The Sonic Youth Album by Album Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Tangledupinblue, Sep 28, 2013.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. inaptitude

    inaptitude Forum Resident

    Trash.




    just kidding I kinda like it.
     
    candyflip69 likes this.
  2. dave9199

    dave9199 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Durham, NC
    Experimental was a really difficult album for me. I just did not get it and I tried. Surprisingly I never gave up on it. It took until A Thousand Leaves to realize the band I loved has changed and wasn't coming back. Now I like it because it was so difficult. Most of Washing Machine is really good and A Thousand Leaves is good. I never learned to like NYC Ghosts & Flowers. The title track is the best.
     
    candyflip69 likes this.
  3. candyflip69

    candyflip69 What's good?!

    Location:
    Melb, AUSTRALIA
    TV SH1T EP (1994)

    [​IMG]

    Sonic Youth with Yamasuka Eye
    February 1994 - 12"/CD5 on Ecstatic Peace!/Forced Exposure (E#38, US)

    TRACK LIST:

    1.No II (Part 1)0:46
    2.No II (Part 2)1:08
    3.No II (Part 3)3:25
    4.No II (Part 4)3:45

    Notes: A one-sided 12" vinyl and CD5 on Forced Exposure/Ecstatic Peace!, edition of
    5000 copies, with Eye Yamasuka from The Boredoms on "lead scream." Recorded
    in Japan in 1993. "No Song II" is originally by Youth Brigade.


    NEXT UP : Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star (LP)
     
  4. Vernoona

    Vernoona Well-Known Member

    I've never heard of the "TV S.hit" EP!

    hmmm.... limited to 5000 copies. not much hope of that! :D
     
  5. candyflip69

    candyflip69 What's good?!

    Location:
    Melb, AUSTRALIA
    Unlistenable, for mine.
     
  6. Vernoona

    Vernoona Well-Known Member

    now I really need to hear it!
     
    candyflip69 likes this.
  7. edb15

    edb15 Senior Member

    Location:
    new york
    I listen to a fair bit of straight up noise (sometimes because of Thurston) but I never enjoyed this ep and it's the only one they released after I became a fan in 1990 that I didn't buy on vinyl. Given how infrequently I'm moved to play it, I wish I had gotten vinyl instead of cd.
     
    candyflip69 likes this.
  8. pinkpotato

    pinkpotato Forum Resident

    By far their worst EP ever. The title pretty much sums up the contents. I'll take Silver Sessions over this any day.
     
    PBo and candyflip69 like this.
  9. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    I think it took a bit of time for "Experimental" to sink in. With hindsight I would call it "their first late period album" or at least a blueprint for the next ten years. There is nothing - or very little - that screams at the listener in a way that "Dirty" did. Nothing to reel new customers in. This is why - to this day - I don't buy these accusations that SY sold out. Sorry but... a band ready to sell out shouldn't release an album like this. Apart from "Bull In The Heather" this is an album full of what you could call deep cuts, an album that you wouldn't give anyone that isn't familiar with SY.

    I liked it but it also did perplex me when I bought it on CD in 1994 because it didn't have the highs other SY records had. In fact it sounded fairly subdued. What I liked about it weren't so much the songs as certain parts or sounds in certain songs like the moment when "Starfield Road" takes off, the atmosphere of "Sweet Shine" or the strange JMC-ishness that other tracks have. I didn't realize it but back then it planted the seed of me slowly starting to lose interest in this band - and finally ignoring them from 2001 on. Funnily turning my attention more towards Yo La Tengo because I thought that they were really on a roll after "Painful". And weren't SY just a bunch of arrogant New Yorkers after all? ;)

    When I played the blue vinyl version recently I was surprised how much I liked it, how well it flows. In fact some moments reminded me of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Even though I suspect that this is still very much an album that you need to have a certain age to be able to really enjoy it. The "Youth" bit in the band's name would very soon start to sound awkward;) But I have to admit that SY stayed interesting. It was just a bit harder to discover;)
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2014
    PBo and candyflip69 like this.
  10. AlienRendel

    AlienRendel Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, il
    I think "Experimental" is their weakest album. There are lots of interesting sounds, but almost no melodies or songs here. I was ready to give up on them after this and "Dirty", but "Washing Machine" reeled me back in. I re-listened to "Experimental" the other day and (aside from "Bull in the Heather") I still think it's really unmemorable.
     
