Sonic Youth: Classic or Dud/S&D?

sleeve is correct - Silver Sessions is one of my favorite SY releases.

(I'd never seen that Grungies episode - yikes!)

Lol, thanks for that. I even like the parody version!

“NYC G&F” is really good shit; and it seems like one of their least “Sonic Youth”-y albums, in a way. I read they made it after all their regular gear was stolen? Pretty great results from a “fresh approach borne out of necessity” (if that’s indeed what happened)...

I was gonna bring up the gear theft (during the Thousand Leaves tour) as another marker between eras.

https://pitchfork.com/news/47906-sonic-youth-recover-stolen-guitars-after-13-years/

Wild story

I seem to recall they didn't cancel any shows, and in fact did a multi-gig stand with rented gear in Austin right after.

I saw them the day after it happened, they were fantastic.

It happened between 7/2/99 in Berkeley & a festival in Orange County, CA on 7/4/99.

I saw their last show with their OG vintage gear (check this setlist):

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/sonic-youth/1999/greek-theatre-berkeley-ca-63d70e2b.html

I was also at that first show with borrowed equipment.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/sonic-youth/1999/oak-canyon-ranch-irvine-ca-43d91be7.html

The festival was called "This Ain't No Picnic." Lineup:

At the Drive‐In
Boredoms
Guided by Voices
Hovercraft
Mike Watt (who, if I remember correctly, did not take the opportunity to play "This Ain't No Picnic")
Rocket From the Crypt
Scarnella
Sleater‐Kinney
Sonic Youth
Sunny Day Real Estate
Superchunk
The Apples in Stereo
The Get Up Kids
The Promise Ring
Will Oldham

It was my first exposure to Boredoms. Ran right out and bought Super AE.

Yup, was at that very show/festival.

I’m mistaken in that case. I saw them shortly thereafter at Bumbershoot in 99, they were still playing with borrowed gear. In any event, they managed to sound like themselves, and put on a fantastic show at 11am.

I saw that show also! Very improvisational, in the big arena. Some kid in front of us said to his friend "I thought you said their songs had words, man"

they closed with "She Is Not Alone" iirc

I just listened to "The Destroyed Room" collection... that's some serious minor-key atmospherics right there!

"beautiful plateau" from that one is an all-time fave SY instrumental — i named this playlist after it: https://open.spotify.com/user/tywilc/playlist/5ma1sgJzXVU1NCc2vtnLpV

Thx, will give this playlist a listen^

Of the early albums, I think EVOL is the clear winner for me. There's something about its dark, ominous, echo-ey sound, with vocals that sound like they're being intoned from halfway across the room...

"Expressway to Yr. Skull" sounds like 5 or 6 different songs to me (in a good way) -- none of which I can identify. It probably influenced all of them, whatever they are.

something about its dark, ominous, echo-ey sound

I don't know, I really think they benefited from the warmer sound, especially two albums later.

I mean, I won't deny that Daydream Nation is a klassic; but I've owned it over 20 years, and have only listened to it all the way through a handful of times (at the beginning). Sometimes I'll start listening; go "yeah!" at Track 1; and then lose interest a few tracks later. It's just not my "style," I guess.

if you don't like listening to it so much, then it's not a classic for you, imo. no shame in that! i feel the same way about tons of "classic" albums (and there are a million threads about that, i think, so no need to list which ones)

it's not a klassic if you don't like it. fight the canon!!!!

(i love dn)

I'm the same way about Daydream Nation. I do like it, there are loads of good songs on it, but I like Sister & Evol and probably Bad Moon Rising more to listen to as albums (which tbh I basically never do, I've always been into individual songs more than albums and that just got more easy to do with mp3s)

i'm into daydream nation as an album. a couple of the songs work magnificently on their own as a hit it and quit it sampling - teenage riot and 'cross the breeze come to mind first - but most of album gains additional power in the context of the endless lurching between pretty ambience, noise, and pop. and a song like "hyperstation" just deserves to be heard as a climax to an epic journey (i was always meh about Eliminator Jr as the actual closer)

eliminator jr has a secret track vibe

I forgot I like "Candle" a lot, too...

teenage riot has to be one of the most praised songs of all time so i'm sure this is commonly expressed, but it might win the award for longest song that feels like the shortest song. almost 7 minutes and it just flies by

Man, The Eternal is really not good.

I take no pleasure in passing that judgment on their final album, but... the dropoff is remarkable.

Some of the grooves are OK, but the lyrics and vocal melodies are really bad, and the songs don’t go anywhere.

It's been a while since I played The Eternal. I think there was maybe one song I liked, but otherwise it's the SY album I like least (or second least since I'm no fan of NYCG&F).

I liked "Antenna" but barely remember anything else from it.

I like pretty much every other album they ever did so it might just click if I give it another try.

I like "The Eternal"! 'Massage The History' is my fave tune off it

I also like The Eternal but then I like all their "official" albums so...

My read was that the album was a strategic "let's make a real Sonic Youth album"... kind of their version of the "we wanted to get back to the sound of 5 people playing in a room" mentality. It ended up being a little too overdetermined in my view. Still I'd agree that Antenna & Massage the History were high points that equaled anything else they'd done. It's a shame that their personal drama got in the way of being able to cut another LP with that lineup to see if there was anything there. I'm sure the people running Matador probably felt the same way.

"Expressway to Yr. Skull" sounds like 5 or 6 different songs to me (in a good way) -- none of which I can identify. It probably influenced all of them, whatever they are.

― brush ’em like crazy (morrisp)

Some of these long jams on Murray St. kinda sound like Television, huh? Television, mixed with a little late VU...

I heard a Chelsea Light Moving song the other day and it was way sicker than I expected. Real sludge/punk/metal riffage thrown in with the pretty noodling.

The bits I’ve heard of Body/Head also really good. Latter day SY is kind of a snooze imo, unfortunately delayed my interest in checking out their other projects.

the new Body/Head is superb if a bit on the harrowing/intense side, smoldering ruins of sound

way more digestible & immediate than the debut 2LP, they really got it dialed in on The Switch (new LP)

i hated that CLM album when I listened to it. maybe i'll give it another shot.

Yeah, can’t speak for the album, but Alighted was what I caught and it pleasantly surprised me.

Calling out tylerw's Beautiful Plateaus playlist linked above. Great selection. Thanks.

https://www.elektronauts.com/talk/128

Lee Ranaldo's working with Elektron samplers, and a drum machine. Maybe he'll put out some interesting, more avant garde sort of material.

they're selling off a ton of gear: https://reverb.com/shop/official-sonic-youth
but the coolest thing is that they've started posting live shows over yonder: http://nugs.net/search/sonic%20youth
just getting into the williamburg 2011 show (their last NYC show), which i'd heard an audience tape of, but the multitrack recording is amazing. the sweetest guitar sound.

ooh thx for the tip

oh wow so much cool stuff in that reverb sale!

Omg I cannot afford any of it.

haha yeah