I was a relative
latecomer to the delights of Daydream Nation. It’s the album where cult heroes
Sonic Youth completed their gradual transformation from experimental noiseniks
to hugely influential guitar-based alt-rockers.
Whether this was a
conscious and deliberate path, or otherwise, this album sounds a little bit
like the missing link between Eighties post-punk and the (then) fledgling grunge
scene, and it probably stills stands as the band’s most structured and
commercially-flavoured work.
Whatever else it
was, Daydream Nation has subsequently become a highly feted album, lauded by
critics and fans alike, and the esteemed music webzine Pitchfork went so far as
to rank it as its No.1 album of the Eighties. Sales figures don’t tend to
support this lofty position, but there is no denying its wider influence, and
that of the band itself.
Partners in crime,
and onetime partners in life, guitarist Thurston Moore and bassist Kim Gordon
share the majority of songwriting and vocal duties, but fellow axeman Lee
Ranaldo also features prominently on both counts. Distinctive guitar - angular,
jerky, unusual tunings, but lots of riffage as well - and thundering rhythms
dominate as tracks form almost seamlessly from one to the next, the album
eventually becoming a procession of controlled noise, with only occasional
forays into the realm of experimentation, something this band has always been
heavily associated with.
I wasn’t a big fan
of Sonic Youth prior to hearing this, though I loved (side-project) Ciccone
Youth’s version of (Madonna’s) ‘Into The Groove(y)’, and ‘Superstar’, the
band’s contribution to an early Nineties Carpenters covers compilation, but if
it did nothing else, finally getting to grips with Daydream Nation meant I could
fully appreciate what many others had known for a very long time.
The opener, ‘Teen
Age Riot’, which was released as a single, is a definite highlight, as is the
(closing) ambitious ‘Trilogy’, but there are no obvious weak tracks on Daydream
Nation. A genuine “must-have” album for fans of post-punk or indie, as you’re
bound to hear shades of your latest favourite band on here. There was an updated 2007
Deluxe release, which is probably the version to go for.
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