    Dudley Morris and candyflip69 like this.
  11. edb15

    edb15 Senior Member

    Location:
    new york
    I'm holding off until official discussion begins but I'll say it gets a bum rap.
     
    candyflip69 likes this.
  12. candyflip69

    candyflip69 What's good?!

    Location:
    Melb, AUSTRALIA
    Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star LP

    (Thanks to Sonciyouth.com/mustang and In The Kingdom #19 webpages for much of the content and direction used herein)

    [​IMG]
    Released May 1994 on DGC/Geffen

    TRACK LIST:
    1. Winner's Blues 2:07
    2. Bull In The Heather 3:04
    3. Starfield Road 2:15
    4. Skink 4:12
    5. Screaming Skull 2:39
    6. Self-Obsessed And Sexxee 4:30
    7. Bone 3:58
    --
    8. Androgynous Mind 3:30
    9. Quest For The Cup 2:30
    10. Waist 2:49
    11. Doctor's Orders 4:20
    12. Tokyo Eye 3:54
    13. In The Mind Of The Bourgeois Reader 2:33
    14. Sweet Shine (5:22)
    bonus noise hidden on CD 1:24

    Notes

    Sonic Youth: Thurston Moore (guitars, vocals), Lee Renaldo (guitars), Kim Gordon
    (bass, vocals), Steve Shelley (drums).

    Recorded at Sear Sound, New York.
    All songs written or co-written by Sonic Youth.

    'Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star' is notable because it features SY's first inclusion of a hidden track on the CD release -- just over a minute after 'Sweet Shine' finishes, there's 1 minute and 24 seconds of 'bonus noise' (the looped speech is supposedly a Japanese gas attendant).
    Once again, Lee and Thurston's guitars are divided within the mix, this time Lee is in the right speaker and Thurston is in the left.


    Summary:

    'Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star' is Sonic Youth's eighth official studio album, and the first record for which they did not tour. It's also the first album since 'Sister' to include a lyric sheet (vinyl only), and the first album since 'Bad Moon Rising' which doesn't feature any songs with Lee on lead vocal. 'Jet Set' is also the last record to heavily feature Kim on bass -- she primarily plays guitar on all of the subsequent albums. 'Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star' includes one of the band's biggest commercial hits, "Bull in the Heather".


    Background and Recording:

    If touring with high-volume, high-energy acts like Nirvana and Mudhoney influenced the tone of 'Dirty', touring with bands whose songwriting dynamics required less volume and involved more subtleties (such as Royal Trux, Sebadoh, Pavement) surely inspired the overall presence of 'Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star'. After the final 'Dirty' tour in March 1993, Sonic Youth began working on new material (some of which was debuted by Thurston alone during his opening sets on the Free Kitten/Mosquito Japanese tour in January '93). The full band premiered Jet Set material at the 'Ecstatic Peace! Caravan of Stars' show on June 5th, 1993, playing
    preliminary, basic versions of 'In the Mind of the Bourgeois Reader', 'Skink', 'Bull in the Heather' and 'Starfield Road'. Their next shows -- 2 NYC gigs serving as rehearsal for their July 1993 European tour -- saw more songs unveiled, and featured one of Sonic Youth's finest set lists in history, a perfect sampling of songs from their back catalog not played in years ('PCH', 'Stereo Sanctity', 'Secret Girl', 'Flower', 'Cotton Crown', 'Candle' & 'Total Trash' all made welcome reappearances), a few choice tracks from 'Dirty', and several new songs in addition to those that had been debuted: 'Self-Obsessed & Sexxee' & 'Tokyo Eye'. The July tour sustained the same basic set list, and the second to last show of the tour was released somewhat officially on a bootleg entitled 'Blastic Scene'. These were Sonic Youth's last
    shows of 1993 -- and in fact, their last show until December 1994, and their last tour until April 1995. Following this, Free Kitten and Steve's side project Mosquito performed at the second stage of a few Lollapalooza gigs, after which Sonic Youth worked up more new material before entering the studio in late '93. They worked again with Butch Vig, but this time with drastically different results -- suggesting that Andy Wallace's mixes played a significant role in 'Dirty's' in-yr-face sound.

