Bob Mould was turning a new page. After the acrimonious break-up of thrashy and loud pop-punk Husker Du, the singer noted for his love of Flying V guitars was out with his first solo album, the introspective and mainly acoustic Workbook.
He put the Flying V aside, for much of the album, and worked with a 12-string acoustic, although not altogether eschewing the idea of layered walls of sound that Husker Du had played with. The single “See A Little Light” was debuting on Billboard‘s alternative chart this day in 1989 and would eventually hit #4 there.
Although not a massive hit, the video got good airplay on MTV and in Canada on Much Music and helped the album rack up respectable sales – and great reviews. Rolling Stone, for example gave it 4-stars and said it was “the recorded equivalent of the first hint of fall slapping you in the face after a particularly torrid summer.”
However, with it being the biggest solo hit for him so far (he had one more Alternative Top 10 with 1990’s “It’s Too Late”) , Virgin Records soon lost confidence in him and dropped his contract. Mould has since continued undeterred though, first with the band Sugar, which had decent success in the UK, then solo again with 14 more albums after Workbook which have and dabbled in genres ranging from electropop to grunge-lite.,
A Sound Day 
Can’t say I recall this one, decent tune. On an unrelated note I worked with a guy named Bob Mold, he didn’t much like it when people misspelled it to Mould.
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I really liked this album. It was really powerful both lyrically and in presentation yet mostly acoustic guitars – layers and layers, and just his voice. I saw him in the mid-90s… loud, good guitarist but he didn’t have what you’d call stage presence, that night at least. Just walk on stage, rip through about a dozen songs, leave the stage type guy.
No matter how you spell it, ‘Mould’ is probably not a great family name to grow up with.
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No I suspect not. It’s interesting about his stage presence. Did you find that changed how you listened going forward?
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good question. No, i think I still liked the music I had by him as much and liked listening to it but I wouldn’t have sprung for tickets to see him again.
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This is pretty good…I wish he would have done some of this with Husker Du…this style. Maybe they did and I don’t know…I like his band Sugar as well.
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I really thought Sugar should have been big – they were grunge but they were also pop-py as hell, right when Nirvana was in the headlines . I think there was a shift towards more melody-driven tunes in Husker Du in their last year or two, much like we’ve talked about with Nirvana, I think had they kept on for another 5 years or so you’d have heard quite a different sounding band.
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Yea I agree…like everything with Minnesota bands except Prince…it was timing.
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Nice song I hadn’t heard before. In September 2020, I included a Bob Mould song from his then-upcoming solo album “Blue Hearts”, which still is his most recent. That song, “Siberian Butterfly”, is what I would call Green Day-ish pop grunge and, as such, sounds quite different from “See a Little Light”. I like it as well.
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I haven’t heard any of that album, but he has been very eclectic musically as a solo performer.
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Still around and playing. Re: when you saw him live I guess some guys (and gals) just aren’t showmen types, ain’t gonna do the Jagger strut.
‘Grunge-lite’ that made me not lol but giggle appreciatively.
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