I love how Lee sings
 

A mix of singing, enthusiastic shouts, and spoken word...brillance! It'd be nice for him to have more than 1 or 2 songs per album.

Just puttin' that out there.

i love how Lee plays too

I must admitt I always felt Lee's vocals are a weakpoint, aside from a few really good tunes like Hoarfrost and Rats, the rest seem kinda half assed as vocals, almost an afterthought to the music. However I do adore his guitar work and especialy his attitude and stageshow, and his live vocals are much stronger than on the records, and of course he and I have had several delightful conversations about the Dead to which we share an affinity. His son is cool too..

He sings like a poet, and poets don't "sing" in the traditional sense. Their
words, on the other hand...

true, but then again he is also clearly singing most of the time as opposed to spoken word tunes like those on NYC Ghosts and Flowers.. It is also really a matter of taste, NO ONE in SY are technically good or even proficient singers in the conventional sense, but rather we enjoy their own nuances to our own discretion

steve has an amazing voice

Skip tracer = ace vocal delivery.

He's definitely my favorite vocalist of the three.

Karen Koltrane
Saucer-Like
Rain King
In the Kingdom #19
Walkin Blue

top five perhaps...

HELLO 2015!!

At first I thought his singing was a bit too "plain" for my taste, but it's grown on me a lot (I think good proof that he can sing, to me, is his "Isolation" cover). But I also love when he speaks/yells the lyrics!

I hate how kim sings.

lee is by far my favorite vocalist in the band

I hate how you sing.



but Lee's cool.




Rain King, Skip Tracer, and the Karens.

I was just thinking one day,how good compilation it would be, if there´s all Sonic songs where Lee sing (maybe he´s composer also). The tracklist would be:
1. I dreamed I dream
2. In the Kingdom #19
3. (I got a) Catholic Block
4. Pipeline/Kill Time
5. Eric´s Trip
6. Hey Joni
7. Mote
8. Wish Fulfilment
9. Genetic
10. Androgynous Mind
12. Saucer-Like
13. Unwind
14. Skip Tracer
15. Hoarfrost
16. Karen Koltrane
17. NYC ghosts and Flowers
18. Karen Revisited
19. Paper Cup Exit
20. Rats
22. What we know
23. Walkin Blue
Did I forgot some song?

Thurston sings both of these...

Lee's the most important member of the band, imo, the best guitarist (well, O'Rourke technically was, but you know...) and the best vocalist, by a wide margin. I think Kim's vocals worked really well in their early days, the skronky more no wave-influenced stuff; I think she has tried to refine her vocals a bit as the music has also become a bit more refined and -- for a lack of a better word -- "mature". I think it took her a few albums, "BOYS GO TO JUPITER GET MORE STUPIDER" sounds a bit out of place for example. BUT once she got to Nurse, and I LOVE YOU GOLDEN BLUE, she really hit a high point. Kim's songs have pretty much been my favorite on the last 3 albums actually.

Thurston has always been consistent but hasn't really changed much throughout the years. You can pretty much expect him to sing the same notes he plays on guitar, as Lee even joked about on that one chat that one time, heheh. No, really, he's always been sassy, often double-tracked, and most of his vocals don't really wow me, nor do they disappoint me. I do think some songs on Dirty had this self-consciously "cool" aspect to them that was a bit annoying, but they seemed in jest. He's very consistent, like a guy you can always rely on, but sometimes doesn't leave the biggest impression either. Reliability and stability is very important.

Lee always leaves an impression. He's actually a bit unpredictable, but he always is very smooth in his delivery. He seems in control, even when delivering lines like "ANY YOU FREAKS OUT THERE EVER REMEMBER LENNY?" He really nailed some kind of scummy NYC STORY OF A JUNKIE thing there, for sure. I think his vocal is what makes SKIP TRACER and IN THE KINGDOM and so on, really memorable tracks. His songs are the ones I always look forward to the most, and often are my favorite song on the album. I can never think of an album where the Lee song is my least favorite, at least.

He sings like he plays guitar: sometimes wild and "untrained" sounding, but always smooth and very in control. Honestly, my favorite Lee vocal is on their Beefheart cover for "Electricity" -- which, by the way, is by far the best Beefheart cover ever -- a lot of people would have done a pure Beefheart emulation (which is impossible to do in a proper way), his handling of the material is nothing short of genius honestly.

I also like Lee's solo albums the best.

All in all, though, each member really brings something completely unique to the table. And while sometimes I wish Lee sang more songs, then perhaps the "Lee songs" wouldn't be as special. You just know every album will have one or two "Lee songs" and those are always special moments for me. His songs are always the most magical, all the way around, to me. One thing, though, it's pretty difficult to sing and play guitar, and I feel like perhaps his playing is the most complex, too, which may add to why he doesn't sing that often.

I've heard before he almost left the band because he wanted "genetic" on Dirty and Thurston wouldn't allow it. Is that true? I still haven't gotten around to reading Goodbye 20th Century, isn't the story in there? I am very curious about this, especially since Genetic is better than any song on that album...

yeah supposedly(lets test my memory) he wanted genetic on there but they already had too many songs and they weren't super into genetic cause lee pretty much brought it in complete without the sonic youth method of working songs up together from little riff ideas and then arranging them into songs after weeks/months of jamming on them(i know thurston pretty much brought in complete songs for murray street, but anyways...) and i think also that thurston was a little uncomfortable or he wasn't into the very personal nature of the song. like sonic youth is not an outlet for you to voice whatever issues your going through and lee said thats the exactly what the band SHOULD be for. anyways, i think after a few weeks they all calmed down and genetic was made a b-side.

i hope that helps. you should read goodbye 20th centry, its really a really entertaining read. just keep near the toilet and after a few 2 or 3 hour pooping sessions you'll be done and have some pissed off roomates!

haha thanks man!

yeah I have it, just haven't read it yet. I am reading BEEFHEART: THROUGH THE EYES OF MAGIC, which is an amazing read, but is 880 pages...

where is Days of Our Sonic Lives when you need em..

well this is SONIC YOUTH GOSSIP!