#426: Sonic Youth - EVOL (1986)

Zack: Much like Talking Heads, it has been 6 years since we last listened to a Sonic Youth album, which is still a very deflating thing to type out. This one makes a little more sense though. While Sonic Youth have 5 albums on the list (compared to Talking Heads’ 4) and we therefore should have probably listened to a second one like 100 or so albums ago, I really do no like Sonic Youth. I typically find their music to be screechy and annoying. I may have, therefore, been a little lax about suggesting we listen to a Sonic Youth album. Maybe I let it slip my mind for the past 2+ years...whoops. Anyway, here we have EVOL, which is the third Sonic Youth album but the first one they made that the listmakers deemed worthy. EVOL is, according to Wikipedia, when Sonic Youth decided to go in a more pop-oriented direction, which hahaha wait really? I would not say EVOL shared much with, say, Madonna’s 7x platinum album True Blue from the same year. Anyway, I did not like this album. I also did not like Goo, which is the Sonic Youth album they always tell you to start with. I do not like Sonic Youth. And I don’t particularly understand anyone who does. Take that as you will.

Favorite Tracks: Death to Our Friends; Shadow of a Doubt; Secret Girl

Emily: Much like when we listened to Goo way back in 2011, I'm still kind of in-between on Sonic Youth after listening to EVOL. I sat down this morning to listen to it before Zack woke up. He came into the living room after I got through about three songs and I told him I thought it was pretty good so far - not a lot of noise, and heavier on the creeping rock melodies. And then I hit the middle of the album, which can best be described as screechtastic. I had spoken too soon. But then I hit the last track, Bubblegum, a power-pop track filtered through Sonic Youth's noise-rock style. Sadly, Wikipedia tells me that Bubblegum was a CD bonus track not on the original album, and therefore doesn't count. So without that song, I disliked more songs than I liked on EVOL, but I'd be happy to add the tracks I liked to a playlist without the noise. I guess I'll see how I feel about the next three Sonic Youth albums, the next of which should come sooner than six years from now.

Favorite Tracks: Star Power; Shadow of a Doubt; Tom Violence

#403: Liars - They Were Wrong, So We Drowned (2004)

Emily: A few songs into this album, I turned to Zack (who was sitting next to me on the couch watching TV) and told him that I thought this album sounded like spooky Halloween noises. It reminded me so much of the CD you buy at the costume store to provide some ~ambiance~ for the haunted house in your suburban garage. This album is mostly just weird noises being passed off as experimental music. Although a few of the later tracks did actually have some melody and rhythm to them, those aspects were overshadowed by the sheer weirdness and dissonance of it all. The Halloween vibes may have been seasonally appropriate, but if that's what I wanted I would've just turned on the Monster Mash.
Favorite Tracks: Hold Hands and It Will Happen Anyway; We Fenced Other Gardens with the Bones of Our Own; If You're A Wizard Then Why Do You Wear Glasses?

Zack: You know how I normally bemoan every post punk album for sounding identical and just generally not being very interesting. Well, the good news is that I won’t be doing that on this one. For starters, I thought this album might have promise because it appears towards the end of the post punk list I created, and I generally tend to like bands considered post punk revival (Klaxons, Interpol). But apparently I just completely misclassified it. This album really belonged in the experimental rock category, and it is pretty clear to me know that this is less Kaiser Chiefs and more a swarm of bees driven mad with bloodlust. It was really unpleasant and strange, which made it very different from all of those 80s post punk albums, but not at all in a good way. I thoroughly disliked this album, and I honestly struggle to find any redeeming qualities about it. I would have gladly taken an uninspiring but innocuous 80s album by like Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Favorite Tracks: We Fenced Other Gardens with the Bones of Our Own; There's Always Room on the Broom; Hold Hands and It Will Happen Anyway

#137: The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy (1985)

Zack: It’s funny how some albums predate all the comparisons that I, as a listener, would like to make. Only a few tracks in to Psychocandy, I thought I had heard hints of Nirvana. I opened up Wikipedia and saw that it was released in 1985, a healthy six years before Nevermind. My next thought was Pixies. After all, they were a huge influence on Nirvana and there were a few songs that captured the genre-merging sound that was Doolittle. But Pixies first album (Surfer Rosa) wasn’t until 1988. Later on, I thought I heard traces of Sonic Youth. Finally, I had struck gold! Sonic Youth released their first album in 1983, two whole years before Psychocandy. But Sonic Youth’s first album of any real merit is Evol, which didn’t come out until 1986. It turned out all I had found was the Pyrite, so I was forced to admit that I had made a fundamental mistake. I had spent so much time searching for what bands and musicians had influenced Jesus and the Mary Chain, but the reality was the opposite. Psychocandy wasn’t the influenced, it was the influencer. Without me being prepared at all, I was listening to a pivotal moment in music that would go on to help shape the sounds that Sonic Youth and Pixies and Nirvana were crafting. Psychocandy, as it turned out, was a pioneer in music that has gone wildly unappreciated. Well, no more. Psychocandy was an amazing album. It had everything you could want from something produced in the 80s and none of the egregiously bad hair. It was catchy and fun but at the same time deep and thoughtful. It took everything its predecessors had given it and then build upon that foundation into what would become the future of the music industry. It was and always will be nothing short of a really good album.

Favorite Tracks: Cut Dead; Something’s Wrong; Inside Me

Emily: One flaw I’ve found with doing this list out of order is that it’s sometimes difficult to tell the timeline of events. Did one band pioneer a sound, or did they copy it from somewhere else? Was it a trend or a shot in the dark? Where is the originality, and where is the influence? The Jesus and Mary Chain definitely indicate this problem. I’m a fan of post-punk, but Psychocandy sounded like something I’ve heard before. The melodic noise-pop sound showed up with Sonic Youth and others, and the monotone delivery of lyrics is a hallmark of the post-punk genre. Since I’ve heard these elements before, I’m predisposed to think that The Jesus and Mary Chain, although very good, just aren’t all that original. Maybe I’m wrong though. Only time – and more list completion – will tell.

Favorite Tracks: The Living End; Cut Dead; Taste the Floor