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definitely a great record, i love the guitar-work on this album. it comes across as their most accessible record to me, and yet a lot of the songs have really interesting structures. i think it's probably the strongest record from start to finish that they've released since DN (even though i think murray st is a better album, and maybe washing machine too).

i like rather ripped too, but not nearly as much. RR definitely has it's own vibe though, it's kind of like if they took nurse and twisted it into something a bit more, i dunno... romantic? it has a more chilled vibe than nurse. in a similar way, nurse is like a more muscular and concise version of murray st.

I really like this album. It's very, very well composed.

The only one of theirs I listen to

+1 for Pattern Recognition. I really love that drum pattern in the middle.

"Pattern recognition" is great. I would say it's the best late SY album. Better than RR, NYCG&F and Murray Street.

wellsyuk wrote:The only one of theirs I listen to

Pretty much.

N/C

emmanuelle cunt wrote:

ctrl-s wrote: Sonic Nurse might turn out to have been the end of SY being what I would call "good."

Funny thing about Sonic Youth is that a lot of people say exactly that about any given record of theirs.

I know. I thought they'd lost the plot for good after Dirty and Experimental Jet Set. both of which had a couple high points and a hell of a lot of dreck, in stark contrast to every record they'd put out up to that point. They bounced back somewhat, but that was 13 years ago.

Honestly I'd say there's about two full albums' worth of terrific music spread through their work since the mid-'90s, and a lot of mildly enjoyable, wanky, and/or semi-recycled stuff. And then there was Sonic Nurse in 2004, a remarkably solid, cohesive, and interesting rock record -- no great departure, but consistent high quality all the way through.

I'd be shocked if they rallied again at this very late date in their career, esp. after the supreme cynicism of the Starbucks comp and the overall tiredness of Rather Ripped (re the latter, it grieves me a bit to think of Sonic Youth as merely listenable, after having my head ripped right the hell off my neck by them many a time in the day). It would be a pleasant shock, and I hope they do, but I'm not counting on it at all.

emmanuelle cunt wrote:

ctrl-s wrote: Sonic Nurse might turn out to have been the end of SY being what I would call "good."

Funny thing about Sonic Youth is that a lot of people say exactly that about any given record of theirs.

Sonic Nurse? Meh... maybe all right-ish at best.

well lets face facts - you know how its going to be with every lp of theirs - 4 or 5 good songs and a load of bollocks - thats right across the board.

Marsupialized wrote:Rather Ripped I'd say is a little better. I can actually listen to the Kim songs on Rather Ripped.

Rather Ripped is the first Sonic Youth record that actually disappointed me...i like it alright, it's not crap or anything, but for me it's easily their least good record...Sonic Nurse is far from their best, but it's still really good, i think...

MrWarandieBoy wrote:i like rather ripped too, but not nearly as much. RR definitely has it's own vibe though, it's kind of like if they took nurse and twisted it into something a bit more, i dunno... romantic? it has a more chilled vibe than nurse. in a similar way, nurse is like a more muscular and concise version of murray st.

to me it's like they distilled everything i didn't like so much in Murray Street and Sonic Nurse and used that to make Rather Ripped...