I wanted to write about a short record today (in the the hope I might get some work done sooner) and they don't come much shorter than this: Land Speed Record crams 17 songs in just over 25 minutes and it is relentless. I'd just come back from a holiday where I'd been reading the excellent Our Band Could Be Your Life, a book chronicling the lives of 13 indie/punk/hardcore bands on independent labels and a very good read if that sort of thing interests you. I knew about some of the bands (Mudhoney, Black Flag, Fugazi,...) but there were some who I'd only ever heard about. One of those bands was Hüsker Dü and when I got back to Cardiff I decided to pick up a record of theirs.
I can't remember why I chose Land Speed Record as the first (and, for my sins, so far the only) Hüsker Dü album I bought. We listened to and went to see a lot of hardcore bands whilst I was in Wales so it might have been because I knew it was their hardcore album. I also remember reading in Our Band... that they used to play loud and fast and without gaps between songs so that people couldn't discuss them between songs, which I thought was pretty cool. I knew Land Speed Record was a live album so maybe I bought it because I wanted to hear this idea in action. It also might have been that Land Speed Records was the name of my favourite record shop in Canberra.
Whatever the reasons, I bought it one Saturday and it definitely is a hardcore record (and the title could hardly be more appropriate). The ones are brutally short and violent and it's pretty abrasive on the ears. I like it, but I spin it rarely; it's a good record for packing or tidying or any task you want to get done quickly, but not so great for a casual listen. I know that Hüsker Dü's later work was very different and I've been meaning to buy Zen Arcade for ages, but somehow it's never quite happened.
As for the no-gaps-between-songs thing, everything you've heard is true. One song has barely ended before the next one stops and the only slight breather comes in the intro to Data Control. The two sides of the vinyl are continuous and any attempts to figure out which song you're listening to can only be done by listening to lyrics, if you can figure them out. The quality is great though, especially considering it was recorded straight to the mixing-desk of a gig 30 years ago.
Format: 12"
Tracks: 17
Cost: £9.50 new
Bought: Damaged Records, Cardiff
When: 03/05/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