    SY recorded once again at Sear Sound (on 16-track), where they'd recorded Sister six years prior (though it had since relocated) and had done some overdubs for 'Dirty' the previous year. The band supposedly joked that they'd recorded over the masters for 'Sister' to save tape costs -- which sounds silly at first, until you really, really crank 'Jet Set' up... you can actually hear 'Sister' played in its entirety underneath the album! Listen closely between songs if you have any doubts... They recorded a total of 13 songs for the album, including two completely different vocals for 'Doctor's Orders', one by Kim (destined for the album), one by Thurston (destined for the b-side). Notable is the lack of any Lee vocal, for the first time since 'Bad Moon Rising'. Prior to final mixes, the band was asked to contribute to a forthcoming compilation called 'DGC Rarities Vol. 1' (or 'Geffen Rarities' in Europe), and rather than digging backwards for something, decided to whip up a new tune during the mixing sessions for 'Jet Set'. With only a few acoustic guitars and a drumkit assembled for their use, they composed at least 3 finished songs: 'Compilation Blues' for the rarities disc, 'Razorblade' (which also became a b-side), and a Thurston solo endeavor titled 'Winner's Blues', which the band deemed worthy of opening the new album, adding it to the line-up at the last minute.

    'Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star' hit stores in very late April, and was the first Sonic Youth album for which the band did not tour. The obvious reason was Kim's pregnancy, which was very apparent in both the 'Bull in the Heather' video (the only single from 'Jet Set') and on their return to Letterman (now hosting 'The Late Show') on May 17th, performing 'Bull'. Kim and Thurston's daughter, Coco Hayley Gordon Moore, was born in July of that year. Two months later they appeared on The Jon Stewart Show, performing the proposed second single 'Self-Obsessed & Sexxee' as well as 'Starfield Road' (playing out the credits).

    Not touring isn't to say that they didn't keep busy in the meantime -- Thurston enlisted Steve and Tim Foljahn to perform some new songs he had written, billing the band as 'Male Slut'. These songs were bound for Thurston's first legitimate solo album, 'Psychic Hearts', released on DGC in 1995. The trio toured in late April, along with Gate, this incarnation featuring Michael Morley and Lee Ranaldo. Aside from this tour, Lee performed a number of shows on his own, and with William Hooker. Kim occupied herself with Free Kitten, having added Pavement's Mark Ibold on bass and the Boredoms' Yoshimi on drums (rounding out the existing Kim + Julie Cafritz line-up), working on an LP entitled 'Nice Ass'. Sonic Youth also released a non-album single in September, their fantastic cover of the Carpenters' 'Superstar' from the tribute compilation 'If I Were A Carpenter'. On December 2nd, Sonic Youth played their only full show of the year in NYC, debuting 'Bone', 'Androgynous Mind' and 'Waist' - everything else from the album would remain unplayed live ('Winner's Blues', 'Screaming Skull', 'Quest For The Cup', 'Doctor's Orders' & 'Sweet Shine').


