#2 (different)
Quote:
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Originally Posted by hippietears
I really like rather ripped! I always recommend it to people who are first getting into the band, because it's more mellow and chilled out than the rest. Even though I do LOVE crazy noises and harmonics, I think Rather Ripped can be a nice, calmer record to go back to. I also just think it proves that Sonic Youth doesn't JUST make guitar noises and weird songs.
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you know im going to have to take it back and disagree with the premise of your comment rather (lol) than reply to it in its own terms as i did before. but don't completely erase that please, this is just a different response, see if it makes sense to your ears
the reason i disagree with the premise is because there is plenty of "nice" and "calm" in other sonic youth and syg records
but if i have to put my finger on it, this is different because rather ripped sounds to me like a record that is "about" thurston singing, you know what i mean "about" singing? like the music is not a thing in itself but a platform for him singing. and that's the departure
the noise of yore helped make tracks be about the total sound, not the singing or the "tune", but even without noise sonic youth always felt like the totality of the music was an end in itself. the vocals were there (or not), sometimes you could locate a tune and sometime not, but they were not central. melodies would melt into improvisation and return later. when vocals shone they were side by side with other stuff going in at the same time (eg see drunken butterfly which i mentioned earlier). everybody got their chance to shine. sonic youth was always the greatest as an ensemble where the parts have a glorious interplay, like a jazz band. i mean, for example, lee was never "second" to thurston, their guitars went head to head. and their live shows were for that reason... transcendental, really, no exaggeration. a beautiful chaos
whereas this record is more about um... thurston front and center, singing. which is like most "normal" pop records do, they are about the singer singing and the musicians are "the band". this is like his solo records i suppose. and it's not a total work of all the parts, to my ears anyway
this is why loaded works, btw, to connect back to that parallel from the earlier post, because you could put lou reed at the center of almost any band and be great (except not with rick wakeman and steve howe lol, great as they were in yes the chemistry with lou was not there, it's almost comedic that someone would put them together)
and yes vu without john cale and other deserting/circulating members is not vu proper original, but lou reed is lou reed and he could sing well but more than that had an amazing delivery, and was the poet of new york, and i looooove lou reed solo albums regardless of/ as standalones
for my ears, thurstons greatest talent is no doubt the guitar rather (lol) than voice or lyrics. his best singing is done with the hands. in that department, few people can match him. well, lee can. the two guitars together... i have no words
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eta: oh look at t's new pal...
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C46p3zuti1E/
there are videos of that and a previous show on the interwebs...