|
There are those who don't get into Confusion is Sex and Bad Moon Rising because they don't have the "pop" influences that they began with EVOL (though there is arguably a bit of it in the EP/1st Record). That said, if you want to experience what Sonic Youth are all about you need to listen to these albums!
The first record had a bigger studio than Confusion or Bad Moon, and featured Richard Edson on the drums doing very angular/arty rhythms. It is a lot less "noisy" of a record than the other two, but has some really excellent guitar work. "I Dreamed I Dream" is one of Sonic Youth's best songs ever, and a bit of a foreshadowing of the later more melodic direction they would take after Bad Moon.
At the time Confusion is Sex was recorded, Thurston was quoted as saying that he wanted the band to sound like a cross between Black Flag and Throbbing Gristle. That's a fair assessment of what the record achieved too. It's the definitive statement of art/noise post-punk, recorded with just 8 tracks on a much lower budget than the first record. Sonic Youth were not nearly as happy people when they made this one as they are today, and their angst shimmers on this disc like no other. The guitars at several points literally ring like bells.
Bad Moon Rising is indeed my favorite SY album, but then I was digging it when it was brand new and I was 18. It did completely change my life. I have to dispute the claim somebody made earlier that it was "free form", as it was incredibly focused actually. It's perhaps the most Branca influenced of their albums, despite the fact they hadn't been working with him for a few years. It reminds me greatly of one of his guitar symphonies, though it's like they took one of those and "rockized" it with vocals and slightly more song structure. They had a real studio, unlike on Confusion, so they did some really amazing multi-tracking to make Thurston and Lee sound equal to one of Branca's guitar orchestras. It has a very dark lyrical direction as at this point in their lives they were very caught up in the fall of the "flower power" movement at the end of the sixties typified by Manson and Alatamont. I love EVOL, and I don't blame them for embarking on a new direction after this record, but that's because they had really accomplished a crowning achievement that a lesser band would have chosen to recreate rather than depart from.
|