    Packaging & Release

    The vinyl and CD releases of 'Jet Set' differed greatly. The CD included 5 separate cards ('myth-science-art cards' as the liners refer to them), 4 of which included different covers for the album designed by each band member. The 'official' cover, used for all formats, has pictures of each member, supposedly taken from various bootleg releases (I can only identify Steve's, it's from the bootleg version of the Goo Demos). On the opposite side is a photo of the band in studio with the track list and credits -- this served as the back cover for the vinyl release. The next card featured Kim's cover backed with Thurston's cover. Steve's card has him behind the drums on one side, and my personal favorite, the image of a (stuffed?) kitty on the reverse (here, the scrawled title reads 'experimental jet star trash & no star'. The next card has a portrait of Lee on one side, and a photograph of 2 kids + some 7's layered with candy on the other. The final card depicts a clover covered jockey riding a horse (keeping in theme with Kim's card and the Bull in the Heather single art), backed with images of a golf club and some bedroom rockers clashing guitars. The photo on the disc appears to have been taken on the studio floor. The back cover of the CD features a mixing device hooked up to a speaker unit (note their brand names -- this is where the 'Earth tweeking' and 'Dennis adjusting' references in the credits originate) and an old sonic guitar in the background, w/ the track list. This
    picture, in black and white and without the track list, constitutes one side of the vinyl sleeve -- the opposite side contains a full lyric sheet exclusive to the vinyl release (none of the art card imagery except the front/back covers come with the vinyl). This is the first inclusion of a lyric sheet on a Sonic Youth record since 'Sister'. Once again the vinyl is coloured -- this time transparent blue.

    The album peaked at No. 34 on the Billboard 200 chart. Previously, the band's best performance on that chart was with 'Dirty', which reached No. 89. It was their highest peak on the US charts until 'The Eternal' reached No. 18 in 2009. The album has sold 242,000 copies in the US according to Soundscan.

    In Australia 'Jet Set' came w/ a free DGC promo sampler called 'Griller 2' which contained 'Sweet Shine'.

    'Self-Obsessed and Sexxee' was intended to be the second single from this album ('Bull In The Heather' being the first and only single from this LP). A promo CD was issued for it, but plans for a regular release were cancelled and promo pressing ceased. The remaining copies were sold off through Sonic Death. The CD included the same B-sides as 'Bull in the Heather'.

    Early mixes of 'Jet Set' are circulating amongst traders, notable for having many alternate vocal takes ('Screaming Skull', 'Starfield Road', 'Self-Obsessed', 'Skink', 'Bone', 'Doctor's Orders', 'Sweet Shine' all have noticeable differences, some radical - 'Doctor's Orders' has Kim shouting the chorus, an alternate version of 'Screaming Skull' has Thurston freestyle rapping about SST and pretty much everything else sucking on his Big D.) and some additional snippets (more of Lee's guitar mixed in during the 2nd verse of 'Bull', an answering machine collage intro to 'Sweet Shine').


    CREDITS/LINERS

    all soundings by Sonic Youth. super sound capturing, earth tweeking, dennis adjusting, speed mixing by Butch Vig. dat referencing, faders and mutes, mike placement, initial eq's, secondary flattening, playback filtering by John Siket. sound chamber at Sear Sound, NYC. mix world at Sear Sound, NYC and Sound On Sound, NYC. cut to sex vinyl and cd freeze frame by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk, NYC. arc/weld hyper-assist by Bil Emmons, Ollie Cotton, Fred Kevorkian, Walter Sear (Sear Sound), Ed Raso, Devin Emke (Sound On Sound). excellent massage by John Silva/Gold Mountain Entertainment. fine rubbing oils by Michael Meisel/GME. supra-spatial harvest, abstract neo-buy/sell by Kato, Ray, R. Smith, Rochelle, Grabel and Eddie. myth-science-art cards by Kim, Steve, Lee, Thurston.
    visual stance and eye pop by Kevin Reagan. cosmelodic manifestations by Sonic Youth except 'Screaming Skull' by Sonic Youth/Dave Markey. notes and chords in excelsis by Sonik Tooth adm. by Zomba Songs Inc. BMI. rocked late '93 released early '94.

