if simple pop = "Reena," then sign me up son.

As someone who got into Sonic Youth pretty late: RR actually was the first of their albums that I bought. And as such it will always occupy a special place in my heart.

While I wouldn't call it one of their best albums, I still stand in its defense. The album has a 90s-vibe to it, which was very much to my liking back in 06' since I had a huge soft-spot for angsty 90s music back then (And I still have to a certain degree). 'Reena' was my perfect introduction to Kim's cold, crooning voice. 'Rats' is a pretty sweet tune that I still listen to every now and then. I dig the bluesy, smoke-filled atmosphere it emits. And what can I say about 'Pink Steam' that hasn't been said before? Most of the other tracks aren't bad either. The sole definite misstep in my opinion was 'Sleeping Around'.

On topic: Yes, it seems like Thurston's songwriting skills are waning. But I wouldn't say it bothers me too much. Haven't been up to date about his output in quite some time and it seems like I didn't miss out on much.

Dude, The Eternal was shit on even more than Rather Ripped was!

The Eternal was generally well received here.

I was here. It wasn't.

Post evidence. Even Adam Cooley said it was cool! The only negative stuff I remember being said was that the mixing and mastering was shit, which it was.

I didn't say it was either unanimous or that later many folks didn't change their minds, but I DISTINCTLY remember how many people were disappointed, especially because it made me initially wait a few weeks to even pick it up because so many posters had such blah and meh things to say. If this damned "search" function actually worked I'd pull up some of those threads, but alas, unlike Reading Rainbow, you're totally going to just have to take my word on it ;)

Part of the reason I'm not the biggest fan of Rather Ripped overall is because of Jim's absence. In my opinion, Murray Street and Sonic Nurse are the closest albums that SY had to masterpieces since their albums from the late 80's and early 90's. The only 90's vibe I get from RR is due to the line up of the band, not the songs themselves. I too have a huge soft-spot for angsty 90's music. It's pretty much the only music I listen to. Ha.

Great post! I totally miss Jim, I think that his involvement made 1998-2005 even BETTER than those peak mid-80 years. Jim seemed to add more underlying structure and symmetry, which allowed for Thurston and Steve explore more range in their guitar work. Really, it came down to the fact that Jim was a totally better bass player than Kim ;)

Thank you! Jim provided for Sonic Youth exactly what they needed after the gear theft incident of 1999, he expanded their sound without changing it. Although I would rank NYC Ghosts & Flowers no where near Murray Street and Sonic Nurse in terms of overall almost perfection, that album was important as a transitional record and his full integration into the band. And as with all SY albums, NYCG&F has its moments. A Thousand Leaves was their last album as the SY super quartet that they had been since EVOL. But for Rather Ripped, going back to being a quartet just did not work the same way as it did between the years of 1986 - 1998.

A Thousand Leaves is my all time favorite sonic youth record, BUT, lets remember, they were touring for that record when their gear got stolen (I was at that show in Irvine btw), so really, that transition was not just from the gear being stolen, but already clearly in the works. Jim has production credits on ATL.. I think what happened is when their gear got jacked they decided to stick with what they were doing on ATL full-force.. also, Thurston mentioned they started writing more music on acoustic guitars after the theft. That is noticeable in the sound, it became more precise, more calculated, more musical, which definitely reflects the influence of acoustic guitars.

has it been 8 years since RR was out? rhetorical, but seriously meh.

i would watch the clip again to check out T' girlfriend, but i m bored.

Interesting point, there - I recall the mixes indeed being uninspired, but from what I recall, the vinyl mastering wasn't that bad, all being told. Was the CD mastering that crap, then?

first i thought the thread title was a tasteless joke but then i had to stop watching at 1'25" because it was too painful.

these are the kind of threads that make me love syg.

I'm still not sure where Suchfriends got the story that Rather Ripped got a better reception on this forum than The Eternal. The search function is not the best but it brings up nicer words for The Eternal than it does for Rather Ripped.

this. All the Eternal threads I found were kind words.

Oh. I like both the song and the video.

The only Eternal backlash I remember is the low-bitrate preview stream. ;)

I wish I didn't hear that preview stream. That's the one where it had clips of every song in it, right?
I would have preferred to hear how it sounded when i got my copy. It's a fine album

wrong. who are fan of S.Y it's more critical than anyone else cause whe know more musical elements of the band and of every member than anyone else...and we know about the talent of thurston and we know he's far away from this heavymental ( lost soul ? )

Ah, so a bunch of "It's neat, not amazing" comments like I thought.

Sonic Youth will be reborn when Kim gets over the shock and finds new man.
Why did she so drastically divorce after years of tolerating the affair? Maybe because when the mistress has a baby the wife suspects it's her husband's even if it isn't

Eva had Julian Jorge Sept. 21, 2011. Kim announced divorce October, 2011.

