reassessing a thousand leaves
 

really enjoying this whole 'reassessing' thing. a great excuse to listen back to albums i've treated increasingly as wallpaper these past few years. One album that definitely falls into that category for me is A Thousand Leaves, which I can't recal the last time I listened to with any real level of concentration. So, as before...here goes.

1. Contre le Sexisme. Not the most 'arena-friendly' of openers. The spoken-word/effects beginning develop into a sort of Ghost Bitch-like percussion thingy. A bit of a false start, all in all.

2. Sunday. Of course, according to convention, this probably should've been the opener. Nice simple groove in a kind of Bull in the Heather vein. Even Thurston's singing works OK here. Killer guitars in the middle section. This is SY doing what they do so well.

3. Female Mechanic on Duty. Good vox by Kim here too, she's ditching the whole 'little girl lost' thing! Musically it's a bit pedestrian until the middle, with those great repeated chiming guitars - reminds me slightly of Ghost Bitch again. The second half is probably great if you're a fan of all-things-Kim. I'm not, but the gradual build up of guitars towards the end is a very nice touch.

4. Wild Flower Soul. The twin guitar interplay here is nicely organic in a Television kind of a way. A real builder, albeit one that could've done with a few less tempo shifts. Is this SY's answer to Bohemian Rhapsody?

5. Hoarfrost. Lee doing his poetry thing over some nice simple-but-engaging guitars. All maybe a little too tasteful but, in all, pretty good.

6. French Tickler. Musically this is OK once the guitars kick in but too much of it is just a backdrop for saw pretty yawn inducing Kimisms.

7. Hits of Sunshine. This has some great musical interplay, where the whole band comes together in this uber-organic, almost Can-like, way. Musically this is one of the best things they've done. If only they could've got Damo Suzuki to replace Thurston at the mic.

8. Karen Koltrane. Some amazing moments of guitar/percussion interplay that again brings Can to mind. Along with Hits of Sunshine, this really does suggest the beginnings of a new musical phase for the band.

9. The Ineffable Me. Kim Gordon's overall contribution to the band during this period just annoys me, sorry. Shame, because some of music here is pretty good.

10. Snare, Girl. Too conventionally 'song'-based to really have the space to hit the heights of Hits of Sunshine or Karen Koltrane, but still showing signs of great things.

11. Heather Angel. Has a sense of the 'hidden track' syndrome about it. A bit of a sketch, apart from the last rock-out section that, were it develped into a full track would surely be something of a pit favourite.

I see this as an album that shows real signs of a 'new' SY emerging. The vox still suck, and I do believe that KG was a nightmare during this period. In all though, it's a REAL improvement on EJSTNS and, especially, Washing Machine. It also, in Hits of Sunshine and Karen Koltrane, contains two of their greatest ever moments.

i love it, "hits of sunshine" is one of my favorite sy songs ever.

Their best album since Daydream and no album has better it since (though "Ghosts and Flowers" come close). Oddly, this album has always reminded me of Bad Moon Rising in a way.. seems to have a lot of similiar ideas and tones emerging.. One of the first times I robo'd, I was listening to this album.. Hits of Sunshine was swirling around and filling up the room.. it was amazing... Karen Koltrane and Hoarfrost remind me of the winter time.. perhaps because I had listened to the whole album in a cold basement in the middle of winter and it was about negative 20 degrees and covered in snow outside.. so, yeah, a very wintery album (I think most SY albums are "spring" or "summer" albums, but this reminds me of winter and Bad Moon Rising reminds me of autumn)...

Lots of interesting riffs, chiming sprawling long instrumental passages, not really anything offensive or uninteresting in the mix or lyrically; it's all very very good, almost seeming effortless, like SY could pop out 50 albums like this ...

Kim sounds like she was in a really bad mood on this album

"hits of sunshine" really is amazing, though, and not just because of the drugs... I don't think they ever have or ever will do something similiar to that again... the middle part which is really straight forward and just filled with guitar effects.. beautiful.. I never connected it with Can before, but I can totally see that now..

This seems like it was recorded in a dark time for the band (and the next album got a bit darker; maybe because of the stolen gear)... hmm.. but yeah. Strangely consistant and beautiful and perhaps proves that the best albums are recorded at the lowest parts in peoples's lives. Great!

it's probably my least favorite sonic youth album, i do enjoy it but i think the songs wander off in too many un-listenable directions.

Great points. I probably come across as a bit of an anti-Kim guy which wasn't always the case at all. I think she started going down hill with maybe Dirty. She's amazing on the early stuff like Ghost Bitch, Flower, Halloween, Beauty Lies, Shaking Hell, etc. I blame the menopause.

I think the thing I love most about Hits of Sunshine and Karen Koltrane is the way they've managed to create this totally organic sound that doesn't rely on what they'd done before or see them trying to fit in with what was happening around them.

ok, so you don't like kim's voice which is fine i have at some point or another not liked certain songs sung by all three vocalists but your descriptive beef with Kim is borderline "disgraceful" to really find the need to indulge about how she goes thru pms is really ridicuolus... i mean do you know what its like to have a period? should you be talking about such things in such a way...

