I don't like this one:
http://torontosun.com/Entertainment/...25454-sun.html
By BILL HARRIS, TORONTO SUN
3 1/2 out of 5
Expectations were low as Sonic Youth's Rather Ripped slipped into the CD player.
First of all, it's hard to believe Sonic Youth still is putting out new studio CDs after a full quarter-century as a band. What more could they have to say, musically or lyrically, that they couldn't have said by, say, 1996?
And, second of all, Sonic Youth always has been a tad overrated, at least to our ears. Even in their heyday in the late 1980s and early 1990s, they weren't as daring as some of their alt-rock contemporaries, and also not as accessible as the more mainstream grunge acts of the day.
So imagine our shock and surprise that Rather Ripped doesn't suck.
Embracing melody more than in their past, Sonic Youth -- which champions itself as being in something called "nucleus formation" with Thurston Moore on guitar and vocals, Kim Gordon on bass and vocals, Lee Ranaldo on guitar and vocals, and Steve Shelley on drums -- rarely has sounded more comfortable and coolly confident.
Of the 12 songs here, it's fair to say too many of them are of the mid-tempo variety. But none of them are outright stinkers, and a couple of the sparse ones jump above the fray.
The third song is called Do You Believe In Rapture?, and that rhetorical question apparently was in the running to be the title of this CD. Regardless, the song is set to a hypnotic heartbeat march and the stark guitar harmonics straddle the line between grating and grandeur.
At only 3 minutes and 11 seconds, Do You Believe In Rapture? leaves you wanting more. But that's a good thing.
Also irresistible in a weird, Velvet Underground sort of way is the closing track, Or. The final pulsating verse seemingly presents a list of all the inane questions veteran rock bands have endured from wide-eyed (or bleary-eyed) fans, over and over and over again:
"How long's the tour?
"What time you guys playin'?
"Where you goin' next?
"What comes first ... the music ... orrrrrrr ... the words?"
The word "or" is accentuated and elongated in a breathless manner that expresses both weariness and acceptance.
Those two songs are personal favourites, but there are other good moments, too.
Gordon -- whose voice sounds more like Nico's with each passing year -- is a little scary as she barks out the chorus to What A Waste ("What a waste, you're so chaste, I can't wait, to taste your face"). Uh, don't we want to share a soda with two straws first?
And the song Rats could have served as the theme to the movie Willard (at least it may have worked better than Michael Jackson's Ben). With Jimi Hendrix-style instrumentation setting the spooky tone, the lyrics go, "When the rats run riot, and the screen door slams, when the trees grow quiet, nothing but cats and cans."
We have absolutely no idea what that means, but it accurately describe the sensation of staggering home drunk at 4 in the morning. Maybe that's how the title Rather Ripped materialized.
Back when Sonic Youth was youthful, it's unlikely the members of the group ever imagined they still would be making records in 2006.
Sonic Youth certainly could have retired long before now, and no one would have minded. But if they still can produce CDs as listenable as Rather Ripped, there's absolutely no harm in extending this Sonic Middle Age. ---