best Sonic Youth album of the '80s

you should put some of their boots (Walls Have Ears esp. please!) up on yr blog, tyler.

xps

can walls have ears really be considered a boot?

well, it ain't officially available to buy is it?

but yeah, i'll get around to posting some SY soon! there are some excellent shows from all eras ...

it was an "official" bootleg put out on Blast First sublabel NOT.

Whenever I think about this, it always makes me a little sad since Confusion, Bad, and Evol seem to represent three very distinct, very interesting ways that the band could have gone. Then Sister tightens up Evol, for what's generally my vote for strongest album, though you could kind of feel the world catching up with them on that.

good point, interesting ideas, i'm picking up what you're putting down

By Daydream Nation, it's pretty clear what's going to happen to the band going forward. And the noisy bits are starting to sound obligatory, and much less "composed" than they used to.

ya lost me

i only have it on vinyl, with no way to convert to digital. *sob*

xps

"^ great boot"

I thought they put this out on CD themselves for like a fanclub release?

I get the "obligatory" noise comment - that's my main problem with goo, it's like they had to keep making noise cuz they were sonic youth but it wasn't really integrated into what they were doing anymore

here

http://johnnylove-fuzztone.blogspot.com/2009/03/sonic-youth-walls-have-ears-london.html

pssst http://johnnylove-fuzztone.blogspot.com/2009/03/sonic-youth-walls-have-ears-london.html

oh shit xpost, you beat me to it

thanking all y'all kindly. <3<3<3

the biggest lesson I've learned from these threads is that apparently Sonic Youth have a big on/off switch marked "NOISE" that they flick at will, and that sometimes they do so for the right reasons, and sometimes for the wrong reasons.

xpost i might have to DL that one myself -- i have a burned copy of Walls but the sound is kinda bizarre. is the sound just bizarre on everyone's copies or is it a weird mp3 thing on mine?

http://www.discogs.com/Sonic-Youth-Live-At-The-Continental-Club/release/1773255

Yeah this was an official release. I had this CD for a while, but I think I sold it during a poorer day.

I got Walls Have Ears on CD some time in the late 90s, I think it sounds pretty good although it's been a while since I've listened to it. The version of Death Valley '69 with Steve drumming is really, really good on that.

1. Bad Moon Rising
2. The Whitey Album (as Ciccone Youth)
3. Daydream Nation
4. Confusion Is Sex
5. EVOL
6. Sister

(based on impact on high school self; but since I collected them all within the space of a year, they had a cumulative effect ... they're all pretty good)

Sister
Daydream
Bad Moon Rising
EVOL
Confusion
Whitey

yeah, being a teenager in the 90s and devouring the band's first 8 albums within the course of a year or two was definitely a "cumulative effect" thing for me too

xpost

1. EVOL
2. Sister
3. Daydream
4. Confusion
5. Bad Moon Rising (CD version w/ Death Valley and the awesome Flower/Halloween single)

I mean, I would drive around to different record stores and only look in the "S" section for a while there ...

s/t, Sonic Death, Bad Moon Rising and Sister on CD; Daydream Nation, Confusion is Sex, Whitey Album and EVOL on cassette; Kill Yr Idols and Master=Dik on vinyl

There was a brief period in the early 90s when Sonic Youth albums were really hard to find pre-Geffen's reissue program. I made a lot of tapes for people back then.

I got mine on 2nd hand vinyl from Missing in Glasgow around 92/93

once i though Daydream Nation, now i know i was wrong.
Sister all the way

i got into SY thru their 90s albums, sister is of course much more raw and shapeless but also, on the whole, sharper and faster... steve shelley is given almost a lead role on a lot of it. my big problem with SY going forward, especially post 00, is how rhythmically uninteresting it is, relatively

I got Confusion Is Sex, Bad Moon Rising, Daydream Nation & Sister all in the same HMV sale c1997 for £5 each. Thought Sister was the best then and still do.

my big problem with SY going forward, especially post 00, is how rhythmically uninteresting it is, relatively
was actually thinking the same thing while listening to The Eternal (which i like quite bit) -- Shelley seems reigned in these days, whereas he used to be a hell of an exciting drummer. I think he still does interesting stuff occasionally, but it's nothing compared to how thrilling some of his stuff was back in the day.

experimental jet set was the first album of theirs i bought, and i've listened to it all of twice (tho these threads have made me want to go back to it). confusion is sex came next iirc

yea i feel like shelley has just been coasting since, well, 'goo' basically. has made it difficult for me to care that much about 90s-00s SY tbh.

He's still an excellent drummer, though, even if he's not showy. Lots of crisp locked-in beats.

I'll be a contrarian and vote for what now appears to be the underdog, Daydream Nation.

EVOL, please. It was the first SY album I heard, after being put off the band for years by 'Little Trouble Girl'.

it's interesting to see how varied people's rankings are, here's mine:

EVOL
Bad Moon Rising
Confusion Is Sex
Sister
Daydream Nation
The Whitey Album (as Ciccone Youth)

found a link to that Paradiso 86 show mentioned above :D http://www.guitars101.com/forums/f90/sonic-youth-1986-05-11-amsterdam-sbd-87396.html

my ranking:

Daydream Nation/Sister (to pick one of these is just about impossible)
Bad Moon Rising
EVOL
Confusion is sex
Whitey

Bad Moon
Sister
Daydream
Evol
Confusion

daydream
sister
bad moon
confusion
evol

i think there are songs on bad moon/confusion/evol that are among sonic youth's best, but as albums, daydream and sister work as stronger statements.

Yeah the earlier albums are hella lopsided imo. I love the idea of Evol but "Tom Violence" bores me to hears.

Top 10:

1. Sister
2. Walls Have Ears
3. Confusion Is Sex
4. Evol
5. Bad Moon Rising
6. Daydream Nation
7. Kill Yr Idols
8. Sonic Youth
9. Master-Dik Beat On The Brat
10. The Whitey Album

Never heard Made In The USA

I have a hard time choosing between BMR and EVOL, but I went with the former.

what the heck:

1. Walls Have Ears / Sister
3. Daydream Nation
4. Confusion Is Sex
5. EVOL
6. Bad Moon Rising
7. The Whitey Album (as Ciccone Youth)

i used to have loads of SY 80s boots. Probably got them on a dvdr somewhere. They were on an external hd with loads of other bootlegs from bands that died last year.

what bands died last year

Daydream Nation
Sister

The rest

Confusion
Sister
Evol
Bad Moon

Ciccone

Daydream

There were supposed to be more spaces between Ciccone and Daydream...

the code auto-detects challops

Hold That Tiger is on Spotify, btw (not if this fact was implied in the above convo)

*not sure if...

(btw - I'm not a big SY fan, but I'm enjoying this particular live album!)

the ramones covers on Tiger are wonderful

my fave version of Today Your Love