SONIC NURSE

I tune out most of the "they aren't what they used to be" whining, because that's just so typical and it happens with every SY record without fail. It's hard to take that point of view seriously when it's so frequently reactionary and the records are usually much better than the haters give them credit for.

If they use the version that was on the split 7" w/ Erase Errata, no need to worry. It was a better track than anything on Murray Street. Plus Richard Hell produced the album, so that's a step up from O'Rourke.

I've never understood the hate for NYC Ghosts & Flowers, either. I thought it was a terrific comeback after the God awful A Thousand Leaves, only for the band to take a complete nosedive with Murray Street. Maybe Pitchfork wields too much power over the kids.

Isn't the title just "Nurse"?

According to SY.com and Geffen's website, it's Sonic Nurse, which is quite unfortunate.

I listened to NYC G&F last night, and like 90% of the time I listen to it, it lost me completely after "Free City Rhymes". the thing was, I'd heard live recordings of I think their Bumbershoot set from the year before, where they played the whole album in instrumental form, and I really liked the songs in that form, so I was doubly disappointed with the final product, because I really had my hopes up.

Daydream Nation gives you the best of both worlds though. Doesn't it?

The thing about the lyrics on Sister is entirely correct, printing them on the sleeve strikes me as an incomprehensible act of hubris

Yeah, when Washing Machine came out, I thought it was the best thing they'd done and a massive improvement on Jet Set precisely because of the more intricate guitar interplay and the more developed song structures.

For me, the most interesting and surprising thing is that the song "Pattern Recognition" is not a Lee Renaldo tune! That's such a Lee title, isn't it? Kim sings it!

what you said, although what i disliked on murray street were passing moments rather than entire tracks.

i've come to see "sonic youth lyrics" as their own private island, and i can only really pit them against the successes and failures of other sonic youth lyrics.

I wouldn't say "sorely disappointed," but I did sorta expect them to force themselves to do something totally different, which never happened.

I like Sonic Nurse, it's okay, but I really wish that it didn't sound so much like Sonic Autopilot. NYC Ghosts + Flowers and Murray Street both had a somewhat unique feeling about them, but a lot of the songs on the new one feel as though they could be outtakes from previous records (at least from the post-Goo era, anyway.)

I'm not crazy about the sequencing on this record - it leads off with "Pattern Recognition," which I think would be more effective as a second track, or tucked away in the middle. (The first song on side b, perhaps.) Sonic Youth have a history of really excellent opening songs, so this is a disappointment - "Pattern Recognition" really doesn't get things started anywhere near as well as "Teenage Riot," "Schizophrenia," "100%," "Dirty Boots," "Tom Violence," "Free City Rhymes," or "The Empty Page," which are all very strong songs which feel like the beginning of something, and also set the tone for the rest of the record.

I think that they were better off with the original tracklisting which started off with "New Hampshire," but if it were up to me, I would've opened it with "Peace Attack." When I burned it, I just put it in the order that I liked most, which came out like so:

01 Peace Attack
02 Pattern Recognition
03 Unmade Bed
04 Paper Cup Exit
05 Stones
06 Dude Ranch Nurse
07 New Hampshire
08 Kim Gordon + The Arthur Doyle Handcream
09 The Dripping Deam
10 I Love You Golden Blue

go fix something you dorks

I'm starting to think this is stronger than Murray Street, in some ways. A fuller record, perhaps... it's pretty poppy.

seriously, this would have been a thousand times better as a DVD.. and even then their versions of the originals are pretty fucking inessential

You really can't go wrong with Sister or Daydream Nation as a starter album, though.

For those quite "new" to Sonic Youth, at least. I imagine this album would be way more exciting if it was one of the first things I'd heard by them, but I appreciate it in the same way. I like that they're still putting out strong material that I think people - and especially new fans - could really get in to.

from 1996 to 2001 their music just offered nice "moments" here and there. Murray Street was the first record since Washing Machine that seemed to offer some...I dunno, purpose, like it NEEDED to exist rather than being an excuse to issue an SY record. Nurse is a notch or two below Murray Street. Why? Because there are a few songs that just take up space. "Peace Attack," Lee's song, "New Hampshire." I'm on the fence as to whether "Stones" is good.

