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Originally Posted by zelocia
Thank you! Jim provided for Sonic Youth exactly what they needed after the gear theft incident of 1999, he expanded their sound without changing it. Although I would rank NYC Ghosts & Flowers no where near Murray Street and Sonic Nurse in terms of overall almost perfection, that album was important as a transitional record and his full integration into the band. And as with all SY albums, NYCG&F has its moments. A Thousand Leaves was their last album as the SY super quartet that they had been since EVOL. But for Rather Ripped, going back to being a quartet just did not work the same way as it did between the years of 1986 - 1998.
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A Thousand Leaves is my all time favorite sonic youth record, BUT, lets remember, they were touring for that record when their gear got stolen (I was at that show in Irvine btw), so really, that transition was not just from the gear being stolen, but already clearly in the works. Jim has production credits on ATL.. I think what happened is when their gear got jacked they decided to stick with what they were doing on ATL full-force.. also, Thurston mentioned they started writing more music on acoustic guitars after the theft. That is noticeable in the sound, it became more precise, more calculated, more musical, which definitely reflects the influence of acoustic guitars.