Oh Jesus, the fucking takes in this thread.
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And the worst.
How about this for a hot take: Steve Shelly is the best drummer in any band with the words ‘sonic’ or ‘youth’ in their name.
He’s also the only truly indespensible member of the group.
FTFY
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dunno, Daydream Nation catches them pretty well at an intersection between noisier previous albums and more polished later ones. think the only thing that would maybe make it less accessible is its length i guess?
though Goo was my entry point and while it’s not one of their very best i think it serves as a good intro. Sister is obviously great but took me longer to get into that one really.
my unpopular take is that The Eternal is probably the best of their later stuff.
my less unpopular take is that Lee wrote most of the best songs.
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not a fan of Lee, K-Dog?
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I love Lee, just that his songs are always the weakest on SY albums.
oh have we gone fully into “say the opposite of things that are true” mode now?
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No, genuine belief here. SY are one of my favourite bands but I don’t rate Lee as highly as Kim or Thurston.
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NYC Ghosts & Flowers is the only “main” SY album I don’t own (I think).
I know it’s meant to be a bit Emperor’s Shite Clothes, according to many people, though thiiiiiiis track is a facking beaut
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Same! Own all the others on CD, along with lots of them on LP but never owned it on CD. Have listened to it recently and really liked it. I think that Pitchfork review deterred me for years.
May have to check it out. I saw the CD exactly once in Swordfish Records in Birmingham when me and my friend sneaked out during lunch on a school trip. I thought to myself: “next time I’m here, I’m picking it up”. But alas, it wasn’t there again.
Yeah, that Pitchfork review - even though it is the typical annoying snark of early Pitchfork (and not even one of the funnier examples) - definitely deterred me a bit.
I’d forgotten about that. However that album may have turned out (as I say, I should check it out), I massively respect how creatively they dealt with that
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that’s interesting. i’d rate Eric’s Trip, Mote, Wish Fulfilment and Rats as among the very best songs on their respective albums.
got his last solo album though and it’s a little bit hit and miss.
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<3
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I feel this is why I can’t really name a favourite Sonic Youth member; it does seem they were in a point where they could draw the best out of one another, etc. None of the solo stuff (even though I like a lot of what admittedly little I’ve heard of it all) has really felt as complete as their SY work
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i didn’t find NYC that interesting when i listened to it but i didn’t find it noticably bad either. some of the other later albums like A Thousand Leaves had a similar effect on me tbqh (only listened to some of those once though so they could be growers)
i like Thurston’s The Best Day a lot actually, the new one wasn’t as good and i don’t think i’ve listened to any of his earlier ones. still haven’t listened to any of Kim’s post SY stuff actually.
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