    ADDITIONAL NOTES

    From FILTER magazine 2006 SY discography self-commentary:

    "sonic youth cool their jets with an eyes-closed session of esp-driven melodics. a cruise to the altitude beyond the raunch. and a blues for a feather to the breath. features the adult smash 'Bull In The Heather'.- TM"

    __________

    "...You won't hear this blasting on the beach during spring break; it won't
    appeal to folks who like their culture served to them on a stick. It don't get
    much cooler than this....
    "
    Alternative Press 5/94, p.73

    "In the dozen-odd years that Sonic Youth have been shaping noise into music, the band’s sound has grown along with its original vision – nothing short of the redefinition of rock & roll. Now, the Sonics’ third album for Geffen, 'Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star' (not nicknames for the group’s foursome, as one might expect, but possibly some Japanese sweat-shirt manufacturer’s idea of New York cool, written in Americanese), puts them back on the art beat. For 'Dirty' (1992), producer Butch Vig, who’d polished the surface of Nirvana’s 'Nevermind', gave the Sonics’ downtown rock a hard sheen. For 'No Star', they’ve asked Vig back, but this time, the sound is more diamond in the rough. Bass player/singer Kim Gordon has called it “art-core,” and so it is: moody, poetic and distinctly anti-commercial. The odd tunings and blasts of guitar that have endeared the Sonics to many a fan are in full effect. And as godmom and -dad of the ’80s underground – and hence the source for much of today’s alternative rock – Gordon and her husband, guitarist-singer Thurston Moore, along with guitarist Lee Ranaldo and drummer Steve Shelley, are quick to credit their progeny (from Nirvana to Pavement) for giving back at least as much as they borrowed.

    'No Star' alternates between whimsy and mayhem, due to the push and pull of Moore and Ranaldo’s guitars, backed by Shelley’s steady beat. The first half of the album is the stronger of the two, opening with the solo acoustic guitar, Stones-meet-Westerberg ditty 'Winner’s Blues'. From the enigmatic 'Bull in the Heather', featuring Gordon’s breathy talk-singing, to the gales of feedback and full-on glam slam of 'Starfield Road', the Sonics test their limits with passionate conviction. The drunken reverie of 'Skink' (the album’s first single, on which Gordon sounds like a drowning mermaid as she sings, “Down to the bottom/And, oh, what a bottom it is/ … Uh-oh”) gives way to the chunky rhythms of 'Screaming Skull', in which Gordon name-drops bands from the Lemonheads to Hüsker Dü. Paying homage or
    tossing garbage – you decide – but either way, it’s the funkiest track here.

    Although statements are at a minimum on the album, the band has not abandoned social concerns. On 'Androgynous Mind', Moore, sounding much like Gordon at times, sings about a guy who gender-bends and gets gay bashed. 'Self-Obsessed and Sexxee' addresses a riot grrrl wanna-be: “I remember when you first arrived/Magic Marker on your belly button, all right/ … Schizo action baby, create a scene/I’m the type of guy to boost your self-esteem.” But Sonic Youth’s preoccupations with politics, rock history and the star system would be unremarkable without the musicians’ ability to fuse meaning with sound.

    While 'No Star' could stand a couple fewer lazy, hazy drifters, the record is quietly confident, more ambitious and weirder than Dirty. According to one account, when Vig wanted to do one more take on some track or other, the Sonics refused. I can respect that. Still, I wish this disc didn’t sound like a cup of mud. They’ve saved their integrity at the expense of quality; with a little more grease, their grit might get across better.
    " (Rolling Stone #681)

    ______________________________________________________

    Write up on 'Jet Set' from Sonic Death #5:

    By the end of November we had about completed our new record, CD, opus, whatever... It's called (are you ready?) EXPERIMENTAL JET SET TRASH AND NO STAR. Best poetic interpretations of the title will be printed next ish... Here's the story:
    When we came back from Europe at the end of the summer we had about half-dozen songs written. Our idea at the time was to write a few more, and then casually go into a studio and record what we had, about half an albums worth, and then work on 'side two' and record again a few months later, so as to break up the process we usually go through. But, by the time we had the sessions booked we had more material than we thought and ended up doing the whole thing in one go, and now it's done!

    GOOD ENOUGH

    We worked once again with Butch Vig, and engineer Jon Siket. The idea this time was to cut as much of it live as we could, and not labor over polishing and overdubbing in the usual big-rock manner, and that's basically what went down. We did the sessions at Sear Sound, a name some of you may recognize as the studio where we recorded 'Sister' way back in the day. Well, the studio is indeed still owned and operated by our friend Walter Sear, but the location has changed back then - it's now in the old Hit Factory where many fine records were cut, including the last one John Lennon was working on when he was shot. So heavy vibes in the wood!

