Bob Mould: Circle of Friends

Back in the mid-‘80s, the quickest way to reduce my circle of family and friends was to cue up any CD by Minneapolis punk-pop trio Hüsker Dü, fronted by singer-songwriter-guitarist Bob Mould: the first under-three-minute speed guitar anthem would clear the room before the first solo (except, of course, these lean and mean songs had no solos). My wife Anne left after 30 seconds (to play Zuma on her computer) of this October 2005 concert at Washington D.C.'s 9:30 Club, where Mould served up a headlong no-frills 23-song set, ably backed by Richard Morel on keyboards, Jason Narducy on bass, and Brendan Canty on drums. The band plays half of Mould's then-current 2005 release Body of Song, with standouts including the ballad (in a relative sense) “Circles,” “Best Thing,” and the haunting “Beating Heart the Prize.” In addition to cuts (such as “Egoverride” and “See a Little Light,” although “Wishing Well” is disappointingly missing) from other solo albums, Mould zips through a handful of Hüsker Dü classics (including “Could You Be the One?”, “Hardly Getting Over It,” and “Makes No Sense at All”), as well as seven songs off Copper Blue—such as “Helpless,” “Man on the Moon,” and “A Good Idea”—off the first CD by Sugar (Mould's short-lived early ‘90s trio). To quote the title of a Rod Stewart LP, there is never a dull moment during this wall-of-Dolby-Digital-sound concert (which includes a 10-minute band interview featurette) that will appeal to a circle of patrons who recognize Bob Mould as one of the most influential musicians of the '80s and early ‘90s. Recommended. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)