"I Dreamed I Dream" (Sonic Youth EP)
"In The Kingdom #19" (Evol)
"Pipeline/Kill Time" (Sister)
"Eric's Trip" (Daydream Nation)
"Hey Joni" (Daydream Nation)
"Rain King" (Daydream Nation)
"Mote" (Goo)
"Wish Fulfillment" (Dirty)
"Genetic" (Dirty b-side, on the expanded reissue of Dirty)
"Saucer-Like" (Washing Machine)
"Skip Tracer" (Washing Machine)
"Hoarfrost" (A Thousand Leaves)
"Karen Koltrane" (A Thousand Leaves)
"NYC Ghosts and Flowers" (NYC Ghosts and Flowers)
"Karen Revisited" (aka "Karenology") (Murray Street)
"Paper Cup Exit" (Sonic Nurse)

"Rain King" is just okay (it certainly doesn't come close to "Eric's Trip" or "Hey Joni") but it's just as good as some of the more mediocre Kim and Thurston songs that have popped up on albums over the years.

That ATP version of "I Love You Golden Blue" has grown on me quite a bit.

Forehead slapping ensued.

A couple other random thoughts:

1) I like Rain King for a lot of reasons (lyrics (I like that "one big dead end in my head" line), guitar noises, overall energy)

2) aside from the Genetic incident, it's probably safe to assume he's never had a big backlog of (rock) songs he's dying to release. If he did, I'd imagine he would have put them out in a side project context as Thurston and Kim have done.

This is probably their best album 'cause it's so MOR, but even this has some unlistenable moments (that song about Mariah Carey, the last couple minutes in the first song). "Unmade Bed" is fantastic.

I'll agree that "Kim Gordon and the Arthur Doyle Handcream" gets better and better. I think it's one of the strongest tracks there, now. The whole track has an excellent, strong, sound, and it doesn't feel new at all. But in a good way.

I mean, duh: new Sonic Youth album = throw a party. That's how it is in THIS house, buster.

http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/sonic_youth/370595/album.jhtml

That will be file sharing fun for Mariah fans

Oh, and I noticed someone saying that Richard Hell produced it. He didn't actually, that was just a story the band came up with. It was Jim again.

If you took "The Empty Page," "Rain On Tin" and "Karen Revisited" and had them replace the two weakest Moore and the Lee track on Sonic Nurse, you'd have my favorite Sonic Youth album since Sister.

Stevie way upthread said this:

so so so beautiful... classic rock subtly twisted in subversive and wondrous shapes...

He's right about the classic rock o' course, not that this hasn't been already seen various ways, so no revelations there. But this is...complacent. Attractively complacent, not interestingly complacent. It is by no means as immediately striking and soaring to me as Daydream Nation was, and while part of that can be seen as simply the difference in familiarity at the time -- the shock of the (apparently) new always has a certain impact, especially if it is positive -- ultimately this IS nothing more than a classic rock album by a band which is so distanced from the 'mainstream' as defined that most of it would have slotted in well on the classic rock radio station I overheard from the construction site next to my apartment yesterday, except all the classic rock was more fun to hear. There's little 'subversive' about this if you come from the attitude that this is Sonic Youth you're hearing, maybe somebody who only ever heard classic rock might find this subversive or strange, but otherwise...

More than one song reminded me of Steely Dan, oddly enough -- or at the very least, a certain form of production and space and an indefinable something which places Steely Dan's work in the seventies. Which I suppose is nice. But most of the sounds remind me of all the various other sounds they made which a lot of other bands did something with that I actually like more -- or, more than once, they remind me of Neu!, which is great and all but still, they already made it clear they liked Neu! back in the eighties and now it sounds like all the other Neu!-wannabe bands.

Underwhelming. It's a Sonic Youth album and I feel about the same way towards this as I suspect others would say about my love of the new Morrissey or my deep-seated faith in the new Cure. I'm glad the fans are happy and they did put on a solid live show at Terrastock 2002 but otherwise, eh.

That VH1 running order is the original tracklisting, not the real deal.

