sonic youth rarities?

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hey,
hopefully someone here can help me with something at least about sonic youth's discography or rare records in general.

i picked up a vinyl copy of sonic youth's 'evol' at a record fair not so long ago (didn't cost very much), and when i took it home, noticed it had plain white labels on the vinyl. played normally i thought, but when i flipped it over to side two, even though it looks to have 'songs' on it (with the gaps between songs etc marked out on the vinyl), four of the 'songs' are in fact blank, with no audio atall, and two are nondescript orchestral music.

the sleeve is the UK blast first sleeve, but the runout groove message on side one of the vinyl (the 'working' side) is 'destroy all record labels', which only appears on the US release.

i know that it's possible someone may have just found an old US record and an old UK sleeve and put them together, but i'm curious to find out whether i've stumbled on a bootleg, pirate copy, or more interestingly perhaps some sort of test pressing.

i've checked a few discographies and haven't yet been able to find any mention of this particular oddity.

anyone have any ideas?

― Karl Cremin (sebadude), Sunday, 11 January 2004 19:27 (twenty-one years ago)

you have found the majik golden record! give it back to thurston and he will play a command performance for you of robbie basho songs played backwards on a detuned lute. kim will bake you wildflower spirit brownies to take home. it will all appear to be a dream.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 11 January 2004 19:52 (twenty-one years ago)

That happens to me every day. Promise him something better, you cheap-ass leprechaun.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 11 January 2004 19:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Um, Er, Lee will paint your house and do your taxes?

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 11 January 2004 20:11 (twenty-one years ago)

This thread makes me nostalgic for that old Zensor Germany *Kill Yr Idols* EP I used to own with the cover that looked exactly like *Confusion is Sex* except for being red instead of black -- sniff! Not to mention "Wallz Have Earz.*!! Am I right in assuming that those would fetch pretty pennies these days? I really need to learn to control my anger at bands when they start sucking one of these days.....

― chuck, Sunday, 11 January 2004 21:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I dunno about the Kill Yr Idols EP but I see that a copy of Walls Have Ears is on eBay with an asking price of $100.00. No takers yet.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Sunday, 11 January 2004 21:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the trick with such anger is to know how to focus it, with dire consequences (somehow).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 11 January 2004 23:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I have a 12" of the Youth called 4 Tunna Brix on which they do My New House, Rowche Rumble, Psycho Mafia, and Victoria on goofin' records (1990). I'm assuming this is a boot. Is it? And is it collectable?

― nickn (nickn), Monday, 12 January 2004 04:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Pretty sure that was a band-sanctioned boot (much like Walls Have Ears was). Actually I know it was, if it was on Goofin'. You used to able to order copies of it from Forced Exposure for a couple years. But I'd say it is definitely still collectible; I don't see where they've repressed it in many years. Plus it's really good! I'd estimate copies probably go in the $20 range, but that's just a guess.

― Broheems (diamond), Monday, 12 January 2004 05:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Those tracks are identical to the ones that they did in an absolutely CLASSIC peel session many moons ago. See http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/cc/101988.html for a bit (but not much) more info.

― hmmmmm (neil simpson), Monday, 12 January 2004 15:26 (twenty-one years ago)

That's cause they are the peel session tracks...

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 12 January 2004 15:28 (twenty-one years ago)

but when i flipped it over to side two, even though it looks to have 'songs' on it (with the gaps between songs etc marked out on the vinyl), four of the 'songs' are in fact blank, with no audio atall, and two are nondescript orchestral music

HAHAHA serves you right. Expecting 'songs' on a Sonic Youth LP!

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 12 January 2004 15:41 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

So I am trying to decide whether to buy the Dirty reissue or the Goo reissue. I liked Dirty better in its original form, but my intuition says get the Goo one (even though I never really got that into the original )...Maybe the extras are better on the Goo one.

Any thoughts?

― Freud Junior (Freud Junior), Monday, 6 February 2006 07:55 (nineteen years ago)

And good heavens, are there a lot of SY threads.

― Freud Junior (Freud Junior), Monday, 6 February 2006 07:56 (nineteen years ago)

Goo. It's a better album (IMO) and some of the demos on disc 2 are even better than the album versions.

― StanM (StanM), Monday, 6 February 2006 09:11 (nineteen years ago)

nineteen years pass...

some of the earliest known SY footage just popped up — Danceteria 1982! It rules.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ7itCq_u-w

― tylerw, Thursday, 4 September 2025 14:49 (one week ago)

thanks for sharing that, pretty awesome!

― better than ezra collective soul asylum (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 4 September 2025 15:01 (one week ago)

Indeed!

As this thread was last revived two decades back, there are of course three SY rarities collections as such via their Bandcamp now:

https://sonicyouth.bandcamp.com/album/rarities-1

https://sonicyouth.bandcamp.com/album/rarities-2

https://sonicyouth.bandcamp.com/album/rarities-3

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 4 September 2025 15:07 (one week ago)

xp to the youtube clip, get it quick! may disappear reading one of the comments

― Ste, Thursday, 4 September 2025 20:17 (one week ago)

oof yeah

it's amazing how great the tiny cheap condenser mics in video cameras (and boomboxes) were back then

― sleeve, Thursday, 4 September 2025 20:44 (one week ago)

fair comment if Lee specifically didn't want it out there, but I do hope it hangs around for me to play it on the bigger screen and better speakers tonight

― better than ezra collective soul asylum (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 4 September 2025 20:58 (one week ago)

Really appreciate seeing the 1982, especially after reading the extensive meanderings in Sonic Life about how the band was forming their sound, identity, and esthetic. Moore made it sound like such an organic and tangible process. Sounds fantastic. So good, while still finding their way.

― nicky lo-fi, Friday, 5 September 2025 01:07 (one week ago)

yes it's incredible footage for a superfan like me, they should just put the audio on Bandcamp as a pay-what-you-want release

― sleeve, Friday, 5 September 2025 01:08 (one week ago)

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