How many Lee Ranaldo records is too many?

xpost: I get it, was kinda kidding cause I feel like this kind of record has been talked about (and anticipated) for a long time. Am cool with Lee making it as great as possible, if that is indeed what he is doing. Will actually buy it no matter what at this point, just to support Lee for all the joy he has brought me over the years.

Nels Cline being on it is some serious icing on the cake for me

Seriously.

Could have thought of a better word than seriously, but shit yeah, fuckin A

summery

keep lee away from that faggot beat poetry shit.
― Ian Johnson (orion), Thursday, April 29, 2004 2:33 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

:(

i bet i'd like this lee record? i always liked his sy songs. sy were my fave band in high school.

would def like to see lee play in hoboken with Rhyton, cuz rhyton are a good band.

hey, if it makes you feel any better, i don't think i've ever heard a lee ranaldo solo album.

i got a LOT of stuff to listen to...

i'm kind of in a record rut right now. not excited by stuff as much. enjoyed listening to 45s for a while tonight tho.

i'll hear the new lee record because [CONTROVERSIAL MODERATOR EDIT] but i'm not expecting it to become a favorite record of mine or anything. idk. maybe i'll be surprised. liked but did not love thurston's latest lp.

i have heard east jesus whatever-the-fuck

because i was a big sonic youth fan at the time that album was released.

think of me then, though.

teenager in the mid-90s.

dont it make you crY?

this first mp3 http://www.matadorrecords.com/mpeg/lee_ranaldo/lee_ranaldo_off_the_wall.mp3 sounds pretty middle of the road! but i like it, it's got nice guitars.

really loving the album. it *is a little more middle of the road than SY, but Ranaldo's a strong enough songwriter to pull it off.

that mp3 sounds better than most of demolished thoughts. sy have devolved into making 3rd rate malkmus-like jams.

amarillo ramp is a great overview of Lee stuff.

heavy "mote" tracers from the "off the wall" verse. nice song, not blown away, but as soon as it was over, i wanted to hear it again. catchier than most of from here to infinity.

i would hope that his first album of song songs is at the very least "catchier" than all the drones'n'poems records of the past.

ha, yeah -- seems like this is basically going to sound like a latter-day SY record with lee on lead vocals throughout. which is cool with me. looks like he's adding a bunch of tour dates, too. would definitely go see him if he comes my way.

god if nels is in the band for the tour too...

opening for m. ward ... wah wah wah
[and i even like one of m ward's records...just seems like a lame fit]

Like The Who opening for Enuff-Z-Nuff

whole album streaming here: http://www1.rollingstone.com/hearitnow/player/leeranaldo.html

this is great so far!

yeah i'm digging it. nothing that wouldn't sound too out of place on a latter day SY record, but some nice touches -- I think that's Nels Cline on "Xtina As I Knew Her"...

Awww, thanks for that link. Good way to end my work day!

no prob.
medeski bits are sounding pretty rad too!

Hah, forgot that there are a bunch of guests on this (besides Licht). Got no problem with Medeski, great player

ha, i take it back, the country rock/pedal steel breakdown on "fire island" would sound out of place on a latter day SY record.

yeah it's gotten less sonic youth in the middle part

man this is a nicely produced record, who recorded it?

i bet this will sound soooo sweet on vinyl

i think it's the same dude who did the last few SY records? John Agnello?

Tommorow Never Comes is pure awesomeness cause it steps completely out of the box.
the rest is more or less latter day SY, which for me means boring.

on the other hand, regarding the personal issues which evolved SY lately, he might need to get used to record a SY album alone:)

Man, this really does sound good, liking it much better than the live clips I have seen. The guests and added instrumentation really make it work for me, and so far the songs are all good to really good. Really, "Off The Wall" and "Angles", the two songs that were getting pushed up till now, are my least favorite, though I like them alright. Just digging the moodier stuff (not done yet though!).

First listen: this was pretty good.
Still, ambient Lee >> songs Lee >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> no Lee at all.

oh hey I am gonna listen to this now

You should, it's great - and better than (and different from) most SY of the past decade

I couldn't make it past "Hammer Blows" yesterday, giving it another try now but I dunno.

Guess I'm just not used to Lee as a straight ssw.

i did expect at least one noisy, out-there track, but i guess he wanted to keep this as straight-ahead as possible. really liked it on first listen though.

OK "Fire Island" is bringing it, this is much more of what I wanted

show you pictures of weirdos and lee ranaldo

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/1651/johnandlee02qm4.jpg

Throwing in other SYers for good measure.

http://a1.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/118/7cae0693a8e442599bcc86fac96d8115/l.jpg

some serious weirdos in this pic
http://www2.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Fender+Jazzmaster+50th+Anniversary+Concert+TsdPZidXA-tl.jpg

wow that's like the first picture ever where Thurston doesn't look like a dorky teenager - looks pretty old actually

Passed Thurston a few times on the Lower East Side the last couple of years and, yeah, he is starting to look only 10 or 15 years younger than he is, not 30.

Also, I like the Lee record a lot. In my mind it really picks up after the first 4 songs (not that I dislike all of those songs, I just like the latter 2/3rds of the record a lot more). Licht's playing on the live clips I had seen didn't excite me that much, and neither did the versions of those songs ("Angles" and "Off the Wall" or whatever), but on the record all of the guitars/solos sound fucking great. Some really good textured playing on there, and to my ears way more varied than any of the 00's SY records (not that I didn't really like those SY records either, just in response to the "this sounds like late-period SY to me"). Anyone getting that feel should just skip the first 4 songs and return to them later.

Who are the two blokes next to Lee in the picture Tyler posted? They look kind of familiar but I don't know where from.

that's jimmy rip and tom verlaine (rip is verlaine's regular guitarist). both weirdos.

Aha! Thought that might have been Tom, but he looked a good deal balder than the last time I saw him.

nels and thurston also making him look uncharacteristically un-giant.

Ian, pretty sure that Nathan Bowles is drumming for the Steve Gunn band on this tour, and maybe is opening the shows solo as well? Something like that.

New album on Mute tomorrow: Electric Trim.
Interesting roster: Shelley, Sharon van Etten, Alan Licht, Nels Cline, Tim Luntzel, Kid Millions. Lyrics co-written by Jonathan Lethem on six songs.

two tracks:
Circular (Right As Rain) (love this)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNK7N5L6jCk

New Thing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2HWSUaqPd4

Trailer for a documentary on the making of the album (more info here: http://montclairfilm.org/events/the-thrill-of-the-creative-process-in-hello-hello-hello/)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNK7N5L6jCk

oh crap, here's Circular (Right As Rain):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2XRnzj-YmE

the album is wonderful. his best solo yet.

Listened once on Spotify. Some really surprising moments. I'm not sure what I think of the spoken bits but the melodic songs are hitting the spot, for the most part. Ranaldo, Cline, and Licht all playing on a Beatlesque pop record seems like a good idea!

"last looks"!

He soundtracked a 2025 documentary, just stumbled upon that fact today

https://m.soundcloud.com/leeranaldo-scmusic/sets/the-system-original-film-music?utm_medium=api&utm_campaign=social_sharing&utm_source=id_313799

Don't sleep on Early New York Silver.

I absolutely had, and will now investigate. His 2020 LP with Raul refree, Names Of North End Women, absolutely was slept-on, and is brilliant.

!! I love the Youngs/Refree record, need to check that out

The title track has an almost Graceland vibe, though everyone I've mentioned this to, including Lee himself, has looked back at me like I was insane.