I think not.

Hey, let's comment on Sonic Youth, I nearly never do that: This is probably my second favourite Sonic Youth album, and a record I'll play to anyone who doesn't 'get' Sonic Youth or has dismissed them because of Dirty/ Goo. I like the vocal production on this album, it's nice and dusky.

I well hate myself for describing the vocal production as dusky.

i'm going through my A Thousand Leaves phase. i really enjoy the album. Hoarfrost and Sunday are simply amazing.

scott v, it's just a description of her singing style, it's all in fun, i don't think it matters. if someone described my vocals as "sounding like some faggot who has a pierced dick fucking a light socket while being fucked in the ass by a big black man who previously raped adam's mom" or something, i'd just laugh. you know? it's all in fun. music criticism isn't serious!

but yeah.. sonic youth are very easy to criticize.. i can honestly say i don't have much criticism for this album... and as maybe mentioned before on this thread, the best album of theirs to get drugged out to. any drug of choice.

i think leaves probably scratch the surface of my triumvirate of top sy albums, goodbye dirty sex.

its in my top five for sure.
i've never paid attention to how the vocals sound when it comes
to sonic youth, just the music, and the music on this album is some
of the best they've done.

"triumvirate".. nice!

The following is my opinion. I don't claim to speak on behalf of the forum.

1. Contre le Sexisme.
Not at all necessary. If it were under two minutes then maybe but it's just one of many "songs" that keep this album inconsistent.

2. Sunday.
Not only is this song accessible to those that have never heard SY, it's one that doesn't disappoint the hard-core fans. A great attempt at gaining a new audience and a vehicle to show off their reinvention.

3. Female Mechanic on Duty.
Another addition to the inconsistent tracks on the album. It has it's moments but they are few.

4. Wild Flower Soul.
My favorite track on the album. The contrast between the verses and the noise fit perfectly, especially the intro into the first verse. My only nit-pick would be how it fades out in the end. It feels like a cop-out.

5. Hoarfrost.
Short and sweet. Lee wastes no time getting to the point of this song and paints a beautiful, vivid picture.

6. French Tickler.
A nice, relaxed tune. The music and the lyrics mesh well together, even though it was originally an instrumental. This is probably Kim's best song on the album, but that's not saying much.

7. Hits of Sunshine.
This doesn't sound like SY, but I love their take on psychedelia. Another highlight.

8. Karen Koltrane.
My second favorite of the album. It's long, but it deserves every second. Each new phrase segues perfectly with the previous. Classic (does 10 years qualify as classic?) post-Goo Lee.

9. The Ineffable Me.
I prefer the Kim-less SYR2 version. The lyrics are clever but the delivery...ouch.

10. Snare, Girl.
Another laid-back song, I would have to say this one is average. Thank God Thurston took on the vocals.

11. Heather Angel.
I'll agree with the OP on this: it sounds more like an idea than a complete song.

In summary, if you haven't deduced my opinion of the album as a whole, it's inconsistent. It contains some of SY's best tracks but also some of their most embarrassing (I'm looking at you Kim, even though I love you ;) ).

thankfully.

Ouch:eek:

All of these reassessing things are just opinions. It's just nice to relisten to albums that for me anyway are sort of taken for granted. Especially when no new SY product is likely to come out for quite some time.

I think their best album of the 90s

Fuck your mother. :D

i didn't mean that as an insult.

i don't need anyone to speak for me, even collectively.

my favourite sy album since the 80s probably, heather angel and contre de la sexisme are fantastic, and i'll fight anyone who disses them.

Thank god somebody speaks sense!!:p To sum up the album; Sunday is one of their greatest songs ever; Hits of Sunshine is one of their worst, patience testing. The album goes off on these annoying things and rather than sounding cool it just sounds...urgh-to put it simply. This album and NYCG&F are my two worst Sonic Youth albums without a shadow of a doubt.

Also one of my top SY albums, along with Washing Machine (what a great period!). More far out than WM and definitely has a more vivid mood. I always think of the seasons when I listen to this. Hoarfrost is very snowy and wintery, Hit of Sunshine sounds like spring etc Really atmospheric stuff.

Snare Girl is probably my favourite SY ballad and along with Karen Koltrane and Sunday make up the top 3 tracks on 1000 leaves for me. The instrumentation on Snare Girl is amazing IMO - T's/K's droning guitar, L's distant loungy licks in the middle and Steve minimilist drumming = an amazing mood is achieved!

Karen Koltrane is definitely one of the Lee greats and one of the darkest SY yet - its pure Winter until the end when the season changes into spring with the chirpy interlocking guitar thing - amazing!!

Sunday is a really tasteful straight up track which I usually play people who aren't into SY - its oozes cool!

sunday is aye-mazing, there's a bunch of other great songs on ther, "its only a kitten" might be Kims finest lyric but over all this albums a snooze.

[quote=el duderino]Also one of my top SY albums, along with Washing Machine (what a great period!).[quote]


What the duderino above me said.

Lol, kimism.
Probably the most overrated 90's SY album. Still good though, I just think that it gets too much priase.

On the Fourth of July '99, the year after A Thousand Leaves came out, a bud of mine and our girlfriends went up to Gatlinsburg, TN, for the freaky sights of redneck carnivale and to stop by Dollywood.

Well, on the way up, buddy's jammin' the Whiskeytown/Steve Earle/Son Volt/Wilco alt-country thing hoggin' the cd player. It's his car and he's driving. So after gritting my teeth to Summerteeth for the umpteenth time, I finally get my turn with the SY disc. And I'm predictably met with despondency by all those in the car.
"Contre Le Sexisme" comes on and makes the others uneasy right away.
Later, everyone makes it clear the only one they like (scratch that) the only song they can even stand for more than a couple of minutes is "Sunday."

So why isn't "Sunday" first on A Thousand Leaves?

Because Sonic Youth doesn't make albums for those dunderheads, they make albums for Art...and appeal to people like me.

And I can imagine most here have had many experiences, as have I, with people being instantly turned-off by Sonic Youth.

I think the albums whole sound mood and design have a very trapped feel, despite many of the songs being long and drawn out.
It sounds and looks like it was made in some kind of mental institution.

I totally agree with you. The first song on the album sets the tone for the whole thing, and to kick things off with a really accessible rock song when the rest of the album isn't like that would be a mistake.

STarting off with a quieter, more abstract Kim number was a good idea. However, Contre le Sexisme is probably the only song on the album I find a true waste of time and would like to get rid of from the album completely. I would nominate "Female Mechanic on Duty" as the opening number. It even has the album name in the lyrics.

I'd say the album is a bit difficult but rewarding, I like it much more than Washing Machine actually.

amazing album

I was just listening to this album again over a good cup of Ethiopian coffee.. my lord it is a perfect and divine album. it takes to so many places, it is ethereal, transcendent, enrapturing.. Especially at moments like the erruption bridge/break down in middle of Female Mechanic on Duty, and again that same kind of eruptive transition from Wildflower Soul to Hoarfrost...

experimental, soundscape driven guitar music doesn't get any more subtly perfect then this, it is exactly what Sonic Youth does best, be it on sonic Death or near 10 years later on Daydream Nation, or 15 years after that with Sonic Nurse..

yer opinion on Ineffable me is disgusting....That song is fantastic...I love every second of it...

Man.. nowadays, I think this is their best album ever, probably, besides confusion. I am even into Kim's nightmare vox now.

atsonicpark deserves a salutation for making this post. Personally, I bought 1000leaves when it came out in 98 if I remember correctly. The albumn had a spring/summery vibe going on as I remember 102.1 in Toronto playing Sunday and announcing the new release. Yah, that albumn really reminded me of a newfound artistic maturity at the time. I remember listening to this albumn at an old friends house and my one friend basically skipped on the cd thru 'wildflower soul' to get to the guitar jam part. My other friend got offended by it, thinking it ruins the tune to skip thru the track. Haha. Anyway, I don't like either of those guys much anymore. This was in like 2000 or something. Makes me laugh now.

yes

and yes

So many good things here. I love how Heather Angel feels more of an idea than a song. The sudden ending is brilliant. The "oooh"s in the second verse of Karen Koltrane give me chills every time. The beat that develops at the end of Contre Le Sexisme is terrifying. How clean and noisy Wildflower Soul gets is why it was my favorite song for years. Kim's laughter in The Ineffable Me. The dreamlike ending of Female Mechanic Now On Duty. Lee's Hoarfrost. The joyous Snare, Girl. Hits of Sunshine for Carlo Marx. What an album!

French Tickler is a great tune, but compared to 9 of the others, it doesn't shine. I hardly ever listen to Sunday.

I used to really dislike the Kim songs on this album. Even though I still have to be in the mood for some of them, each song has grown on me some way or another.

Snare, Girl is pretty underrated.

actually I kind of think that these are some of kim's strongest vocal tunes..

hoarfrost is my favorite lee song next to genetic

I could be cute and point out that "Contre Le Sexisme" has the album name in the lyrics too. :p

The original track listing had "Ineffable Me" first, I believe. "Contre" was somewhere in the middle. "Snare" was last!

I disliked "Contre" for a long, long time, and perhaps that had some effect on my notorious opinion of the album itself. Don't know...but I like the track quite a lot now...though I rarely listen to this album in its entirety anymore (usually a side or two of vinyl rather than the CD from front to back). I dig that they decided to open the album with a piece snipped from a larger improvisation - it's basically just an injection of the SYR spirit into the lead-off track from the major label album! Then "Sunday" starts and everyone can breathe...for a few minutes...