I don't get Anthony's "rhythm section" comment - Steve Shelley has been great for years now, and I don't think that his performance on this new album is really all that special in comparison to previous albums and live recordings.

"Sweet Shine" + "Empty Page" = "Peace Attack"
"Expressway To Yr Skull" + "Shoot" = "I Love You Golden Blue"
"Wildflower Soul" + "Dirty Boots" = "Stones"
"French Tickler" + "Sympathy For The Strawberry" = "Dude Ranch Nurse"

I also hear bits of "Rain On Tin" in "The Dripping Dream" and "Karenology" in "Paper Cup Exit."

I wish that they'd start recycling the sounds from Washing Machine!

On Sonic Nurse, I mean.

I wish they would show more EXULTATION. I think the reason why DN and Goo make up my favorite period of the band is that's where they captured that sense best of all, like they spent the earlier years getting to that point and everything since then has been a retreat or sidestepping from it. Only two songs on Sonic Nurse stuck out for me in the end, one was progressively more wound up and aimed for a certain epic something, while the other, the last, actually ended on some sort of note of joy. Like they weren't just there...being themselves.

Do you remember which track this is, Ned?

actually this was a dig at Kim (I said SECTION not drummer), since I greatly prefer O'Rourke's playing. Much more of a groove now.

When I figure out which one it is I'll post the title, but I think it was "Paper Cup Exit."

Jaymc, think about how "I Love You Golden Blue" begins - it sounds a bit like the coda of "Expressway To Yr Skull." I think that they should play those songs back to back live - have "Expressway" just become "Golden Blue." It'd be quite beautiful.

And yeah, in retrospect this is very important. The album only literally came alive for me at this point, too little too late.

I wouldn't want to be absolutist about a statement like this, but yeah, this is kind of how I'm feeling re: Sonic Nurse.

Ah, I was forgetting about the coda! Yeah, I'm just listening to that now, and you're right.

01 I Love You Golden Blue
02 Unmade Bed
03 Mariah Carey
04 Peace Attack
05 Paper Cup Exit
06 Stones
07 Dude Ranch Nurse
08 The Dripping Dream
09 New Hampshire
10 Pattern Recognition

The best songs are all frontloaded on side a, and the opening song feels more like the beginning of something. "Pattern Recognition" feels like a more satisfying ending than anything else on the record, lord only knows why they made it the opening track.

Which is fine, I'm sure. But only one worked on that level to me from start to finish, as opposed to a sudden "oh right, some more feedback on the end would be nice, yeah" feeling.

I take it the Skynyrd fans want another "Freebird."

It would make a nice change from Twenty or Vicious Cycle.

Ah, see, I think "Hey Joni" is spectacular. Nowhere as good as the Secret Best Sonic Youth Song ever ("Mote"), though.

Secret Best Sonic Youth Song Ever: "Skip Tracer" and/or "Saucer-Like."

y'all fools, "Karen Koltrane" roolz.

Well, I guess here's where we disagree, because my first reaction to that tracklist is, You put all the best songs at the end!

Secret Best Sonic Youth Song Ever: "Skip Tracer"

Okay, you won me back to your side!

I gotta disagree with this, solely because when I bought the Errata/SY split, I couldn't get over the fact that Kim finally sang lead on a track I liked for the first time in 8 or 9 years, and I've often thought A Thousand Leaves was the worst album I've ever heard.

Steve Shelley has been great for years now, and I don't think that his performance on this new album is really all that special in comparison to previous albums and live recordings.

With everything they've done since Washing Machine, I've been of the mindset that Steve Shelley is easily the strongest thing in SY, and the more freedom he's granted, the better the band has been (or at least the better the songs are). Having not heard anything from the new album, this sorta frightens me that he could possibly be completely reined in.

but she announces that she doesn't have the time for either! I think its more that she convincingly expresses an emotion. I doesn't sound feigned (ok yeah, I know that singers are actors, etc, but this time she's doing a good job).

It.

I should've been more specific: "Mariah" is very similar in structure, tone, and style to "The Ineffable Me" from that album.

