FDF Volume 4 Issue 322 - Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation

Album – Daydream Nation

Artist – Sonic Youth
Key Players – Steve Shelley – drums. Lee Ranaldo – guitar, vocals. Kim Gordon – bass, vocals. Thurston Moore – guitar, vocals, piano.

Produced By – Nick Sansano

 

Release Date – October 18, 1988

Overview – Okay okay..its considered their best, a watershed record etc etc. I guess the big reason its getting the nod this week is that it is 25 years old today (as of this posting). This is the bands fifth studio album and it was also their first double album. The album was hailed by critics and fans and it has even been chosen to the Library of Congress to be preserved (this was in 2005). Although the album failed to chart in the US it landed on many essential lists over the years (Top 100 Alternative Albums, 500 Greatest of All Time, Best of the 80's, Top 80 of the 80's etc). There was a deluxe reissue in 2007.

We talked about the bands album “"Goo" about a year ago.

FDF Comments (aka the songs) – This is a 12 song album that is just over 70 minutes long.  Opening with "Teen Age Riot" the slow build of swirling guitars and Gordon speaking repeated lines, it builds to about the 1:20 mark before things start to get rolling. Shelley keeps clicking the drums sticks but the band seems fine in finding their groove, then it all takes off. The band is tight and focused, the vocals are up front and the band plays with a wild urgency, but the layers are there. You can hear the bass to rhythm guitar. No one member seems to over take the whole. “Silver Rocket” is buzzier with a punk feel. Choppy fast vocals. Feed back for much of the tune, returns to the “riff” later in the track.  “The Sprawl” uses more of the layered guitar. Kim on lead vox, long drawn out guitar later. “Cross the Breeze” - cleaner guitar at the start but changes to a fast and rowdy track. Great instrumental play, machine gun drums. Bass is buried a little, but Gordon sings with heat. Its a ripper. “Eric's Trip” is under 4 minutes and has more of that “song” structure that people would be comfortable with. Lots of percussion instruments are strewn about. “Total Trash” has a long jam in middle and goes back to vocals later to close it out. “Hey Joni” they go quick after it, it is a rockin/focused track. “Providence” has a piano open, a distorted phone call/answering machine. Low rumble of guitar. Its an odd track, nothing too crazy going on here. “Candle”has a good guitar layer, a bit of a jangle to it. Lighter feeling for them, about as “pop song” (dare one say) you are going to get from the band. “Rain King” is brash and loud with a great rumble to the bass. This is another Ranaldo lead tune. These all feel more “song” structured in the classic sense, with a verse/chorus/verse and under 5 minutes. “Kissability” Kim sings and it gets good and ripping later. The album closes with “Trilogy” is just that, a three part song (clocking over 14 minutes in length) its frantic, then mellows with some hammer guitar, then it swirls, then it feeds back. You get it all here. All of it.

Where are they now? After 16 albums the band split in 2011. Gordon just released “Coming Apart”, an album with the noise project “Body/Head” and is currently on tour. Moore started a new band called “Chelsea Light Moving”which released their debut in March 2013. Ranaldo continues to work as a solo artist and Shelley runs the Sonic Youth labels and writes and performs as his schedule allows.

FDF Overall Take – Its about as flawless a record can be. It has made best of lists and stood the test of time for a lot of reasons. Go get it.

Links...“Find out More”, Follow em and Buy

Official Site

Buy it!

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