Welcome to my blog!

UPDATE: Mediafire have suspended my account and locked my downloads. Having endured the tedium of re-uploading everything I had previously hosted on Mega Upload onto Mediafire earlier this year, I can't be arsed re-uploading everything again.

So please don't ask for things to be reuploaded!

I undertake this venture knowing that I don't have the spare time to do it, but feel that these artists NEED TO BE HEARD (please excuse my shouting!). Or is that I think I need to be heard? Or that there are (or have been) some great music blogs that have inspired me to wanna jump on the bandwagon? Probably all of the above??I hope you enjoy the blog. If I turn one person onto these bands that turned me on then it will all have been worth it!

Friday, April 22, 2011

Sugar - Beaster


Shoulda been huge unleashes some uneasy listening for Easter in the guise of the misunderstood Sugar mini-album Beaster, the evil twin of the excellent Copper Blue album.

Beaster was recorded over one weekend at the end of the Copper Blue sessions. Band leader Bob Mould was reputedly at the end of his tether, and this manifested itself in the darkest, heaviest and most compelling music Mould has ever produced. Beaster uses the religious imagery of crucifixion and resurrection as a metaphor for investigating relationships. It was wrongly interpreted by some critics as Mould equating his struggles to those of Jesus. It was also perceived as an exercise in self indulgence.

The mini-album commences with the melodic and mesmeric (and mostly instrumental) Come Around, lulling the listener into a false sense of security ahead of the onslaught to come. Tilted is high octane and ferocious. Judas Cradle (the betrayal) is slow and intense, with tortured vocals  - arguably the closest Mould has ever strayed towards Heavy Metal. JC Auto (i.e.  Jesus Christ Autobiography) (the crucifixion) is faster but no less intense. In contrast Feeling Better (the resurrection) is melodic, positive and optimistic, while Walking Away is atmospheric, featuring vocals over a wonky organ.

Sugar - 1993 - Beaster

1. Come Around
2. Tilted
3. Judas Cradle
4. JC Auto
5. Feeling Better
6. Walking Away

FLAC Pt1, Pt2, Pt3
MP3

5 comments:

  1. One of the best live bands I have ever seen. I saw them at a tiny club in Birmingham, I got caught in the mosh at the front, whirled around and found myself directly in front of ol' Bob. I seem to remember they played 'Copper Blue' in the albums running order. It was so hot that the colours ran from my necklace (don't judge me, it was the 90s!) and onto my neck and chest and it took days to wash the dye off. Serves me right.

    Oh yeah, thanks for this - it's dark as 100% cocoa chocolate and heavy as all hell. Yum yum.

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  2. Great write up of an underappreciated album!

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  3. Thanks for the comments, fellow Club Awesomers!

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  4. I just got a car and it only has a cd-player, so I had to dig into the dusty and rarely used cd-shelf for driving music, and Beaster has been locked in the cd player ever since. Always a favorite, but just incredible to realize that it holds up THAT good. Amazing record, thanks for the writeup

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  5. Googled "Beaster" "Sugar" "Underrated" and came here because I was thinking the same thing.

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