I really like Pink Steam, Rats, Incinerate and Jams Run Free.

a little about my rationale:
it could have been one of their best records ever if they would have followed a different tracklist & eliminated James run free (perhaps) & what a waste (the opening strains & bridge guitar line are indeed saccharine just like i understood coco's implication...obliquely so, but like the Friends theme in that sense...abysmal production for the most part too; the track's only saving grace is that it's tremendously upbeat for Sonic Youth & Kim's vocals ring wonderfully true) & included Helen Lundeberg instead...after Pink Steam, listeners are rapt for anything T throws at them, so either Helen or Or should follow it.

ecstatic peace is just a (Rather presumptious) name to fill in for the sake of doing so, but it sort of goes along with the idea of "rapture" & the song could have been a long instrumental that reprised musical parts from do you believe in rapture at times...it might have also served as a way to talk about the Ecstatic Peace label when discussing the album with the media.

the rats/turquoise boy bloc (best part of the album) is preserved & leads it all off, foolowed out by Pink Steam delivering the knock-out punch of total submission (an album started of by a lee track would alert everyone that this was going to be a very different sort of sy album too)...the sonic bassfunk is still a way for kim to rock on an opener....although all-in-all reena is still a good opener, it just bangs you over the head too quickly) ...reena would be mid-cd & start off hypothetical lp side 2 & the reena/incinerate transition is also preserved...also, the theme of sleepin' around which would end side 1, goes along well with Reena which would begin side 2...

this might've been interesting or it might be horrible (& annoying to boot), but

alt tracklist

Rats
Turquoise Boy
Pink Steam
Helen Lundeberg
Or
Sleepin' Around

Reena
Incinerate
The Neutral
Do You Believe in Rapture?
Ecstatic Peace*
Lights Out

(Do You Believe in Rapture would have slightly less fade out & Ecstatic Peace is a click-track without pause between songs & resumes with the same drum beat & sound from the final outro of rapture & then launches into an extended instrumental ala Rain on Tin or the music from The Dripping Dream, but with parts reprised from do you believe in rapture like what they did on syr 2 with ineffable me & snare, girl from atl... jams run free could be added to side 1 if the time demanded it, but what a waste should be gone)

the intro to Pink Steam...whoa! & then the guitar part that adds such a feel along with the rhythm of the lyrics...& Thurston is one of the very few artists that can write about L-O-V-E sincerely & also unabashedly sexually at the same time, clearly establishing the feel on the spiritual plane of it all.

be prepared, becuz the next sy album is gonna be one of their greatest

when i first heard lights out, i was like, "this shit is strange for an sy album...what the fuck is this?" but now i see it as a great song & it would make the best closer ... even with the obvious pun...

speaking of those
(obvious puns)
what a waste is indeed a waste & "a spectacular dud" to quote a lyric...meant to serve as filler?...heaven forbid, on an sy release...

back to:
Lights Out

that song has a quasi-resonance with Little Trouble Girl as such a masterstroke musically (if only it was the closer) .... it's sparse on yr typical sy sounds, but it is genuinely haunting & that says a lot for a song called "Lights Out"////.,l!

I don't get Rats. Sorry.

isnt it surely just incinerate ?? i am fairly sure this is the catchiest song .. pretty much ever . great hook baby .... oh yeh ! also ... what is wrong with do you believe in rapture ?? it has great vocals , and is also very orginal . overall , the whole album works very well toghether ...

jams run free, PINK STEAM, eyeliner at the moment

TOUGH CALL


rats
sleepin around
jams run free
eyeliner

I can undertsand why some people dont like this record, but i dont think its that bad. There are some great songs on it. My favorites so far are incinerate, sleepin around,rats, torquise boy and what a waste. I hate that last track "or" though, its so boring.

Come on, Tim. It's not that bad. Or is a little bit too slow, but it's not really boring.

Besides, the whole album is still a little underrealized. It's juts not as good as the rest of SY's work.

good grief...Maybe I'm spoiled, but Helen Lundeberg from the solo-T Flywheel is better than the 7" version/uk R.R. by a mile.

Reena, Rats, Pink Steam, Turquoise Boy, Sleepin' Around, Lights Out & Do You Believe in Rapture? are all good-to-excellent.
Incinerate, The Neutral, Or & Jams Run Free are okay. The one that stands out as "a spectacular dud" is What A Waste.

For me, it's tough to really criticize an album too much that, after all, is mostly comprised of really good songs.

Jams run free.

Jams Run Free!

What a Waste. For now at least--bound to change.

Also like Incinerate quite a bit and Pink Steam. Probably the only track I don't much care for is Or.

I agree that Kim's songs are the strongest on the record. Thurston is not in top form and Lee's lyrics are kinda strange but still prove to be fruitful.

reena -> incinerate-> jams run free -> rats