From: rob@msc.cornell.edu (Rob Vaughn)
Subject: REVIEW: Sonic Youth _Dirty_ and live July 4th (LONG)
Organization: Cornell-Materials-Science-Center
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 15:48:12 GMT

           A Very Sonic Experience - NYC, July Fourth Weekend, 1992.

Prelude - A Review of the _Dirty_ LP
------------------------------------

Songs:	100% / Swimsuit Issue / Theresa's Sound-world / Drunken Butterfly /
	Shoot / Wish Fulfillment / Sugar Kane / Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit /
	Youth Against Fascism / Nic Fit / On The Strip / Chapel Hill / JC /
	Stalker (LP-only bonus track) / Purr / Creme Brulee

_Dirty_ is the name of Sonic Youth's newest album, their seventh overall,
two years after _Goo_ was released in August of 1990.  It's their second
major label outting, produced by Butch Vig.

In whole, the album is pretty much a straight-forward GRUNGE ROCK slab,
Sonic Youth style.  Regardless of Moore's claims to the contrary, they're
more of a "grunge" band on this album than anything else, with little or
no sign of their earlier art-school sound.  I consider it their version
of _Bug_, and I'll expound on that theory later.

The first single has been out for a little under a month now, and so far
reviews have been mixed.  Spastic SY fans like it without question.  Crusty,
diehard fans long for a return to the old days.  Those unfamiliar with the
band are saying things like, "Hey, this isn't so bad."  And some people just
continue to shake their heads in confusion.

The title track of the single, "100%", has garnered a lot of positive and
negative response so far, mostly the latter, which has prompted many to
decide that _Dirty_ is going to be a mainstream-catered washout before the 
album is even available.  Unfortunately, neither "Genetic" (a Lee Ranaldo
song) nor "Hendrix Necro" made it onto the album, which is too bad since
they're both excellent cuts.  But that doesn't mean one should judge the
upcoming album based on "100%".  Although I think it's one of the weaker
songs on the album, and does have a certain "commercial" feel to it, in my
opinion most of the complaints are unwarranted for a couple of reasons.

For starters, those claiming the song was written as an obvious single and
is the "most commercial" SY song to date needs to get their memory overhauled;
"Starpower" from _Evol_ and several other older songs all fit that category
better than "100%" does.  I think that once the album was written some
marketing folks at Geffen picked out the songs they wanted to promote as
singles, and of course they picked the most tame.  Hearing the album has
only solidified this position in my mind.

Secondly, the song sounds rather uneventful once MTV or your local FM station
has compressed the hell out of it, but give it a listen with headphones and
you'll realize that there's some pretty whacky guitar stuff going on there,
both highly derivative and noisy/chaotic, with Lee playing a simple melody
line while Thurston pulls all sorts of weird stunts, none of which sound
anything like what you'd normally hear from any other guitar band, nor what
I'd stoop to calling typical A&R stuff.

Lastly, the song is an obvious tribute to Joe Cole, so I suspect that
the lyrics and/or the music are somehow related or derived from Cole's work
or musical tastes.  The many complaints about the "simple" lyrics are off-
base as well, for example - "Starpower, Starpower, she knows how to make love
to me... Close my eyes and think of you, everything turns black to blue" and
countless other references to earlier SY material shows a very selective
memory on the part of these folks.  Sure, you can understand what Thurston
is saying.  Sure, the lyrics don't sound like they've been taken from a
Joyce novel.  But they're certainly no more stupid or silly than anything
SY has done in the past.

Here's a breakdown of the tracks:

100% - most likely you've heard the single by now on yer fave alternative
radio station, or you own the single, or maybe MTV is even playing a video.
A straight-forward Sonic pop song.  Although it sounds pretty poppy, there's
lots of manic guitar going on in the right channel courtesy of Thurston.

Swimsuit Issue - with Kim on vocals, this song is about an ex-DGC General
Manager who was fired (or quit) after sexually harassing his secretary.  The
lyrics are a jumbled stream-of-comments, snippets and pieces of thoughts, and
the names of the Swimsuit Issue women.  Overall a good rock tune that would
fit right on _Goo_.

Theresa's Sound-world - Slower powerful soundscape with Thrustin' on vocals.
This one would sound right at home on _Daydream Nation_, ebbing and flowing
from the main melody and verse to some powerful Sonic noisefills.  Steve's
manic drumming powers through this piece, driving it along during the strong
parts while Thurston whispers his way through the softer parts.  It sends
shivers up my spine.

Drunken Butterfly - real noisy, warped Sonic rocker.  Kim again on vocals,
with lots of warped guitar bashing.  Somewhat similar to "Hendrix Necro" on
the "100%" single, this one moves up and down, back and forth, with some 
nasty slide guitar which would make any bluesman (or blueswoman) puke.

