Customer Reviews

Sonic Youth - Corporate Ghost: Videos, 1990-2002

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I very much love the music of Sonic Youth so I decided to go ahead and buy this video collection. Although I had no idea what to expect, I must say that I am very happy with what I got. Audio and video quality is as good as you can expect, especially since the videos come from such a wide rage of mediums ranging from low budget video to high quality film. Special features are great also, especially the videos directed by the fans and "My Sonic Room" where a fan paints the cover of the album Goo on her wall.
1. Dirty Boots- The band plays a concert while fans mingle with each other.
2. Tunic (Song For Karen)-Has a public access production value feel to it and it reminds me of David Lynch's Eraserhead. Includes hidden images of Karen Carpenter.
3. Mary-Christ-Mostly close ups of the band mixed with live footage, looks like it was shot with night vision cameras.
4. Kool Thing- Has Singer Kim Gordon holding a black cat while the band plays in a tin foil decorated room.
5. Mote- A mix of the band playing, footage of the film Koyaanisqatsi, and graphic dismemberment footage.
6. My Friend Goo- My least favorite on the disk, a homemade video with singer Kim Gordon in a pink cat suit singing along with a record.
7. Disappearer- The band goes on a strange road trip.
8. Mildred Pierce- Has the band in various locations around Hollywood and Sofia Coppola, director of Lost in Translation, plays Joan Crawford.
9. Cinderella's Big Score- an video about Kim Gordon's relationship to her brother is my interpretation.
10. Scooter And Jinx- Two female strippers star in this video, one poses naked while the other takes pictures.
11. Titanium Expose- Like a non linear short film, memorable for seeing singers Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore making out with each other.
12. 100%- The band plays a house party while footage of skateboarders is cut in.
13. Sugar Kane- Like a grunge fashion show video.
14. Youth Against Fascism- Just a collage of the band playing, motorcyclists, and other stuff.
15. Bull In The Heather- Features Kathleen Hanna from Bikini Kill acting obnoxious.
16. Superstar- a loving tribute to Karen Carpenter, the band is dressed up quite formally on a glitzy stage.
17. Little Trouble Girl- a slick looking video with a sci-fi edge, Kim Deal from the Pixies and the Breeders appears also.
18. The Diamond Sea- Footage from the band on the road.
19. Sunday- Stars Macaulay Culkin and some ballerinas.
20. Hoarfrost- Mostly footage of someone driving around at wintertime.
21. Nevermind (What Was It Anyway)- Has a bunch of people hanging out while Kim Gordon is singing on a laptop computer.
22. The Empty Page- More footage from the band touring.
23. Disconnection Notice- A short film featuring four young adults arguing with each other in a car.

this collection consists of every post daydream nation video the band has made as well as some bonus stuff. the band says that a collection of, as they call it, "pre selling out" era videos will be coming in the future. the videos are nice because almost all give you the choice of just the video or with commentary from the band. several also have commentary from the directors. as sonic youth fans know, the band made a video for every song of the album Goo. some are good, some not so good. the best videos are the ones that were singles. every director of the goo videos were givin the same budget and you can tell that it wasnt much. as the dvd progresses, traveling through the bands catalog, the videos get better. little trouble girl is a duet between kim gordon and kim deal and deal is featured in the video. macauly culkin is the video for sunday, jason lee dies in the 100% video, and sophia coppola is in the mildred pierce video. as for bonus footage, you have 2 videos made by fans for some mtv make-a-sonic-youth-video contest. the winner was a video of the band as sock puppets doing drunken butterfly and the runner up was swimsuit issue which featured a bunch of guys smoking with no shirts on while walking around a room. also, spike jonze shows his collection of black and white sonic youth pictures he took, mostly of when he worked on the 100% video. the sonic spiel segment is interviews with different people talking about sonic youth including mike watt, tamra davis, and dave markey. this segment includes a little live footage of the band, including thurston extensivly using drum sticks on the guitar.
the dvd itself (menus, quality, etc.) is put togethor quite nicely, i only take one star because some of the videos are lame. sonic youth is def. not a band that will be remembered for their videos. the music of sonic youth speaks for itself.

