Once again a remaster job with meticulous attention to detail along with a set of bonus material and copious first-hand accounts have allowed me to appreciate a release much more than I originally had. Sugar's last album can still be a difficult listen but I think I'm ready to love it.
Edsel
After a whirlwind success in 1992 and 1993, the three-piece Sugar were burning out. Life on multiple continents had been taking its toll on the group, despite the fact that it consisted of three seasoned veterans of the road. Confident from the success of Copper Blue, the band thought they could do the album themselves and attempted to record in an Atlanta area studio made famous by Hole and Smashing Pumpkins. It was a bust and the recordings were scrapped. They picked up again outside of Austin and once again employed a co-producer, recorded in a reverse direction from Copper Blue (described as top-down instead of bottom-up: drums were recorded last instead of first this time), and the result has some pretty damn awesome moments.
I remember how a few Mould/Husker/Sugar fans and I would often disagree on FU:EL, on which are the standout songs or how good the album actually was. Eighteen years later, reading Bob's reflections on the album in the liner notes, the picture becomes a lot clearer: side A was the "rock" side, side B was the "country" side, and the fictitious side C, or the "b-sides," were something more of a continuation of the Copper Blue vibe.Back in 1994 I remember gravitating more to the more emotional side of the album, with the kicking, screaming, bleeding heart of a performance on the closing "Explode and Make Up," and the simple yet catchy hit single "Believe What You're Saying," but with the remaster I can feel the depth of the rock tunes like "Gee Angel" and "Granny Cool" much more in my gut than I recall. "Your Favorite Thing," however, remains a favorite both back then and now, even though it's admittedly a ripoff of My Bloody Valentine's "Blown a Wish."
Songs from the B-Sides like "Frustration" and "And You Tell Me" make me wonder how they didn't end up on the original record, but it was clear that the album should have stood at 10 songs. Everything is included on this reissue along with the "Campfire Mix" of "Believe What You're Saying" along with the show recoreded in November 1994 in Minneapolis, originally released as the bonus second disc to the Besides compilation. Once again a DVD is included of promotional music videos from the album as well as TV performances. In all honesty, one DVD could have fit all the material from these three reissues, however not having them, such as the Merge versions of the reissues, is a far greater insult.
While I love FU:EL at this point, it still doesn't hold a candle to Copper Blue, an album which was a relentless repetition of knockout caliber punches. FU:EL has some fantastic moments and brilliant songs but it can't measure up as a whole. Rather than fight to recapture those moments, the group allowed numerous external factors to win: Bob Mould relocated to Austin and David Barbe bowed out to keep up with the increasing demands of his family. It also didn't help that a big feature in Spin Magazine came out, focusing more on Mould's sexuality than the new album, Creation was bought by Sony, Kurt Cobain died, and the tastes of the music-buying public was shifting. I can't imagine Mould or even a reformed Sugar could play another stadium tour however the fans from pre- and post- Sugar will most certainly remain loyal.
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