Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse: The Poll

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.

yeah i think it's where their 2000s approach really came together in a totally satisfying way -- probably my most listened to SY record these days.

also, i think some people on ILM have complained about steve shelley during this period (maybe being too same-y in his playing?) but man, on this tape the guy is incredible, just powering the whole thing along.

people on ILM are ingrates

hell yeah! been listening to Murray Street era shows a lot lately. the O'Rourke period is my favorite SY era.

I've probably said it half a dozen times on this thread but Nurse is my favorite SY by a substantial margin. So many great songs to love.

the mote > new hampshire transition on this live tape is unbelievable

thanks so much for sharing this - there's another SY boot from 2000 on there that looks amazing: two sets, the first is solo/duo/trio performances by all members, including two solo Jim songs (!!!)

https://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/152688686497/sonic-youth-cats-cradle-carrboro-north?is_related_post=1

Sonic Youth - Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, North Carolina, August 5, 2000
“I don’t know what we’re gonna do tonight. I think maybe what we’ll do is … um, just whatever comes naturally.”
Let’s take a trip back to simpler times – the summer of 2000! It was the beginning of a new century, but it was still kinda the 90s. There were Clintons in the White House. I was about to start my senior year of college. And Sonic Youth was opening for Pearl Jam. Weird, I know.
SY took advantage of a night off from the arena scene to play a standalone show in Carrboro – and thank the lord that they did. This fantastic Cat’s Cradle recording, kindly supplied by Cory, is an awesome and unique document. The first set is a Perspectives Musicales showcase, featuring Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo, Steve Shelley, and Jim O’Rourke performing solo or in various configurations. So you get such curiosities as: Thurston’s acoustic sketches for a few Murray Street numbers; Lee reading Gregory Corso; an amazing “Film Music” noise excursion; a charmingly fumbling O’Rourke mini-set (”I don’t do this very often,” Jim apologizes meekly after several false starts); and maybe best of all, three storming songs from Kim, Jim & Steve (“I think Kim, Jim & Steve win!” Thurston proclaims afterwards, suitably impressed.) It’s all great, though – a kinda Sonic-Youth-Does-The-Rolling-Thunder-Revue thing, with a loose, rambling vibe that shows off the impressive confluence of talent that came together in this one band.
But that’s not all! Sonic Youth in a more familiar form returns for a killer second set that was probably closer to the one they were playing for Pearl Jam fans that summer (Sorry Vedd-Heads, Eddie doesn’t jump onstage for “Kool Thing”). There are plenty of “hits,” but also plenty of tunes from the band’s then-new NYC Ghosts & Flowers LP. Now, that album may be one of SY’s least-loved efforts, but these performances will likely change any naysayers’ minds. The beat poetry stuff is still a little iffy, but the overall sound is astonishing – it was easy to take for granted back in the day, but no other band explored such massive feedback-drenched landscapes. Anyway! Enjoy this – and thanks again to Cory for getting it to us all …

yes! another great one, same taper. (that's my site)

I remember Kim saying Coco said she wished Vedder was her dad

jesus, that's a harsh curve

i've been re-reading/skimming Kim's memoir lately (mostly for O'Rourke drama - the woman that Thurston had the affair with was with Jim first, and it ended "crazy, theatrically badly," and was a big reason he moved to Japan), but fuck, Thurston is so dark, i find it hard to listen to his songs anymore.

Favorite album of 2004.

Favorite album of 2004.

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?

― EveningStar (Sund4r)

still can't believe that's a piano at the end of The Dripping Dream. Can anybody confirm?

been listening to too many dead bootlegs lately, was hoping to explore SY/YLT live recordings to scratch that noisy itch, good timing on this! too bad there aren't many YLT recordings on archive.org...

See if you can find their show at the Royal Festival Hall in 2000 (I think?). John Peel introduces it, and they do an amazing, epic Night Falls as the opening track. Lots of technical difficulties throughout but still a charming show.

has Ira ever sang "The Crying of Lot G" properly live, or does he always mumble and talk thru it? the studio version of that song is perfect, every live version i've heard is awful