Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse: The Poll

Last great SY album for me, voting 'Unmade Bed' but it could've easily been 'Pattern Recognition', 'Golden Blue' or 'New Hampshire' too. Great record.

i think i listen to this one more because none of the songs are long enough that they are cut off on spotify and my sy cds are under a bed in a guest room in my parents' house

that said 'pattern recognition' puts me in a bad mood from the off: "i'm a cool hunter making you my way / like a brand name you'll replay" ugh

to what extent when listening to sonic youth do people make an effort to let what the songs are 'about' register w/them? kind of curious about this

bad mood rising

I liked this record a lot! and listened to it a lot! and now I seriously couldn't tell you anything about any of the songs on it

This was tough, it was between Unmade Bed, Stones, and Golden Blue. Had to go with Stones...it's epic and reassuring and it rocks! I may like this record more than Murray Street but it's certainly a toss-up.

yr selections echo mine exactly. My favorite SY album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdO3AEV6g1A
this one was a bonus track on some versions of sonic nurse (showed up on destroyed room too). might vote for this if it was an option!

prefer this lp to Eternal and Ripped. would probably go for Pattern Recognition

rating in order

Stones
Golden Blue
Pattern Recognition
Unmade Bed
New Hampshire
Paper Cup Exit
Dude Ranch Nurse
Peace Attack
Dripping Dream
Mariah Carey

...though I'm glad I don't have to rank them. Also I think the sequencing is quite good, which sometimes is a weak spot with them IMO.

to what extent when listening to sonic youth do people make an effort to let what the songs are 'about' register w/them? kind of curious about this

Hardly ever.

...this reminds me how little ive listened to the last three youth records.

― king of torts (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Saturday, July 30, 2011 7:54 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark

^^ this.

i keep trying with these albums and they just don't stick

Ha, I listened yesterday and "New Hampshire" does sound slight. Not sure which I'd single out though... "Unmade Bed"?

I Love You Golden Blue

I listened to this for the first time yesterday: it was only okay for me. And I really expected to like it. It has traces of both Murray Street's mellow jam-band meanderings and Rather Ripped's clean-cut guitar pop, though I mostly this album sounds like vague atonal classic rock...

Looks like the poll is down to Unmade Bed vs. I Love You Golden Blue. I'm voting Thurston, a relatively rare occasion.

keep trying with these albums and they just don't stick

― goole

xpost funny, RR and the E sounded mostly immediately great to my ears and they've fared well with repeat listens. nurse hadn't done as much for me until this week/poll when i've been rotating it in constantly and now i think i slightly underrated it. i'm lousy with sy song titles in general and don't think i'm voting but ilm comes through again (in a way)

I kind of hate "Peace Attack". I'm not sure exactly why. Musically, it feels like a retread of one of Moore's solo tracks, which haven't ever really been truly essential material in the first place. The vocals seem especially lazy and somehow grating for me in the sing-song nature, I dunno?

I love Sonic Youth but does anyone like them for their lyrics? Other than Kim's which are pretty good sometimes. I can't think of a band more loved with less to offer word wise

Light the way...candle

lyrics to "the wonder"/"hyperstation"/"eliminator jr." trilogy are some of my faves ever

also "i can't get laid 'cuz everyone is dead." c'mon.

the trilogy are indeed the best lyrics i can remember, thanks for reminding me

how much i enjoy, comprehend, pay attention to or ponder Sonic Youth lyrics varies pretty wildly from song to song, from album to album, from singer to singer. obviously it's not priority #1 with them but they've got some pretty evocative gems here and there.

lyrically i do prefer early jokey nihilist waiting for mutually assured destruction s.y. to placid hippie grandparents catching a vibe s.y.

old man thurston on the farm is hilarious

"new hampshire." there's a good live version on youtube... nimble, propulsive track.

― Lowell N. Behold'n, Sunday, 31 July 2011 02:26 (3 days ago)

never caught them live during the tour of this album but i love thurston's vocal switch for this track live.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0i7H-ALg2o

the drums on that song are so dope

ah, mariah, you're endless.

listening to this now front to back, which i never do for any albums anymore, and this still sounds great

keys: headphones, don't play it too softly

because i started appreciating 'sonic nurse' i have decided to listen to every single SY album through in order. (i listen to them front to back all the time, but i don't know if i've ever played all of them first to last.)

listened to this on the way to work this morning. main thing -- guitars are beautifully recorded/mixed. just a really wonderful tangle of sound that's somehow dense without being super-heavy. only song i'm not really fond of is the mariah carey one, has to be kim's most irritating vocal. kind of wish dripping dream was an instrumental -- love the music, sort of can't stand thurston's vocal/lyrics. last two tracks are a great pair. not sure what to vote for -- probably either "stones" or "golden blue"?

both good choices -- i wonder how much of the technical stuff is due to o'rourke's involvement -- iirc he wasn't involved in rather ripped & it sounds much more bricked and less interesting/pleasing 2 meh

Somebody put the question to Thurston in another SY thread.

lol i think i asked whoever that was to ask thurston iirc

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

well

http://masters-of-photography.com/images/full/cunningham/cunningham_bed.jpg

I love you, golden poll

pretty otm results

i love how this song is full of all these long jams and then "Unmade Bed" boils down the same kind of epic feel into a 4-minute track.

"Peace Attack" is my favorite of their recent closers.

least fave for me

They need to make another NYCGF

i rate that album about as lowly as anyone else, but i don't disagree with that -- the spirit the album was done in wasn't bad in and of itself, wouldn't mind them trying it again in some way, as much as i love the warm melodic hippie jamz they've been on since then.

nycgaf is glorious. the title track especially.

the sloppiness of the performance ruins it a little for me, like when steve is doing those snare hits four at a time and then once only does three and misses a hit, so takes me out of the song. still the 2nd best track on the album, though.

lee's vocals just give me such chills on that track, and also the way that wall of black noise right at the end suddenly changes tone, sounding like an airplane changing course, before just cutting out.

god, thurston and kim are so annoying

i've listened to this a couple times lately, & every time i'm focusing on the guitars and digging it to a great extent and i accidentally fail to tune out some lyric like

Howling scriptures to the mother earth
O mother Africa awake your son

and immediately i feel very sheepish and have to turn the volume down

extremely great sonic nurse era live tape here: https://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/159756529077/sonic-youth-cats-cradle-carborro-north

My favorite of their '00s albums.