CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Andre Sider Af Sonic Youth

by: Sonic Youth, Mats Gustafsson, Merzbow

Release Date July 29, 2008
The SYR releases have been the mroe interesting ones of SonicYouth's output lately. Thsi at the same time as their mainstream stuff has become more "listenable". Anyway this is a great piece from them again improvising with amongst others Merzbow at the Roskilde festival. It is in the continuation of thier early stuff by adds other instruments which brigs quite a bit of positive change. At least with the SYR stuff the have allowed themselves not to be kept within the confines of their rather well-defined sound and genre.

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Daydream Nation

by: Sonic Youth

Release Date November 23, 1993
A beautiful breed of melody and dissonance. Give it a few listens before casting judgment: their note patterns are anything but traditional, and one must forget the usual Western constructs of music theory before appreciating the brilliance of this album. My favorite tracks are Silver Rocket, The Sprawl, Cross the Breeze, Candle, and Kissability. I am a huge Sonic Youth fan, and this is my favorite. If you're new to SY, a good album to try afterward is Sonic Nurse or Goo. Once you appreciate their sound-- the discordance as well as the beauty-- you can get into their earlier gems such as EVOL or Sister.

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

EVOL

by: Sonic Youth

Release Date September 27, 1994
This has been my first experience of Sonic Youth -- obviously very much after the fact but so what? Well, this is quite harsh and unrelenting stuff. I'm sure it's first rate in its genre, but I was put off by the consistently aggressive, discordant sound.

It's possible to admire some music without ever feeling the need to listen to it. For me, Evol is very much in that category. No doubt that makes me a philistine.

Meanwhile, look around this web page and you will see very little effort among the customer reviewers to provide a balanced critique of Evol. It's 5 stars, as usual, as far as the eye can see.

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Dirty

by: Sonic Youth

Release Date July 21, 1992
Never heard of Sonic Youth? Feel free to start here... Love SY? Feel free to start here... Open with a tune-up of an old blues standard, Thurston style, melting into your anti-corporate riot-grrrit of Kim Gordon's career as a super-model. Thrash me, bash me, and soak me in sound. By the time I get to Track 4, I feel like a Drunken Butterfly swimming around in Kim's stomach as she chants "I love you, I love you, I love you... What's your name?" *vomit spews* - - - This is what happens when you give a constantly shifting force of music (Sonic Youth) a corporate record producer and tell them to please their growing fan base. They please us... but we're the last one's to hear about it. If you've listened to some other SY albums, don't expect to find a familiar friend ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Goo

by: Sonic Youth

Release Date June 15, 1990
"My friend Goo has a real tattoo
She always knows just what to do
She looks through her hair like she doesn't care
What she does best is stand and stare."

Sonic Youth released Goo in 1990 (the band's first album for major label, Geffen Records), a year before touring with an unknown band named Nirvana. Goo marked a turning point for Sonic Youth. While the music was more accessible and less experimental that the band's previous work, listening to Goo was nevertheless like hitting a wall of pure psychedelic noise. The album even featured a hit single, "Kool Thing," featuring vocals by Chuck D from rap group Public Enemy. ("Are you going to liberate us girls from male, white, corporate oppression," bass player Kim Gordon ponders in the song.) In "Tunic ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Sister

by: Sonic Youth

Release Date October 11, 1994
Although I have had a stereotyped view of "alternative" music for many years, Sonic Youth have undoubtedly been (close to) the most acclaimed band of the past 25 years, with David Keenan viewing this album as the best of the 1980s. "janitor-x"'s viewpoint of Isn't Anything and Loveless and pale imitations of Sonic youth eventually made me want to check them out even though - from my brother's record collection - I had found them unlistenable more than once in the past because of the seemingly tuneless guitar noise.

EVOL, however, contained a number of very impressive songs that were, as "janitor-x" said, very soft, and I expected more in that direction when I purchased "Sister". Apart from "Schizophrenia" ad "Pipeline/Kill Time", however, there is little of what I had hoped for. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Daydream Nation (Deluxe Edition)

by: Sonic Youth

Release Date June 12, 2007
This should be 3.5 stars, but that's not an option.

Daydream Nation is a great album and the deluxe edition was an interesting concept:

Package a live CD of SY playing each song on the album live with the original album.

For SY fanatics I'm sure this is fascinating, but for the more casual listener, most of the Album tracks are preferable. (SY strikes me as the kind of band that was probably always better in the studio than live) I will grant that I like Kim Gordon's live vocals on "Cross the Breaze" better, though I prefer the album versions guitars. And "Kissability" and "Eric's Trip" sound a little bit more "rockin'" live ... at the expense of being performed as cleanly.

The real treat on the bonus CD are the four covers:

George ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Sonic Youth

by: Sonic Youth

Release Date March 14, 2006
Sonic Youth's debut holds a special place in my heart, in my ear and in my collection. If only one band could be named for bringing avante garde music of the 20th century into the mainstream, it is them. One aspect of my enjoyment of their debut, is a certain austerity of this recording. The lyrics are sparse and come off more as poems, collaborating with a No Wave rhythm section and musique concrete guitars. I recently revisited my Iannis Zenakis collection and was pleased to discover a number of similarities between his 1960 composition "Orient-Occident" and several elements of early Sonic Youth. From "She Is Not Alone" to "Freezer Burn," any fan of SYR would immediately recognize elements of what they brought out of the shadows and have allowed us to digest and enjoy. Thanks SYR.

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Washing Machine

by: Sonic Youth

Release Date September 26, 1995
There are about a million reasons to buy this record, and they're all good reasons. But the most important one is the final track. "The Diamond Sea" is their swan song...the complete fulfillment and summarization of a long and evolved career of beautiful sound.

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

Experimental Jet Set, Trash & No Star

by: Sonic Youth

Release Date May 10, 1994
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