Yeah, I can see that. I think the music on "Mariah" is more muscular, though, and it suits the vocal style better than "Ineffable" (same reason I would say "Swimsuit Issue", which is kinda similar to "Ineffable" is a stronger song).

Actually, thinking about it, isn't her voice sorta hiccup-y in "Ineffable"? That's what's really annoyed me aboot her singing on the last 4, 5 records.

(Off topic, Matthew: the season finale to Arrested Development airs tonight at 8:30. I didn't see a mention on yr blog, so I don't know if you knew).

Do you mean "hiccup-y" as in kinda staccatto? Yeah, totally.

I like "Mariah" more than "Ineffable," and "Ineffable" more than "Swimsuit Issue." I'm a big fan of the "Slaapkamers Met Slagroom" riff, and there's a sense of brattiness to Kim's vocal on it that appeals to me.

The beginning of "Paper Cup Exit" to my ears references "The Diamond Sea." Of course I'm not purporting that 'Sonic Nurse' has any further similarities to 'Washing Machine.' That would be foolish.

I appreciate the logic of Matthew's sequencing but to me the reason it works so well is that it starts out sounding like ho-hum-another-excellent-Sonic-Youth-album and then gets better and better and better; it builds, and that's what keeps me coming back, the way it crescendoes. (See also A Grand Don't Come for Free.) Plus there's something tongue-in-cheek about calling the first and most obviously SY-like track "Pattern Recognition." And "Golden Blue" is my fave too.

Ned Raggett, I love you.

see, i didn't like nurse at all at first; i found it too...well, too sonic youth. and then, at maybe the 5th listen, i really began to like it. and then by listen 10 i'd reverted back to my earlier opinion, and haven't been able to shake it since.

still, if i had to make a singles list for anyone, "Mariah Carey" would top it. nurse needed more songs like that to make it really stand out; tho if murray street hadn't so blown my mind maybe i'd be more impressed.

agreed with whoever upthread said that this record's all about kim. an early draft of my review of nurse included the sentence "Kim Gordon rules Sonic Nurse like Stifler ruled American Wedding."

Does anybody else enjoy SY side projects more than actual SY albums at this point?

Diagree on Psychic Hearts. I go back and forth between thinking "this is slightly cool" and being totally embarrassed for Thurston and everyone who knows him when I listen to that LP.

at first I kind of pegged "Unmade Bed" as just the single-by-default-because-it's-the-shortest-track, but it might be my favorite song on the album, that melody is haunting, the drumming is perfect, and it doesn't take too long to climax and come down. most of the mellow Thurston jams are good too.

not really feeling most of the Kim songs, the "Arthur Doyle Hand Cream" song just sound like a Dirty-era Kim tune sans the Butch Vigged-ed up energy. it's kind of amusing to hear Eminem name-dropped on a Sonic Youth record, though.

I've been listening to Nurse a whole lot, though. I think some of Thurston's contributions here have been overlooked - I really love the combination of mellow yet triumphantly rocking out kind of groove jams. I think it's a really nice record, and "I love you Golden Blue" is one of the greatest songs ever. I like whispery Kim best (a la Shadow of a Doubt). Lee's song feels like the culmination of a few of his previous efforts, in a good way.

I might compile a summery sonic youth compilation, featuring the poppier tracks of Murray Street and Nurse... let's see... something like this?

1. The Empty Page
2. Unmade Bed
3. I Love you Golden Blue
4. Dripping Dream
5. Rain on Tin
6. Disconnection Notice
7. Peace Attack
8. Sympathy for the Strawberry
9. Karen Revisted

Maybe add a few more on, I dunno.

DUDE RANCH NURSE recycles feelings (the hypnotic bridgey parts) from SAUCER-LIKE and shares the same lead guitar tone (during the chorus parts) with another song from washing machine that i can't recall right now.

i pointed this out to thurston at ATP. he seemed startled.

How could this have startled Thurston? It sounds exactly like it! Every time I listen to this album I stop as soon as this comes on because all I think is "Why did he re-do 'Elegy'?!" Although I did listen to the song the other day, and realised that once I made it past the intro, it's a pretty good song.

Did anyone get the 'Corporate Ghost' DVD? Mine is riddled with tech problems.