Shoot - a slow Kim song, with some real low snarlin' bass and some nifty
Shelley high hat tricks.  A crawling, syrupy, trippy sort of song, with
the least sweet-sounding Kim vocals I've heard in some time, aside from her
live screams.  Yet another rock tune, this is somewhat unlike anything
they've done to date, until the slow, melodic ending.  Overall, a good song,
but one of the weaker ones.

Wish Fulfillment - one of the strongest tracks on the album, with Lee
singing, and some nice guitar interplay and rhythm bass.  With exciting
build-ups to the "chorus" pieces, it's one of the prettier songs,
reminiscent of _Sister_.  Another spine shiverer.

Sugar Kane - the next single, with Thurst back on vocals. Another full-speed
ahead rock song, with some classic Swanic guitar sounds, simple but strange
lyrics, and a fairly dissonant instrumental bridge.  This captures that lovely
sound full of that energy, feeling and moodiness that only Sonic Youth can
produce.  A chills producer.

Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit - a real noisy banging grunge song with Kim on
vox.  This ones moves all over the map, angry, loud, screaming, with a
few nice lulls here and there that relax the listener just before pounding
away at their head again.

Youth Against Fascism - Thurston has a go with some funny and pointed
political-comment lyrics over a background of whiney, atonal guitar and a
grumbling bass line and gets away with saying something.  Lots of noise on
this one, although the rhythm section keeps it fairly well anchored.  Guest
geetar slinging from Ian MacKaye.

Nic Fit - silly two-chord one-two punk rock song, man.  Cool 60 second
cover tune.

On The Strip - A slower, more melodic grinder, featuring some Sonic riffage
and a nice, long swirling line of sound, and some pretty urgent Kim vocals.
Near the end this all builds and falls apart and gets chaotic and wanders a
bit here and there, and finally comes together quietly at the end.

Chapel Hill - another rocker, a medium-paced tune that picks up pace as time
goes on.  With some nice Dino Jr. style fills, and some standard fuzz guitar,
this is a strong cruncher.

Stalker - the "album-only" track (a hearty haha to you CD only folks who
always win out with the bonus material.)  A weird, astral-sounding
piece that fits right into the rest of the material.  A good song, but the
CD-only folks aren't missing a whole lot.

JC - another Kim ramble, similar to "Shoot", there's some pretty nice
atonal stuff going on, each guitar following it's own path, coming
together and then moving apart.  It all comes apart in a grating mess at
the end, and finally putters out.

Purr - a simple grunge song, something that'd be right at home on any
Dino Jr. or Pixies album (even.)  Don't know why this was passed up as a
single, since it's a fairly predictable, 4-4 time clip, including a wailing
guitar solo of sorts.  It's been done a million times before, but it's a 
first for the Sonicz.

Creme Brulee - unlike anything they've really done, this weird, noisy
thing turns into an acoustic Kim ramble in a nice wrap-up to the album.
With a slight country twang and some stick-knocking work from Steve, and
some of the most nonsensical and foolish lyrics to come from the band, like 
"Last night I dreamed I kissed Neil Young, If I was a boy, I bet it
would have been fun."  Poor Neil.

_Dirty_ is a very diverse album, SY's most diverse to date.  Rather than
picking and exploring a single style, this album mixes the whole history of
SY's sound, from the first EP right up to _Goo_.  Listen to the whole "100%"
single and check out the diversity between the songs.  The album, if you can
imagine, is even more severe.  There's moody, longish songs ala _Daydream
Nation_, shorter rocking songs similar to those from _Sister_, arty songs
from the earlier days, you name it, it's there, including the 59 second
punk rock dork blast of "Nic Fit."

On the down side, the drums are mixed too far back in places, and the
vocals are way too upfront for my tastes, so Andy Wallace comes out looking
like the weak end of the link.  Many of the songs are on the four minute side
or shorter, and are a little less developed than I tend to like them.  The
lyrics aren't as wild as they've been, nor does the guitar really break any
new noise ground.  Shelley's drumming is as good as always, but he doesn't
seem to move in and out of the songs like he used to.

Getting Butch Vig to handle production has also been a big problem with
long-time fans, unaware of Vig's excellent track record with many guitar-
oriented bands long before his gig with Nirvana.  In spite of their
claim that Vig is the first producer they've ever worked with who really
seems to understand what the band is striving for production and sound-wise,
many have been expecting an album with nice, glossy, overproduced songs (as
though _Nevermind_ was anything like that.  Geez.)   To the contrary,
unlike _Goo_, which was recorded on some state-of-the-art gee-whiz studio,
_Dirty_ was done with low-production in mind; old equipment, lots of analog,
lots of one-takes, few overdubs.  And Vig gets that sound that has made him
a favorite producer in my book from efforts past.  It sounds good, but it
sounds like it was recorded in your garage.  I can see a lasting
relationship between Vig and the Youths building as time goes on, if either
party has any kind of sense.

