Sonic Youth Rare Tracks Vol 1 & 2
 

So I was at my favorite record store in NYC a week or two ago and I'm looking through the Sonic Youth section and they just have the reissues and such but then I stumble upon two different things. They are titled "Rare Tracks Vol 1" and "Rare Tracks Vol 2." I believe they are bootlegs of some sort. I just finished listening to both of them and the quality is great. "I Love You Golden Blue" appeared on "Vol 1" just as it sounded on the Nurse LP. The person/people who made these probably just ripped them off the album. Also, "Pipline/Kill Time" and "Waist" appeared on "Vol 2" and they both sounded just like they did on the album. The list of songs printed on the back of "Vol 2" did not correspond to their respective side (Side A started with "The Drummer Is Fine (Part 2)"). And Cherry's Blues wasn't on "Vol 2" at all but the first few seconds of it were on the Side B of "Vol 1." It occured to me before and even moreso after purchase that neither of these were "new" depsite that they were grouped with new, shrink-wrapped and official Sonic Youth records. Two pictures below, more on Photobucket (link is also below)! I was just wondering, what do you guys think of this? Have you seen them before? Are there more volumes out there? Do any of you have these? Or if you have any questions, please ask me.

Photos: http://s1296.beta.photobucket.com/user/zelocia/library/

Here is the track listing for both albums:

Vol 1:
Think It Over
I Love You Golden Blue
bee bee's song
pterodactyl wars
Compilation blues
Superstar
fri/end
Untitled (Lee home demos)
The Sprawl part 1
The Sprawl part 2
Cherry's Blues

Vol 2:
Cherry's Blues
Tomorrow Never Knows/GlassOnion
Thought Bubbles
Pipeline/Kill Time
Waist
the drummer is fine (part 2)
Platoon II
Giggles
stereo sanctity (live)
santa don't cop out on dope
fire engine (part 2)

Been discussed before a couple of times - bit of an odd grab-bag really, a random bunch of tracks presumably sourced from the mixtape mp3's.

It is hard to tell sometimes, unless you are Chris Lawrence or CHOUT, what is an "official" release and what is bootleg and what is a straight up rip-off.

C'mon, these things are about as bootleggy as bootlegs get.

I can imagine that I am not the first person to have posted something about these before but I just wanted to say something about them. I found it odd that my favorite record store put them with the brand new Sonic Youth records. I always check their section because once and awhile oddities like this find there way in there. For example, a few months ago I found a New Blockaders record that came out on Ecstatic Peace! I don't know when but Thurston played on one side and Jim played on the other. The fold-out poster/sleeve thing is not perfect and the records themselves play fine despite a few imperfections. I have yet to take a closer read of the text on the posters but on Vol 2 there is a "family tree" of Thurston's, Kim's and Lee's pre-Youth bands, and a timeline of the line up by year. All of which I already knew but someone put a quite a bit of effort in putting all of this together, which I do appreciate. I paid $30 for each, which was a bit pricey but I am really glad I got them.

All mp3-sourced bootlegs. A lot of thought was definitely put into the art, but they probably sound like shit (given the source material). I'd still totally buy them if I saw them!

I didn't ever have the urge to get them. They look pretty nice though.

Those band family trees probably came from the Sensational Fix book.

Actually, the sound quality is pretty good. As I said before, I'm really glad that I bought them and I would defintely buy more volumes if there are any.

I wouldn't have known that because I have yet to purchase that book. Haha

I bought these on the same day I found Walls Have Ears, kind of had a SONIC FREAK OUT that day! However, I'm not sure if I'm glad I got them. I keep going back and forth on whether I should try to sell them or not. The posters are cool, though I wouldn't hang them, and the tracklists are a weird grab-bag. If I had not just found Walls Have Ears and gone into a highly specialized record-collector-specific holy-grail-finding euphoric state, I probably would have passed these up, thinking "Mp3 to vinyl, meh..."

I also got The Beatles White Unplugged Album (aka Esher Demos, aka Kinfauns) that day, which is a holy grail of a different sort. No money left that month, but lots of endorphins.

That's the thing, there's no way they're not mp3-sourced, so anyone who has the original mix tape mp3s already has the best quality version of these releases available, for the most part. Obviously "Cherry's Blues" and "Pipeline" and "Platoon II" and whatnot are all available in much better quality on their original releases...

Well, only the first couple of seconds of "Cherry's Blues" played and then the record stop. I guess the person that made these had the intention to put that song on their but did not carefully consider the limited amount of "space" on the record. (Forgive me for not knowing more correct sounding terms for records). I have an original pressing of Sister from the U.K. and I did notice a difference between "Pipeline" on that record and the one that appeared on this boot. But that doesn't have anything to do with the quality of the boots overall. I'm guessing the version of "Pipeline" that is on this record was ripped from the CD reissue of sister. I have the reissue of Ciccone both on CD and vinyl so I didn't notice a difference between the song as it appeared on the reissue. But again, like "Pipeline," it was probably taken from the reissue CD.

That's hilarious about "Cherry's Blues", I wondered why it was included on both volumes!

If you're curious about any of the songs, go here and click "Web Downloads" at the top of the page. It looks like they were mostly mined from the first four.

All I want for Christmas is another mix tape...

just to toot my own horn those family trees are based on one I created and gave to Lee. credited in the second edition...

SO Zelocia, uh, what is your favorite record store in NY?

Actually, "Cherry's Blues" wasn't included on both. It was included (but just a little bit of the beginning of the song) on "Vol 1" and it was listed on "Vol 2" but there wasn't even a fragment of it.

Also, you said in an earlier post that you'd totally buy them if you saw them, I actually was in the store I got them at's sister store today and they had them both. Not sure if I'm surprised or not.


Generation Records

So how closely do these actually follow the track listings?

Vol 1: Side A:

Think It Over
I Love You Golden Blue
Bee-Bee's Song
Pterodactyl Wars
Compilation Blues
Superstar

Side B:

Fri/end
Untitled (Lee's home demos)
The Sprawl Part 1
The Sprawl Part 2
Cherry's Blues (part)

Vol 2: Side A:

The Drummer Is Fine (Part 2)
Platoon II
Giggles
Stereo Sanctity (Live)
Santa Don't Cop Out On Dope

Side B:

Tomorrow Never Knows/GlassOnion*
Thought Bubbles
Pipeline/Kill Time
Waist

*Not sure what this is. I don't think it could possibly be a cover of those songs. It features a strange Thurston vocal (the lyrics mention R.E.M.) and lots of noisy gtrs.

When comparing the two records, what I find strange is how the order of the songs listed on the back of "Vol 1" closely pertain to the order on the record. However, on "Vol 2," the record starts with a song from around the middle of the list on the back. And there is no "Fire Engine (Part 2)" (whatever that is) as the last song on "Side A" is "Santa Don't Cop Out On Dope."

I just picked up Vol. 1 at my local record store and I'm lovin' it so far. "I Love You Golden Blue" is one of my favorite songs ever and right now "Superstar" is playing and it's just beautiful. I remember seeing Vol. 2 there and I think also maybe a Vol. 3 but they weren't there today when I looked..

The poster is fucking badass.

Found Vol 2 at he record store today Got it