SONIC YOUTH - One Thousand Leaves (Geffen)
I had a conversation recently about this album and my view was that this was really OK, although not as good as "Washing Machine". My mate however stated that, of all the bands who had disappointed him in the last few years, Sonic Youth came top of the list. Comparing this to "Daydream Nation" or "Sister", or even "Goo", it's not difficult to see why.
I also approached this with a little trepidation in light of the one SYR EP I had heard (SYR2), which was to these ears more unlistenable than brave and experimental.
"1000 Leaves" sees the Youth moving into more pastoral territory, particularly on the guys' songs, but this has the effect of creating a jarring juxtaposition between the more melodic songs written by Moore and Ranaldo and those written by Gordon. Looking back, none of Kim's songs really would feature in my favourite Youth songs, but here her yelping and howling sits uneasily with the more laid back approach of the other songs. Nowhere is this more obvious than on "The Ineffable Me", which has as its backing track part of one of the instrumental tracks from SYR2, and an ugly Kim vocal on top.
"Contre Le Sexisme" is a reasonably effective, dreamlike opener (and Kim's best moment on the album) although it is reminiscent of the spoken bit of "Tunic". Sometimes these very long songs are a bit schizo - so bits of Kim's "Female Mechanic Now On Duty" are jarring, but the finale more in tune with the rest of the LP.
Best song on the LP is "Sunday", as near as the LP comes to pop and LPs such as "Goo" and "Dirty". Centrepiece of the whole LP is Thurston's understated 11-minute(!) "Hits of Sunshine", which always threatens to rock out, but like the rest of the LP, never quite does. It almost sounds like jazz to me. "Wildflower Soul", another Thurston song, has a very "Washing Machine"-like structure, almost 3 songs in one. Lee's contribution "Hoarfrost" is a bit disappointing - his limited number of contributions to previous LP's are ALWAYS amongst the highlights, but this one never quite locks into the melody you feel is in there screaming to get out.
It's a recurring theme on this album - there are broad hints of this LP becoming more like previous Youth albums throughout, but whether it's been a conscious effort or not to broaden their sound (and if so the band should be applauded for at least attempting something different), it falls a bit short for me and ends up feeling just a little unsatisfactory.