There are two ways to look at this video collection. If you're a sonic youth fan and if you're not.

number 1 is not a sonic youth fan
number 2 is a sonic youth fan

1. The videos are often low budget and show it. The footage is raw and intimate. This is not the kind of stuff you see on MTV- no fancy high budget videos whose production costs could feed 500 musicians for their intire lifetime.

2. Let's face it. Sonic Youth is one of the best and most influential bands of the last 20 years. They still tour and rock better than ever. This DVD is a reflection of the band and everything that makes them great. The videos on this DVD, while not essential to every single living breathing human, make a wonderful collection that lets the viewer to become truly more intimate with the band. If you have even a passing interest in anything relating to "alternative music" or "indie-rock" this is a DVD you should alteast go watch at one of your (much cooler) friend's houses. If you are a Sonic Youth fan this is a total no brainer, it's essential, buy it now.

If I had spent $25+ on this, I'd be dissapointed, however, for under $15, you can't go wrong with this collection.

Generally, I am not a big music video fan. A video has to be done super well for me to be more than vaguely interested. So the videos themselves were a mixed bag.

About a third of them I'll never watch again. Especially from the Goo sessions. The concept was cool, but the result a tad underwhelming.

The best part was the audio commentaries and bonus features. It's always great to hear visionaries talking randomly while watching old footage. And the bonus music videos made by fans (the puppet Sonic Youth, and the smoking men videos) are classic.

If you're a sonic youth fan, you need this collection.

This dvd is very good quality with lots of explinations and descriptions on the video's. I have seen many video collections this is honestly one of the better ones I have seen. There are lots of commentarys from the band and from a lot of other people that were in some of the videos. there are also a few live performances that are fun to listen too also. Its always nice to be able to watch every video in regular format or in commantary format... and learn how things were done, or just to get information on the videos they have. Definately worth buying. Dont sweat it.

If you bought the GOO video back in the day, about 1/2 the videos on this DVD are the same videos. Hey, don't get me wrong, if you haven't seen these videos, by all means, get the dvd! Just a fair warning that a lot of it may be things you've seen before.

That being said, sonic youth is probably, for my dollar, one of the top 10 rock bands ever assembled.

This is great. Some interesting commentary and its cool to see all the clips, many of which i had never seen.

I consider myself to be a pretty huge Sonic Youth fan. I've followed the band's work for years and seen them live a number of times. This collection of videos is pretty underwhelming considering the genius and importance of the band's music. The biggest problem is that these videos come from Sonic Youth's early 90's commercial period, which wasn't something I figured out until I had the DVD home. There are no videos from Daydream Nation or any of preceding albums, which includes most of Sonic Youth's best work.

Aside from the music not really being SY's best, some of the videos are downright embarassing, especially the hits from Goo and Dirty. They usually revolve around skateboard punks and stereotypical alternative kids from the early 90's, so they're dated as hell and a bit difficult to watch. I was especially disappointed with the videos from Murray Street, which was an exceptional album. The video for "The Empty Page" is just a collage of tour footage thrown together with footage of Moore lip synching in front of the mirror. "Disconnection Notice" is even worse, featuring teenaged kids arguing about something in a car. Couldn't they have found some better actors? It's worse than watching Degrassi.

If youre a big fan of mid-90's SY, this collection is probably for you. If you're a fan of their early material, you might want to save your money for the upcoming independent videography that's advertised on the back of this DVD.

all the videos, plus lots of cool extras - my only complaint is that i want to know if the girl who painted her room on video for the band got to meet them or not.

Sonic Youth has never been a visually oriented group, and this collection of videos is a testament to that fact. As songwriters and musical artists, their craft is daring, original, and groundbreaking. It's a shame that the video images are not on par with the music.

Beginning with the entirety of the album Goo and carrying through Murray Street, the videos are mostly comprised of teenagers making out, skateboarding punks, and bandmembers lipsynching their way through the material. It is decidedly middle of the road typical MTV material. The single most disturbing video is Sunday, which features gratuitous close ups of Macaulay Culkin(!) making out with a girl in slow motion. Surely a frightening image to anyone whose name isn't Michael Jackson.

Had this dvd come from a lesser band I wouldn't have been so disappointed, but with Sonic Youth I expect at least originality, if not always greatness. As the title suggests, this product is a collection of corporate marketing, with little room left for artistry.