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Sonic Youth
Evol
1986, I've long called Evol my favorite album. I mean my favorite album of all time. My one desert island disc if you will. There's something about it - everything really. That cover art. The liner notes. Even the title. Evol is violently beautiful, right from the opening of "Tom Violence." It is immediately clear - or at least within seconds - that this new lineup with Steve Shelley on drums has gelled into something perfect. The material here is just as intense and visceral as on previous records, but there's something just gorgeous and lulling about a lot of the songs here. Maybe it's that explorations of love are buried here under much of the noise. The droniness of aforementioned "Tom Violence," or the plinky percussive strings on "Shadow Of A Doubt" with its whispered Kim vocal balance out the rushing almost-pop of "Starpower," grotesque storytelling of "In The Kingdom #19" or the thrillingly horrifying "Marilyn Moore." Later on Kim delivers a narrative over stray piano on "Secret Girls" and eventually the whole thing is wrapped up with what is one of the greatest rock songs ever recorded: "Expressway To Yr Skull." This is one of those records where every track could be my favorite. Strangely the CD version has always tacked on the bonus track "Bubblegum" which just doesn't fit well with everything that preceded it in my opinion. But that's a pretty minor complaint about the best album ever recorded.
Sonic Youth
Sister
1987, There's always been this certain tone I've gotten from Sister that I'm not quite sure how to describe. It's way less warm than Evol. It's darker. And the guitar notes feel like knives. It feels more akin to Confusion or Bad Moon than Evol, but is clearly written by the same band that created that record. But this one opens with "Schizophrenia," a song about insanity which certainly starts things on a different foot. While certainly there are mellow moments here like on "Beauty Lies In The Eye," or the absolutely beautiful "Cotton Crown," for the most part Sister just fucking rocks. "Catholic Block," "Stereo Sanctity," "Tuff Gnarl"... these are some songs made up of pure energy. "Pacific Coast Highway" feels like the one true throwback to the nightmares of Bad Moon and Evol. Sister is really kind of a weird record. It takes some strange chances and yet none of them feel super daring - even the cover of "Hot Wire My Heart" somehow fits here cohesively. Maybe even weirder is that the version of "Master-Dik" included as a bonus track on the CD release manages to make some sort of sense on this album even with its goofy rapping. In that sense Sister may well be the most interesting record that Sonic Youth created in this era.
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