3 1/2

As proven with one of their most solid singles to date (Unmade Bed), Sonic Youth continued their late career refinement with this virtual compilation and culmination of the many sounds we have seen this band evolve through ever since the mid 80's. Most of these songs do not break much new ground, but the entire album flows solidly nonetheless. Even Kim Gordon's obligatory horse-vocaled contributions (often entirely too self-consciously ugly for her own good) work well in the context of this easily digestible compendium.

I wasn't a huge fan of Murray Street, but this album blows me away. After Murray Street, I thought maybe they had lost their touch and weren't going to retire with a kick. Well I was proven wrong. I was really surprised that they came out with this, I had kind of given up on them since they came out with Murray Street (Sorry Murray Street fans), and then I just looked them up for old times sake, and whadya know - an awesome album. This is as good as it gets as far as good music is concerned. I can't wait for their new album to come out!

Another album, experimental as always, but at the same time it is listenable.....The melodies are obscure, consisting of harmonics, and sound manipulation with the effects.deep bass ..the drums are used in complex time signatures, making it stand out and has a new approach making it different than the other albums......chaotic noize and complex melodies... the sound goes on........

I liked 2000's "MURRAY STREET" a lot, and was interested to see what direction they would take this one in. I wasn't sure I would like it. I was not disappointed though, and now i think of the two albums as companion pieces, not sure which i like more, though certainly this is a more lengthy, and probably developed record.
PATTERN RECOGNITION - this song just kicks ass, no way around that. i love the riff, the lyrics, kim's vocals, everything.
UNMADE BED - this might be my favorite song on the album, but that would be hard to say for sure. not too much noise or experimentation here, just a very poignant song that is sonically blistering and beautiful, and has excellent arrangement, touching vocals, and amazing feeling. the guitars are just unbelievably great. short, but packs so much into it.
DRIPPING DREAM - i've heard a lot of good things about this song, and i think it was one of the first ones i liked when i first heard this album, but now it doesn't seem as good as i thought. it's good, just.. it gets better.
MARIAH CAREY AND THE ARTHUR DOYLE HAND CREAM - oh, wait.. did they change the name? oh, i see. it's now KIM GORDON. probably afraid of offending ole' miss carey. not a bad song, they played this when i saw them on tour for murray street. it's enjoyable, but nothing amazing.
STONES - this would have to rival UNMADE BED for favorite on the album. the guitar work here just blows my mind, and the bridge and climax of this song just send me into sonic ecstasy. due to misfortunate events, i didn't get to see them tour on this album, but i had REALLY wanted to hear this song live. there is so much intensity in the playing.
DUDE RANCH NURSE - this song is really good as well. i mostly like it for its lyrics, and thought the album should have been called this instead of sonic nurse. kim really grabs you with her vocals in this song, "Let nurse give you a shot!".. it's very erotic in some weird way that only some of us could understand, haha.
NEW HAMPSHIRE - a good song, somewhat autobiographical for thurston, i gather. good lyrics, good vocal, great guitar work once again.
PAPER CUP EXIT - another high point of the album, but i'm not sure what to say about it. love the lyrics, love the guitar work, yadda yadda. i sound like a broken record. this is a lee vocal, and one of his best ones. one of the more political songs on the album, and a bit less obnoxiously so than the last track..
I LOVE YOU GOLDEN BLUE - somewhat in the vein of 'SYMPATHY FOR THE STRAWBERRY,' and although i like the other better, this does a good job. starts out with the noisy part like 'sympathy,' and then goes into a sultry kim vocal. very haunting, beautiful. but also, somewhat hopeful at moments. very good song.
PEACE ATTACK - i really liked this song when i first got the album, and i still think it definitely has a good point, and the climax of the guitars is pretty kickass. it just seems a bit kitsch now.
so overall, this is one of the best albums, like, ever. buy it. steal it. whatever you have to do, if you're a fan of the guitar, get this album.

This would be album 13 by the greatest rock band of the last 25 years (that is, "major" albums, as opposed to EPs, live albums, best-of's, SYR releases, side/solo projects and various other sonic effluvia). The band will be eligible for Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame membership in about 2007 (don't start writing that speech yet, Thurston; if Patti Smith and Iggy can't make the cut yet, the Hall is useless anyway) and by now their name can apply more to their actual kids. Normally this means that it would be time to bland out and gently jam their way into senescence. For Our Heroes, this is fortunately not the case.

Upon intitial listenings to "Sonic Nurse," one can be forgiven for thinking otherwise. The songs are generally long (only two clock in under 5 minutes) and some have relatively little--or none--of the free form sonic freakouts that are supposed to be the band's stock in trade. Heck, some of Thurston's offerings here have more than a little of a certain hippy-ish vibe. On "Stones" he even sings "the dead are alright with me." Wait, is that as in the Grateful freakin' Dead? The full lyrics are of course too eliptical to tell for sure, although they seem to be about endurance in the face of adversity and death, so there's a definite acknowledgement of getting older, anyway. Mind you, song titles like "Peace Attack" with its "nature sex" refrain (at first I thought it was the more punkish "nature sucks") can worry even hard-core SY fans. Thurston has described "Sonic Nurse" as a cross between Black Flag's "Damaged" and Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors," and one can argue that it's too much of the latter, but give this one a chance to sink in and you'll be hooked.

Not everything is peace n' love, thankfully. Kim Gordon has turned out to be the band's edgiest songwriter (check out her SYR project with Ikue Mori and DJ Olive), and her contributions kick those jams out the door, down the street, into your house and knock you over but good. The album's opening salvo "Pattern Recognition," about pro corporate trendspotters, buzzes and screams like some of the primo "Dirty" material, and what can be said about the puckishly titled "Kim Gordon and the Arthur Doyle Hand Cream"? It's a gossipy, hilarious take on recent events in the life of Mariah Carey ("how was your date with Eminem?/Did he bake you and then forsake you?") with the album's stormiest musical backing that is, in a word, fierce. Kudos also for name-checking free jazz great Doyle as well.

It should also be noted that despite the softer moments, the album is still loads more dissonant than most of what passes for "alt rock" these days. Sure, I love the Arcade Fire as much as anyone, but it's great to have a group that combines that level of songwriting prowess with the musical un-orthodoxy bred of punk, free jazz and experimental musics. Sonic Youth are still more than relevant, my friend--they're necessary. No Wave? Try Now Wave.