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It really is funny about all the negative I've read, especially about this new cd....Sell out and such...sheesh...
I was a big Gentle Giant fan in the 70s. While others were listening to Nugent, Aerosmith, Journey..and other garbage..I'd gotten into Progrock like GG and King Crimson and such...But GG was my favorite. They just kept pushing the boundaries of ROCK..mixed with jazz, classical, folk, blues etc....They were musicians musician's....seemingly pretentious..but just because this music blew the rest out of the water !! The insane counterpoint, mixing of instruments..the lushness.
When GG started to become 'commercial' at the end of their career...I felt probably the same as some of the posters here who see SY as toning down..or compromising..or just becoming simpler..who knows.
I don't know what it is ... but the simplicity of Rather Ripped, at first listen anyway, just captured me. As I listen more though, and I do EVERYDAY....the nuances come to the fore. It's much richer than some seem to believe. And on retrospect about Gentle Giant in the 70s...I started to enjoy their last ablum 'Civilian' alot more in later years than I did back at age 23. It's like they were running a race...faster and faster..more and more...then just decided to simplify....and then I heard the beauty in what it was by itself. But I don't think this new Sonic Youth is that radically 'mellowed' compared to their other output. I mean, in ways, yeah...like I said, I never associated SY with 'pretty'...but this one is....it's beautiful !!!
Simplistic beauty if you will.....I always liked the girl next door....not the glamour queens.
I shoot from the hip.
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