Sonic Youth go pop?! Oh yes. And it's rather good.
Perhaps, Sonic Youth have never sounded so much like everyone else around them than they have here. A couple of moments even struck as being vaguely Snow Patrol-esque. Certainly, the lead guitar throughout is bluesy, melodic, and thoroughly normal - not what you'd expect from these noiseniks. Noise throughout is kept in check, and used sparingly as a weapon rather than a bedrock - see the second verse of the excellent "Do You Believe In Rapture"? And songs. There are 12 honest-to-God songs here! Songs that could appear on any (good) album! Songs that could easily be reinvented as acoustic numbers! Don't come looking for a "Mote" or a "Ghost Bitch".
The opening trio of "Reena", "Incinerate", and "Do You Believe In Rapture?" set out the stall right from the off, and are the highpoint of the album. In fact, the understated, lovely "Incinerate" might be the band's strongest tune since "100%".
So Sonic Youth have never been so easy to like, so thoroughly normal. If you think a band maturing like this constitutes 'selling out' (whatever that means) then don't bother looking this one up. Everyone else can rest assured that this is still the same band that made
Goo, and their idiosyncracies bring a power to these songs that a lesser band wouldn't have been able to achieve (just look to "Rats", Ranaldo's sole contribution, for an example of that).
This band will likely never top what they did over the course of the four albums stretching from
Sister to [i[Dirty[/i]. And that's fine. They certainly don't disgrace themselves with an album as solid and enjoyable as
Rather Ripped, and if they keep this up, I look forward to many more albums to come.
Rated:
swore up and down that I'd be disappointed if
Rather Ripped offered more Sonic Youth lite...which it pretty much does, but I'm actually not disappointed at all. This is the best SY album since the underrated
A Thousand Leaves, and it's also the most immediately accessible record they've ever made. It isn't perfect, but I'll deal with filler like "Sleepin' Around" and "Lights Out" if it means I get "Do You Believe in Rapture?", "Jams Run Free", and "Pink Steam", which are some of the greatest SY tunes ever. Sonic Youth's trailblazing days are long gone, but they're in a really great position right now: they're already legends, they have nothing to prove, and everyone will be happy as long as they keep putting out very good Sonic Youth albums, which they seem to be able to do pretty effortlessly these days. They've aged more gracefully than any other band I can think of at the moment. You can make a pretty good analysis of just about any Sonic Youth album by breaking it down according to who sings on which track, and looking at each one's shit-vs-hit quotient, so here's the breakdown for
Rather Ripped:
- Thurston: the 2 worst on the album (as mentioned above), but also 2 of the best (also mentioned above), and a couple of pretty good tunes in "Incinerate" and "Or".
- Kim: for maybe the first time ever, there are
no bad Kim songs.
- Lee: only gets 1 tune (what the hell?), "Rats"...but it's the weirdest track on the album, and it goes without saying that a Lee song is going to rule...Lee Ranaldo is a god, by far the coolest person in Sonic Youth...can't wait for the solo singer-songwriter album.
- Steve Shelley: he came in and played drums again.
Great album.
Rated:
Well, I loved the mostly mellow
Sonic Nurse and this one's even quieter, so if you didn't dig it just go ahead and keep shaking your head and move on to some other review that pans this, because all I'm gonna say is why I think this is a really good record even if it falls short of a masterpiece. Clearly, this is Sonic Youth working new territory (for them) - never before have they been so straightforward, so conventionally melodic - but whether you're interested in hearing Sonic Youth work the territory that a hundred or a thousand other bands do is the real question you ought to be asking yourself before checking this out. Kim sings, for one. No artsy flat-toned sing-song, she really sings. I mean, it's not like you're gonna be asking yourself what dulcet-toned angel they hired to take over vocal duties, but there are clear melodies, never a given when Kim's at the microphone. Thurston's always been the band's stalwart rocker and he continues to deliver here. Lee puts forth with songs - and more importantly, melodies yet again - to match the other two as well. Lyrically I haven't quite absorbed it yet, but poetry readings and punk ranters are kept out, and favor is given to the personal observations and peace & love vibes that they've been doling out more and more frequently since
A Thousand Leaves, maybe even
Washing Machine. I've always thought of
A Thousand Leaves as a demarcation point just like
Goo and even
Sister; it's one of those divisive albums that fans from "before" point to as when things started to go wrong for the band and fans from "after" point to as the album that got them into the band (usually to note the next demarcation point as the "things went wrong" album). The fact that they've grown, evolved, changed, morphed, mutated, whatever-you-wanna-call-it enough for them to have three such points tells me they're just another great rock band working as adults in their chosen career with a disregard to what's expected of them. That's punk enough for me and I hope they continue as long as they can, but maybe the fact the they're just another great rock band working as adults in their chosen career is enough to turn you off. Give a listen and see what you think and let me know.
Rated:
from rateyourmusic.com