    For the technical minded, we recorded in two inch sixteen track (analog, old stylee) through an old Neve board with lots of cool old mics as big as yr head. (All 15 ups, no noise reduction so let the tape hiss wash yer clean). It was great, it rocked! We played live, wigged loose and free minded! And it didn't take so long like it usually does! Thanks, Walter! Thanks, Roberta!

    The record is out April 26. We've no tour plans at the moment, but will keep you posted. Here's the song list:

    Kim sings: Thurston sings:

    Dry As a Bone Starfield Road
    Quest For The Cup Waste
    Sweet Shine Self Obsessed and Sexxee
    Skink Screaming Skull
    Bull In The Heather Tokyo Eye
    Doctor's Orders Adrogynous Mind
    In The Mind of the Bourgeois Reader
    _____________________________________________

    Upcoming:

    1995 Turn It Up! Turn It Up! EP (Feb 1995) CD only (7 tracks)

    1995 Made In The USA strck LP (Feb 1995)

    1995 Screaming Fields of Sonic Love LP (released officially in April 1995)

    1995 Washing Machine LP (September 1995)

    1997 SYR1 Anagrama EP (May 1997)

    1998 A Thousand Leaves LP (May 1998)

    Please shout out if you want something else featured in this list above, that I haven't... (more, or less, SYR releases for example?)
     
    MK75 and dsky like this.
  13. RightOff

    RightOff Well-Known Member

    I like the album but don't love it. Probably my least favorite regular SY album released between Bad Moon and Murray Street . But I love the band, so it's not like I don't listen to it or anything.
     
    candyflip69 likes this.
  14. dsky

    dsky Little Blue Light

    Location:
    Fukuoka
    Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star? Absolutely terrible album title and a widely panned release but, I really like this album. Much better than "Goo" or "Dirty" to my ears. In fact, after "Bad Moon" and "Sister" this is probably my third favourite SY release, although "Daydream" is really close.
    Something about the songs on this disc just really work for me. Best songwriting since "Sister", but lacks the sprawling noise workouts of "Daydream". So, it'd be hard for me to call a clear winner between those two.
    "Bull in the Heather" seems to be getting a lot of praise here, but I prefer quite a few other tracks to the single. "Starfield Road", "Skink", "Self Obsessed"..., "Bone", God, really a lot of great songs on this LP. Concise little tracks with a charmingly skewed sound. I haven't heard much else like this. Even among Sonic Youth's own catalogue , there seems to be no other album like "Experimental", although I've heard nothing post-Washing Machine. Is there anything similar from the later period? "NYC" seems to get poor reviews? Maybe it's similar? :)
     
    candyflip69 likes this.
  15. jack static

    jack static Forum Resident

    Location:
    southwest canada
    Hmmm there's a possibility that the last track is from Japan, but the first 3 tracks are from NY state. I used to hate this thing, now I get the joke and find it pretty stupid/funny but enjoy hearing "No II" on a proper live tape along with "Nic Fit" (these two songs were a common encore on the Dirty tour, with guests such as Boredoms or Pavement). Btw, anyone who hasn't heard the original Youth Brigade version of No Part 2 is really missing out.

    Jet Set rules. Absolute magic, except for the glaring lack of a Lee song.
     
    MK75 and candyflip69 like this.
  16. candyflip69

    candyflip69 What's good?!

    Location:
    Melb, AUSTRALIA
    I pretty much agree with everything here, except the album title.
    I used to think they were code names for all the band members (as we've previously seen them do), but as explained in the synopsis above, it's a cheeky reference to Americanese widely used (as you well know, living in Japan) on t-shirts and other items in that country. Read as that, I think it's funny and very well done.
    I got the USA CD on release with the art cards inside, and enjoyed swapping the front covers around every month or so - haven't done that now for a very long number of years now!

