on the other hand, is yet another singer-songwriter album by Bob Mould, obviously the sole author of all the tracks branded Sugar, we will find ourselves in front of the "usual" Bob, who maybe sweetens a bit more a couple of episodes attributable to that good-humored self, to the little boy within him. And for the rest still offers us specimens of "caustic" rock, electrified folk, atypical ballads and a (this time not very successful) final experiment of hypnotic voices and sounds.
The album will achieve good critical success as well as positive chart results. New Musical Express will appreciate it so much that for 1992 "Copper Blue" will be nothing less than the album of the year. It's the same old story: where was NME when Bob was bringing out "Black Sheets Of Rain"? And where was it in a myriad of other episodes still?
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 The Act We Act (05:10)
I'm watching you walk
As you walk that distant way
Take that thing away from me
Take away most everything
I couldn't say I'd blame you
You should never look in back
You wouldn't be to blame
If you couldn't take it back
Hours slipping by as you watch
The worlds collide
Now you're nothing more
Than another passerby
The dark it turns to light
In a distant flash of night
Rolling with the tide I confide
The act we wear it thin again
If affection holds you back
Then what is left to hold
If I could find the answer to that
Question then I'd know
The thoughts that
Clutter up your mind
And leave me feeling drained
And walking pacing up the walls
Across the floor again
All the things I haven't seen
Once the final curtain has been raised
The act we act is wearing thin
The act we act we under my skin
The words the words we said goodbye
The words left choking in my mind
The act we act is wearing thin
I think we wear it out again
Another big explosion
Leaving you hoping
That something that once
Held you down
Could leave you feeling
On the ground
The confusion that persists
Decisions that you guessed
The one to stay and watch this
The one you might have missed
All the things I haven't seen
Once the final curtain has been raised
The act we act is wearing thin
The act we act we under my skin
The words the words we said goodbye
The words left choking in my mind
The act we act is wearing thin
I think we wear it out again
The act we act we under my skin
The act we act we under my
Forming a conclusion
And you're left standing
04 Helpless (03:05)
Another time time after time
You make me feel so helpless I
I never tried to change your mind
I keep it to myself it's
Sometimes I've got to tell you
Is it this time I'll tell you
We've got to go to places
Somewhere I don't mind it's special
And now you find as time goes by
You're left with nothing
Meaning much
The meaning I will have to try
To take your mind to places
I wish that I could help you
But you seem less than helpless
I always tried to tell you
Someday that it'd seem so special
Time after time what's on your mind
You make me feel so helpless I
You never tried what's on your mind
You make me feel so helpless I
I feel so helpless I
You're left alone with something
And I hope for you it's one thing
That something you and yours can
Hold and hold as something special
And now you find as time goes by
You're left with nothing meaning much
The meaning I will have to try
What's on your mind so helpless I
I feel so helpless I
05 Hoover Dam (05:27)
Standing on the edge
Of the Hoover Dam
I'm on the centerline
Right between two states of mind
And if the wind from the traffic
Should blow me away
From this altitude
It will come back to you
And do you know the time
All that's left of me is slight insanity
What's on the right I don't know
If the Mississippi should wash me away
Down to New Orleans
Maybe someday in my dreams
I'd wake feeling the sweat
From the gulf in my mouth
On a carousel I can never tell
My direction home
Spinning down a hole
I'm losing all control
I'm down to the center of the earth
Covered up with lava and I feel fine
It washes over me
Keeps me feeling warm at night
And if you've made a deal with
The guy with the horns and the cape
I'll see you later later
Standing on the edge
Of the Hoover Dam
Standing on the edge
Of the Hoover Dam I am
06 The Slim (05:14)
Do you know where you're going
Do you know where you've been
Is it simple is it simple
The chances seemed so slim
In a cloud is it cloudy
You've clouded up again
Your perception your decision
Your decision
Behind I'm left behind
Oh, I'm left behind, I'm left behind
It's a matter of time
Your protection from ejection
My rejection
Protection from the slide
Projection from a slide
Did it all seem so easy
So easy to concede
Giving in giving in
The chances seemed so slim
In a moment just a moment
I felt you rushing in
You were rushing I am crushing
Your rush to cruise this
I'm left behind
Left behind I'm left behind
It's a matter of time
Your protection from injection
My rejection
Protection from the slide
Projection from a slide
I with your breath on my pillow
And I with the memory
I get to wait it out never put it away
When you left with your death
I felt empty when I looked back
On my pillow what you used to say
What you used to say
I...I'm left behind
I...I'm left behind
I with your breath on my pillow
I with the memory
I get to wait
It out never put it away
When you left with your death
I felt anger when I looked back
On my pillow what you used to say
What you used to say
I felt your breath for a moment
I heard your voice for a moment
Then I looked back
On my pillow what you used to say
What we used to say
That the chances seemed so slim
The chances used to be so slim
Now I swim alone
The slim
Alone
To honor and obey
To cherish and to worship
In sickness and in health
For richer for poorer for anything
Til death do us part
07 If I Can't Change Your Mind (03:18)
Tears fill up my eyes
I'm washed away with sorrow
And somewhere in my mind
I know there's no tomorrow
I see you're leaving soon
I guess you've had your fill
But if I can't change your mind
Then no one will
And all throughout the years
I've never strayed from you my dear
But you suspect I'm somewhere else
You're feeling sorry for yourself
Leaving with a broken heart
I love you even still
But if I can't change your mind
Then no one will
Even though my heart keeps breaking
Don't you know that I'll be waiting
Here for you
Then when you return
When will you return
I hope you see I'm dedicated
Look how long that I have waited
If you come back then you will find
A different person
If you change your mind
How can I explain away
Something that I haven't done
And if you can't trust me now
You'll never trust in anyone
With all the crazy doubts you've got
I love you even still
But if I can't change your mind
Then no one will
Someday you'll see I've been true
I'll stay that way until
But if I can't change your mind
Then no one will
08 Fortune Teller (04:27)
A part of me stands confused again
Watching it slip right
Through my hands
Put a finger on it now before it's gone
All of it gone it's all so wrong
Nothing could ever be so wrong
Put a finger on it now before it's gone
And leave a message by the door
Before you're gone
Maybe crystal ball is fortune teller
Maybe cards laid out as fortune teller
In the future tense as past
And fortune present here at least
Couldn't be more tied up by you
Couldn't you be forgiving too
All you ever think is
Everything gone wrong
Nothing I do can stop this slide
I feel like part of something died
All you ever think is
Everything gone wrong
And leave a message by the door
Before you're gone
Maybe I don't need a fortune teller
And maybe I don't want this
Fortune teller
Little box that never lied
I guess I'm keeping this inside
09 Slick (04:59)
I was crazy to think crazy to chase
Chasing this automobile
I tend to think were you ready to race
Racing this automobile
It's a machine it's the one in my dreams
It's taking me out of control it slips
Through my hands on the wheel
Don't you know how it feels
When you're driving your dreams
Through a pole
I hate your face I hate the wall
I'm sick of staring at the wall
I hate the mirror with alcohol
There is no wall
All I remember is the sound
Of squealing tires
The road disappeared only to be
Replaced by the sound of twisted steel
The collision was swift
And the next thing I knew
Was that I might be dead
All my life passed before my eyes
When I opened my eyes
I was looking at you
They sent you here to take care of me
I don't know your name
I can't hear your voice
I can't speak
And all I do is wait for you to feed me
They said the road was slick
I said I've been feeling sick
My head went through the mirror
Why did they send you here
I want to get up and shake you loose
I want to be free of these machines
I want to be released from this dream
I want to be another machine
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