The Living End (Hüsker Dü album)

Infobox Album
Name = The Living End
Type = Live album
Artist = Hüsker Dü


Background = Orange
Released = April 7, 1994
Recorded = On tour, October 1987
Genre = Alternative
Length =
Label = Warner Bros. Records
Producer = Hüsker Dü, Lou Giordano
Reviews =
* Robert Christgau (A-) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=husker]
Last album = ""
(1987)
This album = "The Living End"
(1994)

"The Living End" is a Hüsker Dü live album recorded at various venues in October 1987 but not released until 1994. It spans the band's entire recorded output, from "Data Control" off "Land Speed Record", the band's debut, to a healthy dose of songs from the band's last studio album, "". There are also some unreleased tracks and a cover of the Ramones' "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker." The substantial liner notes, written by noted rock critic David Fricke, provide illumination into the band's disintegration.

Guitarist Bob Mould and drummer Grant Hart handled the overwhelming share of songwriting duties in the band. Of interest is "Everytime," a rare solo credit for bassist Greg Norton.

Hart would record "Now That You Know Me" on his first solo album, "Intolerance".

The track listing is reflective of the band's set lists. "New Day Rising" was a common choice to open shows. Additionally, the band preferred to group like-minded songs into what they called "packs of three." Examples of these "packs" include "Standing in the Rain" followed by "Back from Somewhere" and "Ice Cold Ice," as well as "Terms of Psychic Warfare" followed by "Powerline" and "Books About UFOs."

Over half of the songs were recorded at Le Spectrum in Montreal. The album was deleted from the Warner Bros catalogue in 2003.

In an interview with Spin magazine in January 2008, Bob Mould revealed that he has never heard this album.

Track listing

#"New Day Rising" (Mould/Hart/Norton) (Washington 10/21/87)
#"Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill" (Hart) (Montreal 10/14/87)
#"Standing in the Rain" (Mould) (Toronto 10/13/87)
#"Back from Somewhere" (Hart) (Washington 10/20/87)
#"Ice Cold Ice" (Mould) (Montreal 10/14/87)
#"Everytime" (Norton) (Montreal 10/14/87)
#"Friend, You've Got to Fall" (Mould) (Montreal 10/14/87)
#"She Floated Away" (Hart) (Montreal 10/14/87)
#"From the Gut" (Mould/Norton) (Providence 10/16/87)
#"Target" (Mould) (Washington 10/20/87)
#"It's Not Funny Anymore" (Hart) (Montreal 10/14/87)
#"Hardly Getting Over It" (Mould) (Toronto 10/13/87)
#"Terms of Psychic Warfare" (Hart) (Montreal 10/14/87)
#"Powerline" (Mould) (Montreal 10/14/87)
#"Books About UFOs" (Hart) (Montreal 10/14/87)
#"Divide and Conquer" (Mould) (Montreal 10/14/87)
#"Keep Hanging On" (Hart) (New York City 10/17/87)
#"Celebrated Summer" (Mould) (Montreal 10/14/87)
#"Now That You Know Me" (Hart) (Montreal 10/14/87)
#"Ain't No Water in The Well" (Mould) (Toronto 10/13/87)
#"What's Going On" (Hart) (New Haven 10/18/87)
#"Data Control" (Hart) (Providence 10/16/87)
#"In a Free Land" (Mould) (Toronto 10/13/87)
#"Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" (Ramones) (Montreal 10/14/87)