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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Random sonic sugar treats for no one in particular, May 19, 2000
This record is most impressive for its sound - the EQ is just scrumptious. Recording engineers and musicians should take a listen (past the lo-fi, muted acoustics of the first song, the atypical "Winner's Blues"). It's the best-recorded SY album yet, but strangely, instead of using this kind of technical prowess to record the kind of sprawling 7-minute+ epics with multilayered noise breakdowns which grace other albums such as Daydream Nation, Goo, and Washing Machine, the songs here are simple, straightforward, mostly three-minute vamps of a kind not found in their catalog since, oh, Confusion Is Sex, if one really needed a comparison. EJSTANS is a real curveball - a major departure from the flamboyant extroversion of Dirty. A lot of Kim Gordon's songs here have a kind of glistening resonance that is wonderful to behold - viz. "Bull In The Heather", "Skink", "Doctor's Orders", and particularly "Sweet Shine". Thurston takes command of the two-chord skronkers, which often have an abstract beauty of their own, although I could do without the grating "Androgynous Mind."You've got to admire the kind of self-assuredness that would enable this band to record an album as aggressively unconventional as this, regardless of major label expectations, and after their ascendancy into the new practically-mainstream "Alternative" genre (that absurdity of absurdities) fostered by Nirvana in the early 90's. Speaking of which, producer Butch Vig seems to be something of a fifth wheel here - you can hear that for all intents and purposes, this is a self-produced album. I read in an interview that on occasion while recording, he'd ask for a second take on a song, and they'd simply refuse. The band are in complete command of their craft here, and they need no one but themselves to help them prove it. Uncompromising and dedicated to the last, Sonic Youth are truly a band without peers.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
SY's most overlooked album, June 21, 2003
And I don't really see why. Longtime fans call it their poppiest, and while it's definitely the mellowest, that doesn't mean that it's not noisy or self-indulgent for the mainstream. While the lyrics don't mean all that much, it adds up the eccentricness of the album, making it more fun with each listen. About the only other flaw with this album is that Lee Ranaldo doesn't sing on any tracks on this album."Bull in the Heather" is a classic, as is its video with that Le Tigre girl cameoed in it. Kim has an excellent voice on it, as well as it being loved among the fans. The outro part sounds real cool. Opener "Winner's Blues" is a real nice track, as it's an acoustic-like track, a brilliant track on this album. I just love "In the Mind of the Bourgeois Reader". It's a punk-like track here, probably the fastest one, and Thurston sounds as if he's having a lot of fun during the recording of it. Then it goes into "Sweet Shine" the only song with any real length on the album. It's a great love song. She has some pretty interesting tracks as well. Her style overall has a sexy sound to it. "Bone" is very awesome, I love the energy of the drums on it, then the chords are well-progressed. It's just a real memorable one on this album. She sings 7 of the 14 songs. 'Experiental Jet Set, Trash and No Star' is something that really shines on track 12 "Tokyo Eye", a very noisy song. It's very awesome to listen to either in the car or on your stereo. This one's good for introducing people to SY. I got this January of this year, and I think it's excellent. There are some flaws, but overall, I think it's pretty good. The songs are very short, which helps, 'cuz it doesn't really contain enough epic stuff. So yeah, I am recommending it here. Esp. if you don't like the mainstream much and think that this sounds cool, like I do.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
misunderstood, July 15, 1999
I bought this album the day it came out, hated it, and put it away in my cd junkheap. I listened to it again 2 days ago and, now, more than five years later I realize I, like most of the reviewers' completely misunderstand this album. It's definitely a departure from their other albums, but I can't see how anyone could call "Winners Blues" polished. In fact "Washing Machine" was more produced. What really surprises me is no one mentions songs like "Bone", or "Quest for the cup" which has no commercial backbeat at all, and some of the most different Sonic Youth songs written. It ranks up there with E.V.O.L and Sister.
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by Sonic Youth 
