The Official Needles and Grooves 1001 Album Generator Project

Lee Newman said:
09-26-23
d256dac3a66e823efb3f6aee334605121e65ac8b

Sonic Youth - Evol



www.allmusic.com

EVOL - Sonic Youth | Album | AllMusic

EVOL by Sonic Youth released in 1986. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com
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EVOL seems to be where they turned their first (of many) corners as a band stylistically. Bad Moon Rising was was probably their transitional album from their No Wave starting point to a more traditional style of a song based album concepts but EVOL was their first full album structured in this way and it’s great though they will come to top it quite a few times over the next quarter century.

This album does contain a couple of my all time favorite SY tracks, “Tom Violence” and especially “Expressway To Yr Skull” which is probably a top 5 all time SY track.
 
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Lee Newman said:
09-26-23
d256dac3a66e823efb3f6aee334605121e65ac8b

Sonic Youth - Evol



www.allmusic.com

EVOL - Sonic Youth | Album | AllMusic

EVOL by Sonic Youth released in 1986. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com
Click to expand...

I picked up basically the entire early Sonic Youth discography when Geffen rereleased them on CD in 1994 (most of them were at "Nice Price" as well). I had only heard Dirty, Goo and Daydream Nation by then, and what a complete revelation especially this and Sister was when I heard them. It felt like I got to discover an expanded universe of sound and noise.
Today EVOL is the sound of classic Sonic Youth for me, although I do think they have made at least five other albums that I think are better in some way. Although you can't get to whatever "alternative rock" was in the 90s without first passing through "Expressway to yr skull".
So still 5 stars.
 
Lee Newman said:
09/27/23
ab67616d0000b2734f70220d934183ce2db16d6a

Bjork - Medulla



www.allmusic.com

Medúlla - Björk | Album | AllMusic

Medúlla by Björk released in 2004. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com
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My second favorite Björk album, just shy of Vespertine. Daring, powerful, debonair. A fully-realized instrumental concept; the human voice as an instrumental arsenal. In the hands of a lesser artist, this would be a mere gimmick but Björk uses the voices in creative ways which always serve the music and never distract (or detract) from it.
It is one of one.

Rating: 5/5 [Masterpiece]
 
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I mean, I love her artsy stuff, but it can be overindulgent/overwhelming. Saying it's not top tier doesn't mean it's bad. I just prefer other albums. I really like the more accessible nature of her first two albums. I like the step towards this artsy stuff with Homogenic. I just happen to think that Vespertine and Biophilia are her masterpieces. Those would be the acme for her. I'd honestly have a hard time rating anything after that.

How much of her stuff appears on this list? Because I kind of feel like her whole body of work is worthy of inclusion.
 
I was a huge fan of both The Sugarcubes and Björks first couple of albums. Seeing her on Roskilde festival in 1994 (in a way too small tent stage) is one of my best concert memories. I lost her some time in the late 90s/early 00s though. I think I bought Vespertine when it came out, but I simply didin't have the patience to delve into it then.

She has such an interesting career, though! I mean, she was seen as the next mega star after Debut and Post, and some predicted she would reach Madonna levels of pop star fame, and then she just did....something completely different.

So, first time listening to Medulla. And this is really good! Pop music twisted and turned into new artistic territories. I think I will have to dig out Vespertine again and then give this later era Björk a new chance!
 
dbarila said:
On paper, Sonic Youth is a band that I should like a lot more then I do. This album was fine but there' just something about their sound that I find hard to get in to. EVOL was fine...3/5. I remember liking Daydream Nation more.
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Oh Daydream Nation, Sister, Goo, Dirty, Washing Machine, Sonic Nurse, Murray Street, Rather Ripped, and A Thousand Leaves are all better albums. I doubt anything post-Washing Machine makes this list but they should have multiple entries still definitely including Daydream Nation which is a crowning achievement.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Oh Daydream Nation, Sister, Goo, Dirty, Washing Machine, Sonic Nurse, Murray Street, Rather Ripped, and A Thousand Leaves are all better albums. I doubt anything post-Washing Machine makes this list but they should have multiple entries still definitely including Daydream Nation which is a crowning achievement.
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Man just listing them out like that… what a fucking amazing band.
 
Lee Newman said:
Man just listing them out like that… what a fucking amazing band.
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I know you are music book guy, not sure if you’ve read Kim’s memoir Girl In The Band (which is great) but Thurston is releasing his memoir next month and you can buy a signed copy from B&N currently for retail…
www.barnesandnoble.com

Sonic Life: A Memoir (Signed Book)|Signed Book

From the founding member of Sonic Youth, a passionate memoir tracing the author's life and art—from his teen years as a music obsessive in small-town Connecticut, to the formation of his legendary rock group, to thirty years of creation, experimentation, and wonderThurston...
www.barnesandnoble.com www.barnesandnoble.com
 
Sonic Youth is a band that on paper I should also be all over. I have been digging into mainly Daydream Nation, Goo and Bad Moon Rising throughout the last year or so and look forward to trying this one out soon.

I also read Girl in a Band and unfortunately cannot echo the recommendations for it here. For a SY superfan I can see it being interesting, but I thought it was very scattered and Kim came across as pretty self-absorbed (not to the extent that Thurston clearly was, of course, but still not well) and, for lack of a better word, uh, boomer-y?
 
dbarila said:
On paper, Sonic Youth is a band that I should like a lot more then I do. This album was fine but there' just something about their sound that I find hard to get in to. EVOL was fine...3/5. I remember liking Daydream Nation more.
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BjorgenFjorgen said:
Sonic Youth is a band that on paper I should also be all over. I have been digging into mainly Daydream Nation, Goo and Bad Moon Rising throughout the last year or so and look forward to trying this one out soon.
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Did we both give the same exact review? ;)
 
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