    I don't know if you need to be a certain age to appreciate this record as was suggested earlier - I was nearly 30 when I first heard it while still in Japan, and right in my SY appreciation phase. I still love it 18 years later. Although, maybe I have ALWAYS been of that age?! :)

    After the disappointment of 'Dirty', this album was such a relief. I could finally understand and love the band again. They had tried something quite different to the previous 5 years, and succeeded. I really liked the change-up here, and was proud of the band for walking away from what perhaps everyone expected at this time. Did they really need to do another 'Daydream/Goo/Dirty' trilogy of fractured vocal ditties? I'm absolutely sure Nirvana would have eventually done something like 'Jet Set' had they been around long enough to do so (but maybe not had the guts, nor the impetus, to do it in 1994).

    The best thing about 'Jet Set', post-'Dirty', was Kim's stellar rise in vocal delivery. Every song she does, she nails.
    And I can't say I miss Lee's contributions here - this album just doesn't need it.

    I'd rate the band's Top 3 as : 'Goo', 'Evol' and then 'Jet Set'/'Sonic Nurse' as a draw.
     
    PBo and dsky like this.
  17. RightOff

    RightOff Well-Known Member

    This one is kind of a "stand-alone" album in the band's catalog. It doesn't sound like any of the previous ones, but Washing Machine and 1000 leaves (two of my favorites) were both different, too.
     
  18. cc--

    cc-- Forum Resident

    Location:
    brooklyn
    I got this album on CD on release, after not being a fan of Dirty (to my somewhat infamy on this thread, apparently). I guess I must have enjoyed "Bull in the Heather" on the radio; otherwise I don't know why I would have returned to the fold, unless it was that I saw my Dirty-owning friends showed no signs of keeping the newfound faith and picking up the latest album, and I still wanted to hear it. I happen to have listened to it again in the past year... dreary stuff overall, alarmingly so for a band supposedly in the catbird seat in terms of a major-label deal with artistic license. It just confirmed the sense since Goo of a band that had already spent its creative energies. For some reason even though I have no special appreciation for Thurston's indulgences, I LOVE "Skreaming Skull" -- it's just fantastically silly to me, and then I like "Self-Obsessed" coming out of that. But the rest of the album is a wash. I miss a Lee song.

    was this the last album they did in a pro studio, before building their own on Murray St.? If so, it shows, the aimless professionalism. The home-baked flavor that begins in the late '90s introduces a new identity to the band, even if it's one that I still don't quite vibe to.

    there's no way that it's the actual master of Sister that they taped over. Maybe a copy? I mean, of all the things to save money on...
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2014
  19. JMAC

    JMAC Senior Member

    Location:
    PDX, OR, USA
    The first SY album I bought, at 13 yrs old in '93, thanks to a BMG 10/1 cent thing.

    I always liked Androgynous Mind best--the way Thurston's vocals at the end sound like they morph from "Hey hey it's ok" to "Execution!" was and is so rad.

    As a side note, "rad" and "morph" are two words that I used a lot more back in the 90s.
     
    havenz and candyflip69 like this.
  20. candyflip69

    candyflip69 What's good?!

    Location:
    Melb, AUSTRALIA
    But wouldn't that be just so PUNK if they did?....
     
    JMAC and cc-- like this.
  21. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    Can anyone here confirm that one can hear "Sister" between songs? I can't....:(
     
  22. PBo

    PBo Forum Resident

    Location:
    New England
    I think is Sonic Youth's saddest album. I think it's fitting it's pressed on blue vinyl, because I think this is the closest Sonic Youth ever got to a blues album or at least their approximation of one. There's an air of negativity around almost all of the songs. They all seem to focus on sadness, disenchantment, or detachment. "Winner's Blues" and "Sweet Shine" are the highlights for me, but there are some other gems, including "Bull in the Heather", "Skink", and "Quest for the Cup". Overall, I think this an album that could have used some heavy editing. A lot of Thruston's numbers seem a little uninspired and a bit repetitive. I do love sound of this album though. There's something warm and little murky about it that's inviting.
     
    candyflip69 likes this.
  23. Pavol Stromcek

    Pavol Stromcek Senior Member

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    When I first heard Bull in the Heather ahead of Experimental Jet Set's release, I was positively floored. Not only do I think that Bull in the Heather is Experimental's best track, I think it's one of the greatest songs of Sonic Youth's entire career.

