http://www.tinymixtapes.com/musicrev...onic_youth.htm
Rather Ripped
Geffen, 2006
rating: 3/5
reviewer: grigsby
Being born a bit too late and without the proper context, I really can't say that
Daydream Nation is my favorite SY album. Sure, I'll acknowledge that it is likely the most significant, and also that it is truly great, but my favorite? Not really. While
Murray Street and
Sonic Nurse aren't necessarily my favorites either, I found both to be immensely satisfying, showing that the band was still willing to extend its grasp, succeeding brilliantly.
Reaching for something is precisely the opposite of what's happening on
Rather Ripped. Instead, SY have focused inward toward the songs. It turns out, though, that this isn't their greatest strength. They've always been about taking songs into outer space, not writing the most slammin' pop songs.
Rather Ripped, then, harkens back to that much maligned, but still pretty dang decent, SY album,
Experimental, Jet Set, Trash, and No Star. That too was the Youth at their most tame and song-oriented.
I seem to be forgetting something, though. Oh, that's right, this is gosh darned Sonic Youth we're talking about. They write better music in their sleep than most bands ever will. Just check out the opener "Reena." This is SY channeled into pure energy. "Pink Steam" is fantastic, though perhaps because it sounds like a streamlined version of the
Murray Street template. The problem is that these songs just don't weigh in like SY greats really should. They're not underwritten – it's more the case that they need to be a bit overwritten.
So, to take it back to context for a moment: if
Rather Ripped had come on the heels of
NYC Ghosts and Flowers, it would be rightly hailed as a comeback. Instead, it is coming after two albums I would not hesitate to call "classics." By comparison,
Rather Ripped comes off as a collection of good-and-great songs, but it just isn't up there with their best.