Yep Roc Records
2005
Body of Song
About This Album
In 1998, after the release of his album The Last Dog and Pony Show, Bob Mould announced he was hanging up his electric guitar and exploring other musical avenues outside of rock & roll. More than a few fans expressed some trepidation about Mould's career choice, and that buzz became a roar after Mould released Modulate in 2002, which found him diving head first into electronic music. At least in America, the vast majority of rock fans have not been able to come to terms with the rise of electronica, and regardless of the album's virtues or flaws, few listeners were willing to look past the hard, kinetic surfaces of the music and give the songs a fair hearing. It would appear this prejudice did not escape Mould's notice, as 2005's Body of Song was widely hyped as Mould's return to rock, complete with electric guitars and a live rhythm section. But a spin of the album suggests the album isn't so much a step back to the sound he pioneered in Hüsker Dü and Sugar as an attempt to have things both ways. (The fact that Mould spins regularly at a dance club in Washington, D.C., suggests he hasn't lost interest in electronic music as a creative form.) Many of the cuts on Body of Song sound as if Mould is still thinking club music, but is filtering it through the framework of a three-piece rock band; "(Shine Your) Light Love Hope," "Always Tomorrow," and "I Am Vision, I Am Sound" are dominated by echoed textures, lockstep rhythms, and vocoder-processed vocals that wouldn't be out of place on a house track, but with a live drummer (Brendan Canty from Fugazi on most tracks, who is predictably excellent) and Mould adding a layer of guitar over the top.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9)

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Disc 2 (try tracks 1,2,3,4 and 5)

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