Positive Feedback (Dirty - Sonic Youth)

Member Name: indiecater

Product:	Dirty - Sonic Youth
Date:	13/02/01 (57 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: As Coherent a Sonic Youth Album You're Likely to Get.

Disadvantages: It's a Little Bit Bleak at Times.

You'll search long and hard for a Sonic Youth album that can deliver on all fronts. OK, all of their releases do have inspiring moments, it's just that these moments are often not enough to lift the accompanying noise above the forgettable. This can be frustrating because it is obvious that the combined talent in this band has the ability to produce a great record.

Fuzzy guitar meshes are great when invention underpins the whole collage (My Bloody Valentine take a bow). Unfortunately Sonic Youth are guilty at times of banging out a racket just for the sake of it. So when a song could have filled 4 pleasant minutes the tagged on 3 minutes guffaw dims the enjoyment of the experience.

Thankfully Dirty does have a consistent quality throughout. From the blissed out haze of 'Theresa's Sound-World' to the Nirvanaesque stirrings of 'Wish Fulfillment' Dirty ranges from the interesting to the awesome. 'Sugar Kane' is truly one of Sonic Youth's greatest moments and remains their best-known material.

Fronted by the eternally youthful Thurston Moore, Sonic Youth have a leadman of star quality who was born to do what he does. He must rank as the oldest teenager ever. And what an angry old man he is. Long may his confused hormonal state prosper. His 'Youth against Fascism' spits out vitriol at will. Bedtime music it certainly isn't. Music to have you enjoying the moment as the neighbours hammer the walls it certainly is.

100% with its unsettling vibe just seeps with evil intent. I can remember when the song was released that the accompanying video came close to freaking me out. Featuring faceless skateboarders and a murder it had sinister undercurrents a la the 'Blair Witch Project' that you couldn't quite figure out but still made your hair stand on end.

Sonic Youth have always struck me as a singles band. Quite frequently their 45's (showing my age!) stand high
above all others but their long players do have a tendency to meander aimlessly. Take for example the 'Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star' albums wayward approach. Then take the wonderful single 'Bull in the Heather' that was culled from it and you get my point. Then again you can sometimes find 24-carat nuggets like 'Unwind' (Washing Machine) that weren't singles proving that there are exceptions to the rule. If someone in the know could just hand pick the best moments from their back catalogue and put it all together you would have an almighty opus on your hands.

Dirty has enough good tracks to mark it out as above average. It is a definitive statement of Sonic Youth's intentions and highlights why they are revered worldwide by disaffected youth of every age!

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