Those who like the rockin' aspect of The Youth, ala _Sister_, _Goo_ and
some of faster, harder tracks from _Daydream Nation_ will be delighted with
this album.  Those looking for the old-style Youth soundscapes and art
attitude will be pretty disappointed with this one, and I honestly recommend
given this a listen before you pick it up.

There's been plenty of comments from the band in recent years that they
were moving away from a lot of their older style and towards more of
a rock-oriented one.  Thurston's oft-repeated comment that Dinosaur Jr.'s
_Bug_ was a "much, much better album than _Daydream Nation_" might be a
good indication of what they were shooting for, and my pet theory is that
_Dirty_ is the album they were aiming for when they put together _Goo_,
and if they had recorded this back then we'd probably be looking at
something totally and absolutely different, as I expect their next album will
be.  _Goo_ was done with a much bigger budget than the band was used to,
and was recorded on 48-track, which confused matters enough to require a
lots of effort on the part of several engineers (so the rumor goes) to put
it all together.  In the end, it was their most high-tech, polished album
to date, and didn't push the buttons they were looking for.  With _Dirty_
I feel they've succeeded in this mission, and are probably pretty satisfied
with the results.  After this, I'm betting that they'll spend some time
moving into new areas, new sounds, and seeking to push back the borders of
guitar experimentation once more.  Although I like _Dirty_ quite a bit, I
don't see much of a future for the band if they continue down this path,
no matter how much of a Sonic devotee I am.

July 3 - Unannounced Show at CBGB's
-----------------------------------

Sonic Youth played an unannounced show at CBGB's billed as "Drunken
Butterfly," the title of a track off the new album.  Openers were Cell
(with former Das Damen member, bass player, I think) and Polvo, who were
pretty damn good, playing an atonal, noisy set reminiscent of early Sonic
Youth, enough so that they went as far as announcing one of their songs
as sounding "even more like a Sonic Youth song than the last one."  I
missed Cell, unfortunately, since things did promptly start at 9PM
(surprise!) but caught about half of the Polvo set, which made me regret
missing the first half.

Someone on alt.music.alternative mentioned seeing Thurston and Kim riding
around in a limo, acting posh and exclusive and refusing an offer of some
ice cream.  Aside from the obvious rebuttals that (a) they might not like
ice cream and (b) few people would want to suck on a complete stranger's
food anyway, I just don't buy it.  The members of Sonic Youth have never
acted more than ordinary to the best of my knowledge, and I saw little or
no evidence of pomposity or other forms of stuckupidness that weekend.

As we pushed our way into CBGB's (I didn't realize that it was going to get
*much* more packed by the end of the evening, I saw Thurston hanging out
up by the pool table where they were selling SY shirts, sitting there by
himself, holding a stick.  Not being of fanboy nature, and not knowing
what I'd say anyway, I didn't try to talk to him or anything, but he
certainly seemed approachable.  Further into the club (a long, narrow path,
for those unfamiliar) was Lee Ranaldo, hanging out and BSing with Bob
Bert and someone else.  Again, I kept my mouth shut, but I never felt as
though I couldn't just have talked to them if I had something to say. 
Perhaps I should have spoken up to test my theory, but I'm not a very
good idolizer.

We hung out, the band came on stage, and things started.  Lee said little,
Steve said nothing (although Thurston harassed him a bit) and Kim looked
and acted pretty burned out, only opening her mouth to handle the lyrics
to "Swimsuit Issue" and some others.  Thurston did all the yammering, and
yammer he did, in a retarded, friendly way that didn't smack of ego or
even reverse-ego.  He was pretty funny, ad-libbed a lot of comments, and
even made jokes with some audience chatter.

The drumsticks came out and went under and onto the strings for at least
two songs (one really old, one new) and the encores, and they seemed willing
to break lots of strings and generally muck about with the guitars, switching
after every song.  Steve played a regular-sized setup, nothing elaborate,
although he pulled out the maracas for "Dirty Boots" and the soft mallets
for "Sugar Kane" (which gave him some trouble while juggling back and forth
between these and his sticks.)  Kim's bass sounded real deep and nasty,
and both were fairly huge, especially for her size (someone next to us
commented that the smallest women always play the biggest basses.)  She
didn't seem to be into the audience interaction thing, content with bobbing
up and down and doing the "shoe-gaze" thang (ha!)  Lee was business as
usual, a true professional.  Fun watching his face when Thurston was tuning
and hitting some awful notes.

They've gotten a synth to play with, and used it in-between two songs as
filler much like they used to do with tape loops in the old days.  Listen
to the noisy bridge in "Hendrix Necro" with the repeating crunchs and drum
sounds - that's the one.  Thrustin' and Lee banged it up for fun while
switching geetars, and announced that they'd bought a synth.  Couldn't see
it from where we were.

The set list, to the best of my knowledge, went as follows (new stuff
marked with "*"):
 
"Teenage Riot"
Old song, first album, "I Don't Want To Push It" (???)
"Dirty Boots"
*"Drunken Butterfly"
*"Swimsuit Issue"
*"Youth Against Fascism"
*"100%"
*"Theresa's Sound-world"
*"Sugar Kane"
Encore: "Expressway To Yr Skull"

Near the end, "Expressway..." dissolved into a loud, crazed noisefest, with
Steve and Kim just holding down a dull background roar, and Thurston and
Lee going off on their guitars, pounding and slapping and twisting and
bending and everything else conceivable.  At some point Kim and Steve
left the stage, for good, while the others kept at the guitars, filling
the room with extremely loud waves of noise.  After many minutes, they set
their instruments down and ducked out, leaving them humming and feeding back
for a long while.  They returned briefly for more of the same, a little louder
and crazier, if you can imagine, and that was that.

I left a very happy camper with a grin on my face, although the encore seemed
to unnerve some of my friends.  Matt Dillan was seen on the way out (not by
me) so I have to assume that Keenau Reeves isn't the only new-wave-brat-pack
Youth fan.  Maybe he'll be in their next video too.

July 4 - The Central Park Show
------------------------------

I'd love to review Sun Ra, who was on first, but I don't consider myself
to be familiar enough with his music to do a good job.  Overall it was an
excellent performance, the bass player and sax guy stood out as amazing
musicians, and Sun Ra seems to be barely alive.  He was wheeled out, put
in front of the piano and, except for his hands, didn't move a muscle the
whole time.  It was sad, but the show was great and his playing was decent,
although nothing like it was before the stroke.  I give the man a lot of
credit for keeping at it.  It sure didn't look easy for him.

Sonic Youth came out, rather uneventfully, no lights, no backdrops, no
stageshow, no costumes, and tuned and tweaked a short while (we caught a
couple of warmup songs from outside the area during their soundcheck) before
kicking into "Teenage Riot".  The set list was about the same as the night
before, with the addition of "Kool Thing" before "Expressway..." and a
shorter finale.

At one point someone came up to Thurston after they finished a song and
yelled something in his ear.  He turned to the mic and with a grin announced
that "we've just gotten a report that they can hear us playing all the way
over at Park Avenue."  He backed away for a moment, and with a big smile
shouted into the mic, "Hey!  Park Avenue!  Wake the fuck up!!"  I don't think
I've ever seen anyone look so pleased with themselves.  

The band acted the same as the night before - Thurston doing the yammering,
Lee all business-with-a-grin, Steve working hard and having fun, Kim hair-
in-face and head-bobbing.  The only major difference was Kim's attempt to
talk about a "Kick Them Out Of NYC" rally against anti-abortionists going on
in town, with posters and all.  She certainly supported it, and the crowd
was behind her, but most of what she said was incoherent babble.  I definitely
got the feeling that she isn't much of a speech maker, nor does she feel very
comfortable around being in front of crowds.  Kinda funny, I felt, but at
least she made a point.

Overall, the songs were about the same as the CeeBee show, and the performance
seemed slightly less inspired (most likely due to the size/nature of the
place.)  I was very pleased, although of the two shows, the one the night 
before was the real treat.

Conclusion
----------

It's somewhat sad to say, but it's the first (and second) time I've ever
seen the band live, although I've been listening to them with earnest since
I picked up _Confusion is Sex_ right around the time they released _Evol_,
but happily, they're still wonderful live, and two shows for $8 total just
can't be beat.  I can't recommend their live show enough.

The album is out, and it's good.  They'll lose a bunch of older fans (or at
least make them very skeptical in the future) and probably pick up a bunch
more.  For now I'm satisfied, and hopefully we won't have to wait another
two years for the next one, which may be the "make it or break it" album
(third time's a charm.)  Whether or not they opt out for EmmTeeVeedom or
stay on the edge remains to be seen, but after this album they'll certainly
have the option to go either way.  Time will tell.

Rob

-- 

Rob Vaughn, Fugitive Systems Guy
Mat. Sci. Center Computing, Cornell University
rob@msc.cornell.edu - rob@crnlmsc2.bitnet
Newsgroups: rec.music.misc