Hüsker Dü has announced Tonite Longhorn, a previously-unreleased double-disc set of rare live recordings from the legendary band’s embryonic on-stage beginnings. Drawn from the historical Hüsker Dü recording archives compiled by late sound engineer Terry Katzman, the album collects 28 explosive tracks captured over four different nights between July 1979 and September 1980 at Minneapolis, MN’s notorious Longhorn Bar. Tonite Longhorn,arrives via the band’s own Reflex Records at all DSPs and streaming services on August 25, 2023. A limited edition 2xLP black vinyl release will be available on Record Store Day, Saturday, April 22 at participating stores. Stay tuned for news about further pressings later this year. Today’s announcement is heralded by “Do You Remember?” from the band’s 1979 set at the Longhorn – check it out below..
An essential companion piece to Numero Group’s 2017 Savage Young Dü box set, Tonite Longhorn stands as an aural time machine that vividly thrusts the listener straight back to Hüsker Dü’s earliest days, with the barely-out-of-their-teens trio of Grant Hart, Greg Norton, and Bob Mould unleashing volatile, remarkably driven performances that until now were only heard by the 150 or so lucky friends and fans originally in attendance. Highlights include such inexorable classics as “All Tensed Up,” “Do the Bee,” “MTC,” and “Statues,” as well as a ferocious cover of Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers’ “Chinese Rock.”
In addition, the album features an array of original flyers and artwork (much of it created by the late Grant Hart) along with exclusive liner notes written by longtime Hüsker Dü fan and friend Thurston Moore, who writes, “Hüsker Dü could play hardcore to death but they were not hardcore through and through – they were something else. And that’s what I fully related to and what I’m hearing in these live recordings unearthed from those days which made such magnanimous impressions it’s as if they are the batteries of our lives as we continue to tick off the years… “Sexual Economics” and “Do You Remember” are righteous rippers with Bob’s metallic and perfectly-fuzz-boxed guitar sounding like a punk take on the MC5, his leads sputtering off the fretboard like a demented refraction of Wayne Kramer and Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith. The momentum is like a horse bolted from its harness, where the specificity of notes get trashed on the way to the next immediate move, Grant’s drums rolling forth both in apprehension and thunderous command, Greg’s bass acting as two melodious hands, primal and swinging, holding the jowls of the guitarist and drummer, keeping the two in check as the trio blasts to a breathless finish line.