I think we can all forget an SY re-union for one lifetime. As for Kim and Thurston's private life, I really don't see any point in dragging out that old chestnut yet again - it's been done to death on here already, for starters, and anyway, it's strictly a private matter between them, and really is nobody else's business.

And Kim can find love wherever she wants, man or woman - and she certainly seems to be in no "shock" whatsoever, the last time I checked.

Harmless-if-a-bit-bland song with shit video. Who watches music videos these days anyway? *wink wink

Insensitive thread title? Or board obsessed with death? or both?

I guess you're right. Sonic Youth revival is wishful thinking on my part. But I do think Kim was in shock, and that shock is what makes "Coming Apart" great. I don't think she minds us speculating on her private life. Listen to the song "Last Mistress"!!

There are plenty of people out there with great taste in music, a knack for writing about it and who have listened to Sonic Youth and have never been impressed by their music for specific reasons. You should look around more.

I think it's a pretty decent album opener but it's not single. And the video's rubbish.

the great taste in music it's just a great taste...don't explain why should i will be impressed with sonic youth...i could have a great taste in rock but that doesn't mean i will have impressed with them.

bob casale is dead :-(

Hey, stay on topic

I guess I'm mistaken but I also distinctly remember avoiding it for a short while because of negative feedback I was reading from people whose opinions I trusted.

HOLY SHIT! IT'S HAPPENED!!



;)


no-- no buts!

--

anyway-- at least in this here forum rr was widely panned and the eternal was better received, but (ha!) it wasn't really well received either. it wasn't like "oh, here be another masterpiece". mixed reviews is more like it.

personally, i was never a fan of the ibold era (if you could call it that). my last love was sonic nurse, though it wasn't huge (not huge like its contemporary murray st). i do miss the sad leprechaun, not sure why he left but i assumed he had ambitions of his own. like moving to tokyo.

anyway, time passes, shit happens, what can you do.

Exactly.

RR got panned on here, though I have much love for it documented elsewhere on this 'ere board. The Eternal actually literally makes me sad in a way no other record does - such poor writing, such boring jamz, such sterile production. Demolished thoughts and Trees were both great records, shame thurston has tried to revert to some kind of pre-sy state and be a shouty punk teen since te split. I'm glad Lee got Steve in the (real) divorce. Thurston can still do the improv stuff, hopefully CLM and this 'era' are just blips and his songwriting will get better again.

Heavenmetal is the weakest song of CLM-album. I´m not very interesting about the videos, but to me that new vid seems like the videos of "Indie" today. Not bad, not really great. I don´t have no idea why Thurston made video from Heavenmetal instead for example Detonation. Maybe he thought HM had more commercial potential? I don´t think there is, Heavenmetal sounded to me already at first more of idea of song than a full song.

But anyway I don´t still have any reason to hate Thurston or SY. I still love all SY-albums (some more than the other) and think all the solo material is not as great as SY-material (Kim in Coming Apart, Lee in Glacial & Thurston in Moore/Connors-collaboration -albums are closest to SY). I think Thurston´s Psychic, Trees, Demolished & CLM are quite same level of goodness. I have to agree about many of here that Thurston´s greatness seem to be at the moment in improvisation more than songwriting.

About RR & Eternal, I think they both were hated here. Maybe RR a little more (when I started here it seemed you couldn´t like RR at all if you wanted to be seriusly taken SY-fan, I´m glad It has changed and now there are both RR & Eternal likers). I have noticed mostly same persons hate RR and like Eternal and also backwards.

Almost every artist who has a long career, started to do same song again & again. The thing is that some can do it interesting way. Thurston didn´t do it interesting way in Heavenmetal, but I think it´s ok song because it sounds really Thurston. If someone else did same kind of song, everybody would said you´ve copied Thurston. And I think every other song in CLM album are enough interesting to me. Like Chris, I think Heavenmetal works the best when it´s in that additional single.

Are you critical about the music, I think it´s nothing to do about are you a fan of SY. But I think the people here (and also elsewhere) who think they´re very critical about the music, don´t admit there´s a lot´s of other things as quality of music that influence about their opinions of music.

Can someone here explain what Thurston is trying to do?
Has he dismantled CLM for good?
What's with the " Thurston Moore UK " new name?
What's with the idea of saying "this is a THUSTON MOORE song".
This is all weird no?

^ And something bout not enough treble.

I have zero insight beyond what's been posted in this thread, but it seems like Thurston may have permanently relocated to London, put together a new band (aka Thurston Moore UK), recorded some songs with them ("Detonation" etc), and is releasing a solo album comprised of these songs as well as Chelsea Light Moving leftovers. I say "leftovers" only because it seems like CLM may be on hiatus/finished due to the relocation. The video being released as Thurston Moore rather than CLM is what leads me to think this.

Could be wrong about everything, maybe CLM will remain his "North American touring band"?