Am I the only person who doesnt think Sister is that good?
 

Ive always had a problem with Sister, i dont know if its because the first time i listened to it i was on the tube with a malfunctioning CD player and cheap headphones, but i think alot of the songs on there - Schizophrenia, White Kross, Tuff Gnarl - are incredibly overrated. Catholic Block, Beauty Lies and Cotton Crown are fantastic tunes, but its really not remarkable as a collection of songs beyond that in ones humble opinion

It doesnt help that when i saw the band a couple of years ago the only song they played from that whole period (bar DDN as it was a DDN gig) was Schizophrenia.

Am I alone?

Yup.

It sounds crazy, as I'm a fan of the band, but I've never listened to "Sister".

^^ I'm writing to Chabbib so you get banned.

I'll never get banned as Kim likes me SO much.

I knew this would happen.... do i get to choose which desert i am banished to?

mojave probably.

go listen to it!

YOU HAVE ONE LAST CHANCE TO SAVE YR SOUL

I think Evol's better, but Sister has a lot of classic SY tunes on it.

Sister is still amazing, but it's always been probably my least favourite of the 80s albums, including The Whitey Album. At the very least, DDN, EVOL, and CIS all blow it away. I don't know what it is about it, as I like all the songs on it, but as a whole it always just seems to drift past me without ever really clicking. I really wish I could love it as much as some seem to, but it just never really happens for me. Schizophrenia and Kotton Krown are both stunning though.

I think the songs on Sister are all amazing but I don't like the production. I'd take big, Butch Vig, Dirty production over Sister's lo-fi-ness any day. THEN AGAIN I've only heard it on CD, so if i heard it on vinyl or a better mastering of the CD my opiniuon might change..

My favorite sonic youth album is sister.

this thread is bullshit

"Schizo" alone is worth the cost of admission.

Do you mean "not that good" compared to other SY output? or do you mean "not that good" in the general sense of suck?

I can respect the former, although I patently disagree, but if you mean the latter
FUICKING A MA N FUCK FUCK YOU GOT TO HXCHTeclenaOUT YRFUCKING EARS FGODDMAMN TURENTHAT SHIT UP TO 11 AND PBVLAST IT OR BETTER YET FIND A NF4IND WITRH A BAD ASS STERE SUYSTEM IN THEIR CAR AN DRIVE AROUNDALL NIGHT TLIOSTETI TG SUISTER IS A NIGHT RECORD ANIGHT MNUSCIOD DBFFVFVFUFICKFUFDCFUJKCUFJKFUFKUIFIfuiuuuuicxjkkkk kkkk

Of course its better than most rock music, it has some great songs on it, i just dont get its elevation as one of the best albums ever and one of SYs best albums ever, i tend to put it in the bottom 2 or 3 of their studio albums. Its never grown on me in the way that A Thousand Leaves or Washing Machine have.

Ikara, it gets a lot of praise, and got a lot of praise because in 1986 so much massive suck was flooding the stereos. I think that sister is the one SY album that truly shaped what became "alternative rock" later on.
It was the first one where SY really explored the standard rock song format, fucking with it, building up songs without any "rational" conclusions, exploring that warm analog effect thurston loves so much.

by comparison washing machine has too many songs that are completely irrelevant to me.

see, that sort of explaination means nothing to me. Bad Moon Rising and Evol - Daydream Nation and Goo. Inconceivably magnificent pieces of work. Sister just stands in the middle and doesnt stand up to those high water marks.

I can relate to this, yes.

It's totally relevant to replace this into its context. Releasing this in 1987 was pretty much futuristic at the time.

I wasn't trying to explain why YOU should like it, just why it is in high regard by so many people.

I was taking that as a given, perhaps i didnt make that clear.
Still, nice to have a bit of controversy innit?

Pacific Coast Highway is perfect

Beauty Lies In The Eye is one of the greatest Kim Gordon seether slow build crescendo songs they have

Pipeline Kill Time is the motherfucking SHIT. I don't understand how you cannot shudder and bliss out when he whispers "we should kill time" with what sounds like an ocean of guitars softly crashing on a beach behind him

Catholic Block gets my blood pumping like few songs do.


I am biased though, since this and daydream nation are my favorite albums ever by anyone/

gotta love a good dustup over LP's man!!!

I'm down with Sister. But it's definitely not one of my preferred sonic albums. The thing that really kills that record for me is the way the drums sound. They just sound really lousy. With the exception of that one moment in Pipeline/Killtime where Steve does that brief disjointed bash and ends it with those two reverberated snare flams. I think it's around the minute marker, that part is bad. ass.

But because of that, that album doesn't really have the same energy to me that alot of the others do. But I'm cool with it, love Catholic Block, Stereo Sanctity, PCH, good album. But they have alot of better ones.

Indeed, Catholic Block and Beauty Lies im entirely with you. Pipelines ok, its nothing compared to something like Hoarfrost or Karen Koltrane though

hoarfrost is dope indeed.

noones agreed with me yet... i lie with baited breath

Well I kind of agreed with you. There are only like 3-5 SY albums that I like less than Sister. With that in mind, I've just put it back on to try again to click. Loving it so far, but that's just because Schizophrenia is still playing...

this is ridiculous. sister is a masterpiece, and has not a single weak song on it. and they all fit together. perfect.

Amazing album, probably their best aside from Confusion...

Shitty production but who cares? The songs are mindblowing.

Schizophrenia is SO much better on YPB.

Sister is my favorite of the '80s. The way you feel about Sister is the way I feel about Daydream Nation, but not as extreme. Aside from The Sprawl, 'Cross the Breeze, and Rain King, all the other songs are just okay for me.

its not that Schizo, White Kross and Tuff Gnarl are overrated, rather that their album versions are nothing compared to the live versions. All of those tunes make for fantastic shows, and are always impressive, but truly the album versions are lackluster..

Are you sure you're not the devil?

The time it came out was a time of massive boredom. It is fresh for its time. As a SY piece it looks like it was thrown together with not a lot of thought. The track programming starts strong with Schizophrenia but doesnt finish strong. Lots of good stuff in between. I am surprised no one has mentioned Kotton Krown, masterpiece. Maybe I like it because of the T and K singing or because they name check NYC...

now that you mention it...

I do have Hold That Tiger and 1991 The Year that punk broke, the performances on both of those do supersede Sister, Tuff Gnarl on Hold That Tiger is particularly good.

Generally my point still stands

your original point refers to the sound quality on the apparatus you were using. maybe you need to upgrade. on the other hand, sister has been canonized because of its lo-fi recording levels. i say, enjoy the warm fuzziness if you can.