I've got it and it's fine. The problem is only with the PAL copies. Take that, Europe!

They've been playing that song somewhat frequently since the Murray Street tour. They play in one three shows, or something close to that. Lee usually switches it up between that, "Mote," and "Eric's Trip."

Unmade Bed is my favorite track, then Peace Attack, New Hampshire and Pattern Recognition.

this album is SO good. Murray Street was a step in the right direction; this takes the good things about that album (namely, the builds) and really uses them to their full advantage. The songs are really hooky, actually. I have no problem saying this is the best Sonic Youth album since Daydream Nation. And Kim Gordon sings on this one again, rather than shouts bad poetry!

Listening to this album 3 years down the line, then read this entire thread aaaaand i fully agree with the above comment -- for me it's the best SY album, start to finish, since Daydream Nation.

I'm trying to recall any album from 2004 that i like **AS MUCH** or **MORE** than Sonic Nurse...hmmmm.

"Unmade Bed" :)

It does rule. great songs. I still really dig Stones, I Wuv U Golden Bloo, Pattern Recognition, Dude Ranch Nurse. And yuh Kim is so awesome on this.

so i actually flipped thru all my 2004 stuff, and the only thing I'd rank *ABOVE* the SY album is Nick Cave's 'Abattoir Blues...' 2CD release, which I consider his masterpiece...

a couple other albums perhaps would tie, but I'd put Sonic Nurse in my top 3-4 albums of 2004 at this point.

"so i actually flipped thru all my 2004 stuff"

wait, so you organize chronologically, by date purchased, or...? that is SO hi-fidelity!

nah, i just quick-sorted everything in my iTunes folder

great album. i am always a bit disappointed when i read negative comments about it. actually prefer it to murray st (although 'rain on tin' is one of my favourite SY tracks).

rather ripped on the other hand has constantly eluded me.

Yeah, I totally skipped it when it first came out because it had a bad name and it didn't really seam plausable that Sonic Youth could put out a good album at that point. Then at some point last year I listened to it on mushrooms with my eyes closed and it was awesome. I actually think I might like Kim's songs the best (!!!!). I think because she can't really sing at all the rest of the band sort of knows how to shape one of her songs in a more abstract direction that better suits of vocal style and makes it really interesting.

I only really got into Sonic Youth with Murray Street and this when I was on a big O'Rourke tip - I'd had Dirty for years but never been compelled to investigate further. I think Sonic Nurse is terrific, and probably my favourite; I've gone back and got Daydream Nation since and haven't enjoyed that anywhere near as much. I picked up Goo and another from that era the other month but haven't got round to them yet (my last Fopp purchases, I think).

Stones rules this album. This is the one Sonic Youth song that seems to pop into my head almost daily, the riffs are just immaculate; but what is really weird is that I had no idea which song or which album it was on until I went and hunted it down just now. It seems like the quintessential SY song in that regard.

yeah "Stones" is a definite standout, although I never really got into it until I heard it live.

was just thinking this is a very good listen as i am listening to it now

it's the household SY fave...bears repeated listening well. Stones is an all-time jam

<3 this record so much

My favorite of their "late" phase.

Actually my favorite, and my first. Tuneful, pleasant, and really employs their technique well. "Golden Blue" is a surprisingly morose song that actually stirs up a little emotion in me when I listen to it... to think that some indie-rock Goddess like Kim Gordon, and not (my preferred) Bilinda Butcher, could do something like that?

My favorite album of 2004!

"My favorite of their "late" phase."

Same here. Love Murray Street too, but SN more.

In my top 5 after Evol, Sister, Goo and Bad Moon.

Rather Ripped and The Eternal are nowheresville.

Rather Ripped is awesome! Not as good as SN, granted, but I prefer it to Murray Street.

Murray St I think is better, Rather Ripped lacks oomph in both playing and production, but it still has plenty of good moments.

Rather Ripped and The Eternal are nowheresville

crazytalk, imo
xpost

haggling over the relative merits of the last 4-5 albums is probably best left on this thread: best Sonic Youth album of the '00s

oh, mariah, you're endless