A Thousand Leaves

Sonic Youth

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 12, 1998)
• Original Release Date: May 12, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Geffen Records
• ASIN: B000006P0F
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,219 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The ageless Sonic Youth return with a new, yet familiar, excursion into their own particular brand of ultra-amplified, dissonant rock. The quartet's CD A Thousand Leaves evokes fond memories of yesteryear's noisy, now-classic, avant-garde approach, while retaining snippets of traditional pop elements heard on several of their previous major-label releases. As Sonic Youth's music has gained a larger audience, they've preserved doses of the crunched melody and meandering structure that has always been their trademark. The new release sounds relatively unabashed, with wandering songs like "Female Mechanic Now on Duty" spewing extended barrages of feedback and Kim Gordon's dry, unsettling scowls at the listener. Look deeper, however, and there's a quiet resonance among the racket, with tracks like "Sunday" and "Snare, Girl" making use of Thurston Moore's cooler vocal tone and jagged, cascading guitar passages. --Matthew Cooke

Spin
The title of Sonic Youth's tenth album, A Thousand Leaves, betrays the reflective autumnal feel of the music. Kim Gordon has never sounded less demure and more riot grrrl angry than she does here.... [W]hat really keeps A Thousand Leaves vital is the continually inventive fretboard effects of Moore and Lee Ranaldo.... [Sonic Youth have not] outdone themselves here ... but they certainly have done themselves justice. Sonic Youth ... [is] still here because even when they're reaching within themselves, they're reaching way farther than most.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sonic Youth's modern masterpiece..., May 25, 2002

By	Aron Hsiao (Salt Lake City, Utah United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Along with Washing Machine, A Thousand Leaves is a clear indication that Sonic Youth have transcended the barriers of punk, noise, avant-garde, etc. and have become coincident with the core of modern music and modern lyric poetry across all genres and forms. A Thousand Leaves, sporting long, autumnal, melodic meditations like Hits of Sunshine and Wildflower Soul along ennui-laden snapshots like Hoarfrost and Sunday, is a kind of symphony for the pop/rock age and is as deep and haunting as anything the classicists ever scribbled down on paper.

Now, I've heard and read any number of reviews referring to A Thousand Leaves as 'more experimental' and 'not very pop oriented' but of course these phrases are coming from the mouths of those that do not know much of the history of Sonic Youth or much of truly experimental music. Neubauten's 'Drawings of Patient O.T.' it's not -- in fact, I wouldn't refer to A Thousand Leaves as 'experimental' music in any sense of the word... But by the same token, if you're looking for hooks, hooks, hooks or the McDonald's-style music that SY cashed in with (and more power to them) during the 'grunge era' then this isn't the album for you.

If you own Sister and Daydream Nation, however, or even just Washing Machine, and listen to them all the time, unable to keep from tapping your feet and swaying just a little... Then A Thousand Leaves is another perfect Sonic Disc for you.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of SY's strongest albums, March 23, 2001

By	almosthappy (San Diego, CA, California) - See all my reviews

Sonic Youth never fitted so comfortably in the Seattle-based grunge scenes of the early nineties. They tried to fit in and appeal the Lollapalooza crowd with the release of Goo and Dirty, two of their most uninspired recordings. They won over much popularity but lost their early avant-garde noise rock edge. Experimental Jet Set, Trash & No Star, a very delightful recording, shook off some of their gruge disguise from the previous two albums but still intended to be a market pleaser. With the release of Washing Machine, SY was officially back. With the release of A Thousand Leaves-a Washing Machine after a series of metamorphisis-brought SY to their second career peak since Daydream Nation. The album is packed with emotions and cerebrally challenging musical innovations. It's both bleak and warm, dreamy and energizing, ordered and anarchic. A Thousand Leaves is very structured. The remarkable opening track Contre le Sexisme sets the scene for the songs to follow, it's like the prelude in an opera that opens up the curtain to a stageful of human dramas. Somehow reminds of me Tom Waits' Black Rider. Anyway, this album is highly recommended. Also, if you like this album, may I also suggest the following ablums: musically similar are albums such as Washing Machine(obviously), SYR 5 with Kim Gordon, DJ Olive and Ikue Mori, and Sentimental Education by Free Kitten(an excellent side project by members of SY, Pussy Galore, Pavement and Boredom); similar in spirit are Black Rider(by Tom Waits) as mentioned before, and Tuesday Afternoon by Brian Eno.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Their best album; a true masterpiece, March 1, 1999

By	Justin Oser (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews

I have almost every Sonic Youth album, including their supposed best "Sister" and "Daydream Nation" and this blows the rest of them away. It has lots of noise, which I love, but some of the best stuff on here has no noise. "Hoarfrost" is the most beautiful Sonic Youth song (maybe any song) I've ever heard, "Snare, Girl" is also quite beautiful. If you like albums full of songs that aren't afraid to go on for as long as it takes to make a complete song (the average song on here is almost seven minutes) and a good balance of noise and beauty, this is the album for you. I don't know if they'll ever top this one, but I can only hope their next album will.