Beaster
Beaster is Sugar's 1993 EP. Its songs were recorded at the same time as the band's acclaimed first album, "Copper Blue". However, it has a much denser, heavier sound, closer in spirit to Hüsker Dü than that record. "Lyrically it's so unnerving for me to listen to it…" said band leader Bob Mould. "Musically it's harder, it's a little looser. Lyrically, it's a lot wilder than "Copper Blue"… "Copper Blue" was such a great pop record that I just saw this as like the evil twin." The loosely conceptual work is built around  religious imagery, and was even released during Holy Week before Easter in 1993. "I "still" don't know what it's all about," said Mould after its release. "The Jesus thing everybody picks up on – those are words that are not used lightly. Just the notion of somebody who can do no wrong who eventually gets hung "[sic]" for doing no wrong. I think that everyone feels like a martyr sometimes." Background. Bob Mould said of "Beaster": Reception. "Audibly a disciple of Hendrix, McGuinn and Page, and propelled by the supreme engine room of bassist David Barbe and drummer Malcolm  Travis, Mould's sound is dense but never turgid," wrote Mat Snow for "Q". "Better still, his melodic instinct to head for the heights of epiphany remains intact; though on the face of it not a song here should raise even the thinnest wintry smile, tune-wise they beam with vitality and engagement." A retrospective review in "Q" maintained the 4|5 rating. "Mould called "Beaster" 'the bad Sugar' (destined, sadly, to be followed by the 'crap Sugar' of "")," wrote Danny Eccleston, "and alongside his solo "Workbook", it's about the best thing in his bulging portfolio." "It starts with an  acoustic guitar," wrote David Cavanagh for "Select", "achieves limitless levels of beauty in its 30 minutes and ends with the most gorgeous piece of music Bob Mould has been involved with since his heart-stopping solo on 'Green Eyes' off "Flip Your Wig"." "Rarely has a band rocked out with such bleak intensity and utter conviction," opined "The Times". "A vast cathedral of noise and despair, erected and demolished in half an hour flat, this is an album which has to be heard to be believed." "Sugar are about the turmoil of the interior life," observed "Melody Maker", "which is  maybe why an album like "Beaster" is best listened to loud on the headphones at home rather than live." "The dark but insidiously catchy companion to "Copper Blue" confirms what those in the know had predicted," concluded "The Daily Telegraph", "Sugar are definitely The Next Big Thing." Personnel. All songs written by Bob Mould and published by Granary Music (BMI) Produced & engineered by Bob Mould and Lou Giordano. Recorded at The Outpost, Stoughton, MA. Mixed at Carriage House, Stamford, CT