    Bull mines a particular sound and mood that I feel suited them extremely well and was a direction I really wanted them to go in. It's a melodic, beautiful, engaging, mature and thoughtfully-crafted pop song, but it still retains a healthy dose of the band's trademark dissonant edge. I love how the relatively stark arrangement and the warm production lends it a kind of pensive vibe. And those harmonic guitar parts are absolutely haunting. For once they sounded like adults making music for adults, rather than trying to pander to the teenage Lollapalooza crowd. This was a complete 180 from the puerile bombast of 100% or Youth Against Fascism.

    I especially love the Television-ish melodic lead parts in the verses, with Thurston and Lee interweaving these attractive Lloyd/Verlaine-esque melodies, which at times recall parts of Adventure's closing title track. As a huge Television fan, this really struck a chord with me. It's also nice that Kim keeps her vocal excesses pretty much in check. My enthusiasm for this song is unceasing!

    Bull in the Heather set expectations for the album pretty high. So, you can imagine my disappointment when I plopped this blue slab of vinyl on the turntable (purchased the day of release) and found a wildly and frustratingly uneven record.

    As for the good songs, I like Skink. It's immersed in a similarly spare sound as Bull, but more Evol-ish in overall vibe. Kim's vocals verge on annoying but are largely OK. The ringing guitars are starkly attractive, and the reverb is a nice touch. The second half of the song, when it shifts gears, is quite pretty.

    Bone has potential, but the way they fused that rushing Birthday Party-ish part with the plodding faux-country section seems a bit hamfisted.

    Most of side two is a mess. The songs range from 'meh' to annoying, with the notable exception of the lovely Sweet Shine. That track features some more clean, chiming, melodic Television-esque guitar playing, and is built around some truly lovely chord progressions. Kim's vocals push it at times ("I'm coming home...." ugh...), but are largely in the realm of acceptability. But those guitars.... wow. Spine-tingling stuff! Why couldn't they have explored this angle more?

    Doctor's Orders has potential, but it's a bit too listless and draggy to be totally successful.

    But for the rest of the album, we've got half-baked, uninspired throwaways like Screaming Skull, Androgynous Mind, the super annoying Quest For the Cup, Tokyo Eye, etc... Adding insult to injury, there is a real problem with quantity over quality - there are simply too many (bad) songs here. I mean, how on earth did tripe like Bourgeois Reader make it through the filter? Just paring this sucker down to 10 tracks would've made a better overall impression, although Experimental could really be whittled down to an excellent EP-length release.

    The production is much more to my liking than Dirty because of its warmth and the way it lends itself to a more introspective, intimate mood. But they still get plenty loud and noisy when they want. It's a more dynamic sounding record.

    So, a maddeningly inconsistent album, but at least the high points make it a better offering than Dirty, in my humble opinion.

    It's too bad, because they had a handful of brilliant ideas that got lost in a sea of perplexing blah. At this point it was becoming clear to me that Sonic Youth's glory days were firmly behind them.

    (Oh, and why on earth did they record this over the Sister tapes? I thought that by this time only indie labels were doing that to save a few bucks, not f-ing DGC. Baffling.)
     
    dirkster, dsky and candyflip69 like this.
  24. Kill Uncle Meat

    Kill Uncle Meat Forum Resident

    I love 'Bull in the Heather'. I was around 10 or 11 years old the first time I heard it and felt very impressed. I find it very similar in its vibe to The Breeders' 'Cannonball'. Kim Gordon's vocals on this song are very sexy. :love: I was very young and loved Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, The Breeders and all those 90s bands while learning to play bass like Dee Dee Ramone. :cool:
     
    JMAC and candyflip69 like this.
  25. candyflip69

    candyflip69 What's good?!

    Location:
    Melb, AUSTRALIA
    Oh jesus - I think I just found out where they got the title for the album from (really).



    The timing is right - the show in NY was a full year before the album debuted.
     
    Vernoona likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine