Review:

on 2011-05-04 CharlesMartel Said:

During my musical hiatus, Sonic Youth rather passed me by. This was pretty easy to do for non-commercial American bands would easily fly under the radar unless you knew where to look, bothered to look at all. I did neither, so it was not until a dozen or so years later, when the hiatus was over, that the very existence of Sonic Youth finally came to my attention. When it did, I started with "Goo" but it was "Daydream Nation" which was the album everyone spoke of whenever Sonic Youth was mentioned. So, I simply had to go and check it out.

Let's face it, an album which clocks in at seventy minutes is going to try anyones patience unless it is really, really good. That is why most double albums fail  they do not have enough consistent interest to hold the attention of the listener. And with this album I have to say that consistent interest is lacking. Every now and again there is something which catches your attention. The opener, "Teenage Riot" promises much but the album doesn't deliver on it. The main problem seems to be that the band, having discovered that standing too close to an amplifier makes loud and fuzzy sounds on the guitar, take to the practice like a three-year old with a new toy. Yet the Jesus and Mary Chain did this three years earlier, and the shoegazers would start to unfold the same effect, with greater skill, within the next two to three years. So why does this get the acclaim it does?

I hate to say it, but I suspect the reason it is so lauded is because, in 1988, it was so unbearably hip it hurt. You just HAD to have this, everyone said so: the music press; the music snobs; the kids in school who wanted to be cooler than the next kid. Pretty soon a cult became a bandwagon and before long everyone was jumping on it, singing its praises. But when you look at it, twenty years later, it just isn't that good. Unless you were there (and if you were, I can see how this might have a lingering appeal) this just doesn't live up to the hype.

Like all Sonic Youth, the biggest drawbacks are the vocals. Kim Gordon cannot sing. I'm not even sure she's that good with the bass (shes certainly no Kim Deal). And Thurston Moore is not a capable enough vocalist to make up for Kim's vocal deficiencies. When the band stops singing and goes into instrumental sections, I can appreciate it more, but I doubt I could listen to that much of this if it was all instrumental. It may get a higher overall rating but not enough to make me want to listen to it often enough to buy it.

Like I said at the outset, this passed me by when it came out, and maybe therein lies the problem. Maybe if I had listened to this when it came out I might have had a greater appreciation for it. But if that is the case, then I would still question its status. Truly great music transcends the passage of time. This does not.
Rating: 5/10