Sonic Youth Album Reviews

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Sonic Youth (1982)

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Sonic Youth (1982)

6.5

The Burning Spear / I Dreamed I Dream / She Is Not Alone / I Don't Want to Push It / The Good and the Bad

One of the most respected "alternative" bands in the world and the true heirs of The Velvet Underground when we're talking about "cool credibility," Sonic Youth have become a true rock institution over the course of the previous two and a half decades. They were and still are extremely influential; not only because of the genre they helped to create and expand, but because of their attitude and their methods of operation, not to forget the fact that Kim Gordon contributed to the re-thinking of the position of women in rock. Throughout their career, Sonic Youth stood for edgy experimentalism that came out of the big city. Whether it's because of the cerebral nature of much of their music or the arty self-consciousness that's linked to the New York-scene, their music has always been rather devoid of non-urban elements. There's hardly any blues, country, folk or soul in their music, which is as "white" as it gets. To a large degree, this can be explained by their background of course. When they formed in 1981, the punk explosion was basically over and had been replaced by a generation of post-punk bands that gathered under the genre tag "no wave." None of the bands involved in that scene - DNA, Mars, James Chance & the Contortions, etc - would even get to taste success, yet they'd prove to be important for the development of the more experimental guitar bands of the 80s. In Sonic Youth's case, there was also the avant-garde influence of contemporary composers like Rhys Chatham and, especially, Glenn Branca. Guitarist Lee Ranaldo had even been a member of Branca's ensemble that featured six guitarists laying down metallic sheets of noise. It was also Branca who offered Sonic Youth - at the time Thurston Moore, Gordon, Ranaldo and drummer Richard Edson - the opportunity to be the first band to be released by the newly found Neutral Records label.

The Sonic Youth album (only because the band always insisted it wasn't an EP) is rather tame compared to their later, more adventurous albums, but the seeds of their experimentalism, the ventures into dissonance and off-kilter guitar harmonies are already there. Like many of their other releases, Sonic Youth can be rather self-indulgent (or boring), but it's nevertheless interesting to hear them mess around with alternate tunings and repetitive structures. In that respect, they seem to owe a great deal to free jazz revolutionary Sonny Sharrock (who was probably a major influence on any guitarist of the scene), as well as the guitarists of the city's avant-jazz scene (Arto Lindsay, etc). Their approach works best here on the more up-tempo tracks. Opener "The Burning Spear," for instance, with its prominent bass and clanging guitars (as well as a power drill sent through a wah wah-pedal!) could be lumped in with the more challenging British post-punk bands (PiL, Gang of Four, Swell Maps), while Moore's howling vocals, the repetitiveness and Richard Edson's busy, occasionally African-tinged drumming recall early Can. The frenetic "I Don't Want to Push It" almost sounds as if they're covering a Minutemen-tune with Adrian Belew, while closer "The Good and the Bad" lays down one of their best early grooves. The two remaining tracks are less interesting: "I Dreamed I Dream," with Gordon's spoken vocals almost seems like an early version of Goo's "Tunic (Song for Karen)" and the jittery "She Is Not Alone" seems a bit short on ideas. While there's nothing earth-shattering here, it shows Sonic Youth were different from the get-go and fortunately, they'd progress and branch out in exciting directions over the next few years and albums.

Some notes: 1) Richard Edson, who would leave the band shortly after the release of Sonic Youth, pursued a career in acting and would appear in a.o. Desperately Seeking Susan, Platoon and Do the Right Thing. 2) Since its release on CD in 1987, Sonic Youth has never been in print again, making it rather hard to find. 3) It's supposed to be re-released including bonus tracks soon.