I'd not given much time to Sonic Youth for some reason. ironic, considering that Kim Gordon's solo output has shown up in music service suggestions for me recently. Coming to this cold, EVOL sounds very much of its time — it has raw power, but little finesse that might start to emerge in some of the more melodic tracks that close the album. This album hasn't acted as a gateway to Sonic Youth unfortunately, it'll need to be something I keep working on.
I should love this. One of my favoured albums discovered in the Napster period was a collection of Depeche Mode covers that spanned much of their output. That had more punch than this meandering blur — ironically the result of bringing the synthesiser into that comfy place it holds in new wave: treating the keyboard and drum machine like a guitar to swirl prettily alongside and occasionally in between the purring vocals. “Violator” is so very antiseptic — and perhaps that is why it sits well at the juncture of pop and electronica. That peak of post modern pop that speaks so heavily of the late capitalism to come. Human messiness held in check by electronic precision.
How much can be written about this record that hasn't already been said? As someone who has a healthy, yet understated, love of jazz, I am not as familiar with “Kind of Blue” as I perhaps should be.
This probably comes in part, as a response to the opener “So What” alone. The piece is so ubiquitous, or feels so familiar, that recognising it outright, has almost become a shorthand for expressing a personal understanding and an indicating one might know what jazz ‘is’.
So what can be said? The instruments are so separate, so specifically approachable, that directing your aural attention to each, suggests how easy it is to ignore how well the players interlace with one another as the overall composition plays out and emerges. As a result, the aesthetic, the listening experience, is certainly much closer to listening to classical than to interwar jazz that precedes this album, or the blues driven rock that “Kind of Blue” eventually had to compete with.
That remarkable separation of instruments continues to give so much context to appreciating more contemporary forms of music and to realise how difficult it is to have unique instruments operate as a whole but remain distinct.
So good. So short, it deserves back-to-back listens.
So good to hear “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” in context (especially while discovering that the well worn vocal is preceded by a quietly building instrumental prologue that shudders along for a good portion of the track before the lyrics kick it up a notch.
Despite the opener, — live recordings from this era don't usually spin me ’round — this is easily my first 5-star listen on this platform. Beautiful talent captured so sublimely, the temptation is effortlessly removed. While the timeless, yet anachronistic (?!) sentiment captured by ‘The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face’ is not my favourite either, it’s also great to hear in context… the band’s instruments beguile with a punchiness that easily offsets the soothing — classic! — vocal.
This is one of those classic R&B albums that encompass so much dynamism, transmit so well and sound so good you want to climb inside — fortunately, any stereo with a capability to project a decent soundstage will suffice.
Do Your Thing!
Tired. It's impossible to review many of these albums without the historical moment that they were part of. And if you were of an appropriate demographic and in a place that had a culture significantly interconnected with globalisation, when this album came out, it was near inescapable… and certainly carries personal connotations as a result.
Not quite my jam. The lyrics are engaging, but the 1960s brit-pop aesthetic comes through strong while the acerbic cultural commentary that becomes apparent in their later, better known singles, hasn't quite matured.
“You had to be there maaan”. Another album (and dare I say that this comment applies to the ‘artist’ too) in this collection, that I have never made time to listen to, even if their reputation — or cultural ubiquity — is commonly taken for granted.
“Our House” — it's CSN&Y, who knew? now I do — and I have decades of kids TV, insurance companies and banks who have used it as a jingle to thank for reducing its homely and earthy feel of a simple hope.
I guess that's an unmistakeable aspect of this album now… listen to it fresh 55 years after it was released and it's impossible to miss the references to the state of mind of the musicians and the audiences that loved their music.
Alongside “Our House”, it’s impossible to miss that the lyrics are always pointed away, out from the band, within their observations of the things that are changing and the things that they hope (wish?) to remain the same. Whether that subject just outside of their field of view, or whatever is passing by their window as the road unfurls (the freedom that “Helpless” suggests is another unruly idealistic tale of untamed roaming), or the view is outside, within that yard featuring 2 cats or the ‘children that must be taught’, the harmonies feel nostalgic… mourning a time that it seems almost impossible to imagine was any reality at the start of the 1970s let alone in 2025.
Like ‘icon’, ‘myth’ is a easily overused word these days, but “Déjà Vu” reeks of mythology… and “Woodstock” should speak to any new season of optimism as much as it may have been as slightly wistfully seeking a memory that was disrupted as the smoke drifted on…
And… another album that doesn't last long enough to appreciate all the fine tuning and collaboration put into it… so of course some tracks require revisting. It's not (referred to as) a concept album (?), but the pull of the road butts right up against the open-minded gaze — how can you miss the still contemplation up against the option to glide down the pathway of choice?
I may have to stop listening to this, otherwise I too might also become one of those haircut requiring adherents of anything Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young related.
Really unsure of this. I likely would not have enjoyed it much when it was released either: it's kinda-punk, but with none of the inventiveness, spontaneity, nor energy. Perhaps more time needs to pass before the artistic merits of this album and why it might be in a 1001 best list might become further apparent…
