 |  | Unique, even for sonic youth |  |
I have every major sonic youth release, and I gotta disagree with the few negative reviews on this cd. Every SY album is different then the next really, but this one shines brighter with individuality. You can tell they had a lot of fun with this album, and went in a very different direction. I love the album though. It's not their best, but anyone who likes sonic youth should own it. I'll admit it's hit or miss; some songs are pretty bad (and I love almost all SY stuff), but others are brilliant. If all other SY releases are on Earth, this cd is out in space. It combines the mellow ambience of NYC Ghosts & Flowers with Dirty's hard hitting riffs and distortion. When I'm in the mood for Experimental Jet Set, nothing can come close
December 19, 2007Sonic Youth is not a Robot. They are here to make you react to the now. This world is spinning at a certain frequency and this album whirls in your mind like a celling fan on a hot summer night. This is one of the best Headphone recordings I own out of my 1000+ collection. Thurston and Kim's songs dominate this album for me much like Siter. If you like Sonic Youth this album Is A must have along with 1991 The Year Punk Broke Through. Sweet Shine Is my Favorite Song. Thats right period.
February 27, 2007This was the first Sonic Youth album I listened to, so for a long time I figured my opinion on it didn't count. Had to bow to the opinions of those long time fans, you know, who didn't seem to care for this one. I've since heard several other SY albums over the years, and I always gave them a great chance -- because, damn, this is the group that made Experimental Jet Set, etc. And I think I'm ready to commit now -- this album was their best, at least of the ones I know. It was one of the greatest albums of the 90's. There isn't a bad song on it, and the best ones are, well, transcendent. I can't rate this album any higher.
September 13, 2006Sonic Youth was always good, this may be their best, and one of 4 great 90's albums, along with "CIA Drug Fest" by Old Skull, "Undisputed Attitude" by Slayer, and "We Are They Who Ache With Amorous Love" by Half Japanese. "Winners Blues" is acoustic, a crazy move for these noisemakers, and then we get what we really came for, noisy improv-ish songs that are fantastic, exciting, and occasionally intelligible! Some of the early SY stuff is a little overrated, but this, "EVOL", "Goo", and "Confusion is Sex" are sure to please fans of noisy music.
May 29, 2006it's amazing how everytime SY can make an album that is completely different than the previous one. Again so now, after the 'commercial' -Dirty- (which was an awesome record) comes this one.
Starting with the previous unexplored world of acoustic lo-fi, which was relatively big in the indie scene back then, in 'Winner Blues' comes an instant SY classic, 'Bull in Heather'.
For some reason this song is perfect for around 5 am in the morning, it just has that scary feeling, but in a seductive, sexy way that borders on the pornographic when Kim is droning up numbers. Kim's songs are very good on this album by the way, 'Doctor's Orders' having a great chorus you can sing along, and it could almost be a Nirvana chorus.
There are some swing-and-misses, it could have done without 'Androgynous Mind'
In line with 'Dirty', there are some great Thurston Moore songs, if you can call them that. While never reaching the level of 'Sugar Kane' or 'Chapell Hill' songs like 'Waist' and 'Screaming Skull' (with a great riff as a break) have their moments.
It may not be the best SY album, but it's still very good and worth listening to over and over
April 24, 2006More reviews at Amazon.com ...
(39 reviews)