[Mortte Jousimo]

Originally Posted by jennthebenn

It's a folly to think of "Thurston/Kim/Lee songs" in the context of the band. The lyrics are theirs but the music is truly collaborative. It's not a situation comparable to that of the Beatles, where you can say comfortably, "That's a John/Paul, John, Paul or George song." With SY, it's "that's a song where Lee's on lead vocals" and etc.

Take "Karenology." Lee wrote the lyrics, sings on the track, but the musical track wasn't even his to sing over originally--it had been given to Kim, and Lee had what would become "Sympathy for the Strawberry." Thankfully
they switched.

There are undeniable SY-ish elements because, well, he was (is?) a member of the band. But none of Thurston's 3 "song-based" solos sound like Sonic Youth ("Psychic Hearts" sounds frequently like great Thurston songs that the band could have worked with and made even greater, though). Free Kitten is its own special beast as well. So why would Lee's solo be full of "Eric's Trip"s and "Mote"s?

Totally agree! And I think in many bands collaborations create a lots of greater stuff than situations where one makes almost all. That´s why SY-records has been better than solos.