Eternal is better than any other not-unknown band's record I heard in the last 3 years.

as far as the unknowns or have not yet knowns? they cannot be counted.

Still great, but I haven;t listened to it since sept

Still disappointed.

With a band as prolific as Sonic Youth you are bound to have favorites from their back catalog. My advice to those of you who are less than enthusiastic about The Eternal is to reacquaint yourself w/ the qualities that make you adore older albums and then seek those qualities out on The Eternal. It's hard because with a fan base like us --rabid SY fans that we are-- SY have a grip on our psyches in a million different ways (or less) and this fascination is often tied to a moment in history. I am speaking from experience here. I mean, Dirty was the album I grew up with so it has a special place in my heart. And I cannot afford the same space for The Eternal. On the other hand, I have grown and I realize I am living in the past when I put on Dirty. Better to forge new memories with new tunes or you will be stuck in the past forever. Apologies if you have already separated out the personal aspects of your like/dislike of whatever SY albums. I just needed to get this off of my chest.

Good one man. I however love the eternal. Fuckin Malibu gas station us my new fave on that album

I love this album..
and when I don't feel like playing it, I just don't!

I totally agree with you. But the reason of my dislike for The Eternal is not because I want them do do anything they have done before, but because of the lack of surprises( Massage The History not included!). I wanna be surprised by new SY albums!!
I truly believe they still have some amazing music in them, I just felt The Eternal was too easy. Sounds like they didn´t try hard enough to my ears.
But then others love it. We can´t all be happy right?

The first Eternal song I heard what What We Know and to say I was completely blown the fuck away was an understatement.

~Jeremy~

True, Newfoundland, I didn't find much that surprised me, either, on The Eternal. It all feels familiar. But I still enjoy them, as a band, for all their work, as a whole. Does that make sense? I mean what they have done in the past changes how I listen to them in the present, ie on The Eternal. When I wasn't thrilled with The Eternal, I put on Daydream Nation and soaked in the sonic levels of that. Then I returned to The Eternal looking for new things, like the pure sonic charge of a rock record. I'm not too sure of myself on this. All I know is that contrasting The Eternal with previous works made my experience of it more challenging, if not surprising.

I'm glad they made a straight up "normal" record rather than "Experimenting" like all of them kept hinting at after leaving Geffen. I know I'm probably in the minority with that one though.

~Jeremy~

The chord sequences are much "straighter" than before. More typical rock riffs at times, that was also true for Rather Ripped.

I feel the noise is less incorporated in their music now, it´s more like noise at the end of a song or a noise part in the middle of the song. In my opinion they were able to make the noise support the song and vice versa in a better way before. Much more nuanced.

And as discussed before here on the board the start of Antenna is quite a cheap and tired trick (the delay stuff) that I did not expect from someone who has studied weird guitar sounds for decades. Its a tiny detail, but still annoys me.

And also : hasnt Thurston´s lyrics become more stupid and annoying on the last two records? When he sing about "noise meditation" it makes me cringe.

Sometimes i think that they believe more in their importance as a band these last years after the positive feedback from Murray Street onwards. And I feel it has weakened their music, at least the post Jim O` Rourke albums. Most of my favorite music also have a lot of doubt and humbleness to it. And I am NOT trying to call them cocky! Somebody understand what i am trying to say? or agree/disagree?

Hope they use a long time in the studio next time, not the "record it quickly while it´s still fresh" attitude that they have opted for on the last two. Their best albums have both the immediate AND the tiny details in a good balance.

I'm looking at it now just as I looked at it when it was first released; it's a great record. It's fun listening to, and it's without a doubt better than Rather Ripped.

Sacred Trickster is a perfect opener, Massage The History is a great closer. In between them you find excellent songs like What We Know, Anti-Orgasm, Walkin' Blue and Malibu Gas Station.

Sadly, some songs are bad. Thunderclap could be one of the worst songs they've ever done. Poison Arrow and Leaky Lifeboat are annoying, and I've never really liked No Way either.

But still. Perhaps it's not their most original work, and surely not among their best albums, but it's a great listen. I wish they could find their way back to the ATL-NYC G&F period and not continue on this kinda straight rock path they're on now. But I guess we should all be glad as long as they continue releasing good music.

The ATL-NYCG&F period was great. Especially with SYR4 in the middle of those two.

totally agree!

Six months later I still listen to it regularly, but I have realized that it's probably their least amazing record this decade. It's got nothing on Murray Street, for instance. Still, "Antenna" and "Massage the History" are two of my current favorite SY songs.

I've often thought that they felt the first one with Matador should be "songs", and should sell a lot, and if they do a second one, it'll be all drone and noise and "ha, we fooled you".

I listened to it a bunch of times when it first came out--I was driving across the country...

It just didn't grab me. I gave up on it August and only came back to it last month when I was going to go to the concert. Now, it sounds better than when it came out. I can hear that the songs are acutally very well constructed.

But still, it doesn't grab me. Not fond of RR. Sonic Nurse still kicks patooty but these last two just don't do it for me.

Hey, I'm new here - didn't even know this place existed until I googled one of Lee's pedals. Anyway, I'm not a new fan..

I agree with what someone said about there being less noise, which is a bit of a downer, but there are still some great tracks on this - 'Sacred Trickster', 'Antenna', 'What We Know', and the last two. The grunting on Anti-Orgasm is annoying though, and Kim's voice does grate at times. 'Thunderclap' and 'Poison Arrow' could've done with being left out.

You're not fond of Rather Ripped? How could any self-respecting SY fan not be? The album is fucking glorious! I listen to it on repeat when I'm having a bad day. Or a good day. Or just a day. It's SY at their stripped down best. Good for all occasions.

New album plain rocks. Sounds like they are so young and new. Love it. Fav song is Antenna, it is pure magic. The album gets better on every listen. Live it was amazing but Sonic youth live are astounding anyway so..........