Customer Reviews

Hold That Tiger

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

the japanese typing on the cover means "my mother went shopping". I just tought i should let you know.

In 1987 Sonic Youth were the pronounced masters of alterna-chic. They were also, as "Hold That Tiger" reveals, one of the most raucous and genuinely perverse little noise guitar bands on the American scene (alonside the Pixies and Big Black, of course). Although their early no-wave desire to produce music as caustic as listener's eardrums could cope with was well and truly over, their cascading rifts, psychedelica posing and typically punk project to destruction (deconstruction?) all commodified sounds placed them ahead of almost every band on the planet. To know of them or, better still, to play before/after them, was to be somebody, to feel within your bones that there was a bliss unobtainable in the Reagan-nation. This album, with its fiery renditions of 'Death Valley '69' and 'Expressway to Yr Skull', has Sonic Youth at their peak. Playing almost all the tracks of their 'Sister' album (arguably their best alongside 'Daydream Nation'), this is a barrage of untuned and unmelodic soundscapes that few can match. Nothing is perfect, however, and the problem with a live Sonic Youth album is always that the sheer fierceness and complexity of their music can often flood more mellow numbers such as 'Beauty Lies in the Eye'. The CD is certainly well-recorded (we have the veteran Wharton to thank for that), but in some places texture has clearly been suppressed by trashing. Otherwise, highly recommended, especially considering the four (!!!) covers of Kim's favourite band the Ramones, including a blistering rendition of 'Beat on the Brat'.

Audiophiles read no further: you aren't going to hear every chiming overtone in the hiss and mud slathered on this CD. However, it chronicles Sonic Youth belting out a breathtaking show at a (the?) high point in their career. Their live version of "White Kross" absolutely destroyed me when I saw them back then (at the tiny 9:30 Club in DC); this recording comes as close as I'll ever get to reliving that epiphany.

Never mind the negative reviews below -- the straight-up Ramones encore is the only iffy moment, and even then it's pretty fun.

This is a great live document of this period. All I can say is that if you like the songs off of Evol and Sister, check this out, you won't be disapointed. The Ramones covers are an excellant bonus too.

the band on the cover of this album is pussy galore- from an issue of spin magazine a long time ago when spin was cool- not sonic youth. the music is for hardcore fans. the same people who listened to sonic death all the way through. it is a painfully average sonic youth album that is nowhere near as interesting as the band

This album takes us back to 1987, when Sonic Youth were at their peak. It's an album full or raw energy and outerworldly noise collages. Thurston is on key with the best versions of "Tom Violence", "Kotton Krown",and "White Cross" that I've ever heard either in concert or on tape.

The recording of the album is excellent as are the tracks. This reminds SY fans of why they got into this band in the first place. It also shows us how much they've transformed, how they have always been the true pioneers of music.

Having had Sonic Youth jackhammer my ears any number of times in varied locations, including "warming up" for a reunited Iggy & the Stooges at an outdoor amphitheatre to an audience of mostly middle aged guys wearing New York Dolls t-shirts, I've gotta say this live document from the "Sister" tour is like Manna from heaven, and I don't even believe in heaven. Other reviewers of this item have complained about bad sound quality, but clearly these people have hearing even more badly degraded than mine, since as far as I can tell the sound quality here completely outstrips any bootleg of the band that I've heard. For instance, this is in freakin' STEREO for crying out loud--I mean, a bootleg is just like being at the show, if "being at the show" means standing outside the venue with yr ears pressed up against the doors. Considering the recording here was engineered by longtime SY friend Wharton Tiers the results couldn't really be any better. Let me also remind naysayers that we're talking about Sonic Youth, a band that has done more for feedback and drone than anyone going back to Hendrix, a band whose love of lo-fi squall is pretty much unmatched. If all you really want is "perfect sound forever" then maybe you should stick with the Alan Parsons Project and leave living, breathing and bleeding music to the rest of us. Sorry for the mini-rant, but audiophiles annoy me like rock critics who insist on using nonsense terms like "collegiate rock" or "Coldplay."

As for the actual disc I had intended to review, it's an absolutely primo chunk of pre-"Daydream Nation" SY, at a Chicago show introduced by none other than Steve Albini. A huge chunk of "Sister" is performed, as well as a few from "EVOL" and even "Brother James." The encore medley of Ramones tunes is also a total thrill. There are no real freestyle sonic digressions, something they indulged in the last time I saw them about a year ago as of this writing, but the songs themselves contain enough nooks and crannies to fill a library of bent notes and alternate tunings. If played at the proper volume (i.e., maximum) you'll hear it in yr sleep. Pleasant dreams!

Yeah the quality isn't studio, but it's a live album. And it's back in the day. For searious Sonic Youth fans it's a must. How many times are you going to hear them play a Ramones cover live. This is one of my favorit albums it's right up there with the Dirty Boots ep, which has 5 live toons as well. Honestly of all the live albums that I have heard the quality on this is actually pretty good. In all reality this is a live version of Sister with a few changes ups. If you can't see them live this is as close as youre going to get. If my copy ever get's trashed, I'll buy another one with out hesitation.

this album totally captures what i love about sonic youth; it's loud, noisy, and aggressive. most of these songs are faster here than on whatever album they're from. the sound quality could be a little better, but you'll get over it. sister was a good album, but i don't even really listen to it anymore, since most of the sister songs are on this album, which is from a 1987 show in Chicago. a previous review said it's for the more serious sonic youth fans. that may be true, and maybe that's why i like it so much. i just love how raw and energetic it is. plus, the last 4 songs is an encore of all ramones songs.

This is a fairly essential CD, giving a lot of that "live magic" to songs that already totally rocked on the albums (mostly this stuff comes from "Sister"). Plus the Ramones covers at the end of the disc are lovely. I don't find the recording quality to be a problem, though I guess it is a little rough. I've got racks full of live CDs by these kids, and this one is a favorite, only bested by the fan-club-released (and out-of-print) "Live at the Continental Club," recorded in Austin in '86 just before "EVOL" came out (please re-release! for the good of the people!).