Hsker D. Live. 1985. Need we say more? Witness the transcendent Minneapolis punk trio tearing into the most incendiary year of its existence, captured live on stage at First Avenue in perhaps the highest fidelity recordings of the bands lauded SST era.

This 4-LP edition includes Beau Sorensons restoration of an entire January 30 1985 set, 20 extra live tracks from the years touring schedule, and a deluxe 36-page book detailing twelve months of history-making Hsker D. What is the sound of a legend being written?

Looking at 1985 through the dynamic lens of independent DIY music, mid-decade, there was a year-long succession of leaps by Hsker D, each building on the powerful and undeniable sprint from the scrappy punk institution SSTto the artistic empathy of Warner Bros. As observers began to catch on, testimonials came from many quarters, including the New York Times, which recognized the band as the best to have emerged from the hardcore scene. Consistent with such praise, Hsker D revealed a heightened creative pace rarely, if ever, seen in any musical era. Before or since. After blowing the doors off the burgeoning alt-rock movement with Zen Arcadethe previous July, the band dropped New Day Rising just six months later on January 14, 1985, and then never stopped chasing the Hidden Beach sunrise that adorned that albums cover.

On January 30, 1985, Minneapolis reached -11 at show time, marking 19 points of mercilessly dropped mercury from the days 8 apex. The 1500 attendees inside First Avenue, however, wouldnt be needing so much as a T-shirt, let alone the nearest fiberfill parka: from the first blinding moments of New Day Rising, it was clear that Bob Mould, Grant Hart, and Greg Norton had arrived intent on setting every molecule in the room alight. Their setlist displayed a night-long cascade of fireballs chosen from Everything Falls Apart, Metal Circus, Zen Arcade, and New Day Rising, and five new songs that would reappear later on Flip Your Wig. They also made several nods to the bands rock forbears, with a ballistic take on The Byrds Eight Miles High, a turbulent spin on The Beatles Helter Skelter featuring Soul Asylums Dave Pirner, a pop-punk remake of Ticket To Ride, and closing with their signature cover of Sonny Curtiss Mary Tyler Moore theme Love Is All Around.

Considering the late-January 2011 house fire that consumed a precious portion of the Hsker D archive, it has to be reckoned as a kind of subordinate miracle that the 1985 First Avenue tapes survived at all. They deliver peak D at full gallop through already beloved material, still years shy of fully cementing their status as a blueprint for the alternative rock skyscraper to come. This box set celebrates these tapes, strikingly perhaps the highest fidelity Hsker D recordings ever produced during the bands lauded SST years. When I think of that time, Greg comments, it was three guys doing what they loved, having fun, and basically showing other people that you can be true to yourself, true to your music, and not have to bow down to fashion or expectations to make something really great.

LIMITED 1985: The Miracle Gear T-shirt: