Wow.. i actually liked condescending prick version of thurston on this record.. what would free city rhymes be without him?

Yes i agree that lyrically its near ATL in power and indeed ATL is possibly Sonic Youth best lyrics of any record. It is also definitely a new beginning as it was the first new record after getting all their gear stolen here in LA in 1999.. the structure, style, and sound of this record reflects how it was written, on acoustic guitars. I think getting their shit stolen was a blessing in disguise as it forced the band into a new, more "traditional" direction.

They started writing new material on acoustic guitars which forces you to be more conventional, traditional, and musical in approach. The wild experimental tunings were replaced by more near standard tunings. They also built on a lot of open chord tunings similar but more elaborate than on ATL.. indeed i often play all the music from 98-2004 perios on my solo acoustic when jamming on the porch.

I think this transition is why its my fav sonic youth era

The Title track is easily one of my ALL-TIME fav Sonic Youth songs. While some might gripe that is overly pretentious or "arty", I've always found it to be ambitious and a fitting bridge between what preceded and followed...

The title track might feature the best noise jam of any SY album

you jam SY on the porch too. that's awesome!!!

Yes!I actually covered "Stones" when I was in a "porch blues" band a few years ago.. I LOVE to jam Nurse or ATL tunes on my acoustic :)

cool!! everything from Murray to Eternal sounds good on acoustic.

I think i said this a couple times on here, but seeing that song live during the Goodbye 20th century tour is still among the best live music experiences I ever had. jaw dropping. noise.

no sucking dick today? too bad. maybe tomorrow.:cool:

im going to hate murder you!!!!:fuckyou:

are you done harassing me you pig fucker??????:fuckyou:

ill come here everyday I can to insult you. yr the worst!!!!

ahhh fuck, this is why sweeping statements don't work kids. :eek: :mad: :(

It was your statement yo

Used to hate this record, but over time it really grew on me. Has a vibe and style all its own. Free City Rhymes is one of my favorite SY songs.

I feel like WM-ATL-NYC or ATL-NYC-MS are some of their more creative albums in succession that both reinvented and defined who they were as a band.

I've never found Thurston's voice blokeish, and I don't have any problems with vocal delivery on NYCG+F, I actually really like T's vocal delivery on the album.

again a shitty generalisation from me, blokeish isn't even the right word, but that snarl he adopted around goo really grates on me, streamxsonik subway makes me feel sick sometimes. not entirely sure this is the right word for what I'm thinking but he seems almost insincere in these types of tracks?

I think you put it well here. I would not have picked up on what you were meaning with "blokeish" either, but describing it as his "snarl" makes perfect sense. I know exactly what you are talking about now, and totally agree. Never been a fan of it myself.