****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
It's really hard for me to pick a favorite Husker Du record because they are all so amazing but their major label debut released in 1986 certainly is in the top 5. Both The Replacements and Husker Du signing to the majors resulted in more polish in the songs and production which some fans were okay with while others resented both bands. With Tim from The Mats (released just a few months before Candy Apple Grey) featuring ballads like "Swingin' Party" and "Here Comes A Regular", Husker Du would show their skill for writing softer material as well with early signs of Bob Mould's solo career on "Too Far Down" and "Hardly Getting Over It" and Grant Hart providing a slow but still edgy piano tune titled "No Promise Have I Made." There is still the loud and fast energy of Mould's "Crystal" and Hart's "Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely", a song later covered a few times by Green Day. While both The Mats and Husker Du would sound more crisp on the Warner Brothers releases, they were still a bit too ahead of their time to be accepted in the mainstream. No fear though, this is still a great record from an important band. You can hear hints of Nirvana's celebrated Nevermind record on this album but in my opinion, that record sounds very tame and almost like hair metal compared to this.
