 "Unique, even for sonic youth" | 2007-12-19 |
| - Reviewed By User: AA6MLKPNFBEW1 |
| I have every major sonic youth release, and I gotta disagree with the few negative reviews on this cd. Every SY album is different then the next really, but this one shines brighter with individuality. You can tell they had a lot of fun with this album, and went in a very different direction. I love the album though. It's not their best, but anyone who likes sonic youth should own it. I'll admit it's hit or miss; some songs are pretty bad (and I love almost all SY stuff), but others are brilliant. If all other SY releases are on Earth, this cd is out in space. It combines the mellow ambience of NYC Ghosts & Flowers with Dirty's hard hitting riffs and distortion. When I'm in the mood for Experimental Jet Set, nothing can come close |
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| "Great, top to bottom" | 2006-09-13 |
| - Reviewed By rwilson580 |
| This was the first Sonic Youth album I listened to, so for a long time I figured my opinion on it didn't count. Had to bow to the opinions of those long time fans, you know, who didn't seem to care for this one. I've since heard several other SY albums over the years, and I always gave them a great chance -- because, damn, this is the group that made Experimental Jet Set, etc. And I think I'm ready to commit now -- this album was their best, at least of the ones I know. It was one of the greatest albums of the 90's. There isn't a bad song on it, and the best ones are, well, transcendent. I can't rate this album any higher. |
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| "Their best?" | 2006-05-29 |
| - Reviewed By mrblondy |
| Sonic Youth was always good, this may be their best, and one of 4 great 90's albums, along with "CIA Drug Fest" by Old Skull, "Undisputed Attitude" by Slayer, and "We Are They Who Ache With Amorous Love" by Half Japanese. "Winners Blues" is acoustic, a crazy move for these noisemakers, and then we get what we really came for, noisy improv-ish songs that are fantastic, exciting, and occasionally intelligible! Some of the early SY stuff is a little overrated, but this, "EVOL", "Goo", and "Confusion is Sex" are sure to please fans of noisy music. |
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 "Sexy" | 2006-04-24 |
| - Reviewed By User: A257K87KQ1IP28 |
it's amazing how everytime SY can make an album that is completely different than the previous one. Again so now, after the 'commercial' -Dirty- (which was an awesome record) comes this one.
Starting with the previous unexplored world of acoustic lo-fi, which was relatively big in the indie scene back then, in 'Winner Blues' comes an instant SY classic, 'Bull in Heather'.
For some reason this song is perfect for around 5 am in the morning, it just has that scary feeling, but in a seductive, sexy way that borders on the pornographic when Kim is droning up numbers. Kim's songs are very good on this album by the way, 'Doctor's Orders' having a great chorus you can sing along, and it could almost be a Nirvana chorus.
There are some swing-and-misses, it could have done without 'Androgynous Mind'
In line with 'Dirty', there are some great Thurston Moore songs, if you can call them that. While never reaching the level of 'Sugar Kane' or 'Chapell Hill' songs like 'Waist' and 'Screaming Skull' (with a great riff as a break) have their moments.
It may not be the best SY album, but it's still very good and worth listening to over and over |
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| "Good record" | 2006-03-05 |
| - Reviewed By hollywoodrowden |
| This is one of sonic youth's best work I think,If you are new to sonic youth this isn't a bad start. |
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| "I don't get what the big deal is?" | 2006-01-27 |
| - Reviewed By vaishalirocket |
This was instantly one of my favorite SY records when I played it. Firstly, WINNER'S BLUES is one of my all-time favorite songs, and i should mention probably that although sy is one of my favorite pastimes, i like myself some folk and singer-songwriter on the side (but hey, so do they..) and it definitely stands up to any of that. BULL IN THE HEATHER, instant sy classic that stands up just as well to any of the earlier great rock songs. SKINK is a really good song with Kim vocals and interesting guitar work. SCREAMING SKULL is alright, but not one i'd play on repeat, as it can get annoying. SELF-OBSESSED + SEXEE is a song i find stuck in my head every now and then, even if i haven't listened to this album in forever. it's a really good song. BONE is a pretty good song as well, with kim on vox again. ANDROGYNOUS MIND is another of my favourites from this album.. i think i just like the rhythm of it and all. very catchy. QUEST FOR THE CUP i like too somewhat, but i guess it's kind of obnoxious. WAIST is kind of disposable. DOCTOR'S ORDERS is interesting, with kim doing some pretty good vocals on this, and i like the instrumental part at the end a lot. TOKYO EYE is a really catchy thurston moore number, kind of in the ANDROGYNOUS MIND vein. IN THE MIND OF THE BOURGEOIS READER is kind of annoying to me but it's okay once in a while. SWEET SHINE is a realllllllllly good way to end this album, and it has some of the best SY lyrics, sung by Kim. in Thurston's book of poetry "ALABAMA WILDMAN," he quotes her from this song on the front page. "cowboys are languishing / little girls are bees / is that really a green stagecoach pulling up to me?"
the only thing i don't like is the 'secret track' at the end of it. annoying because it causes silence in my playlist and ruins the very nice calm end of the song.
Overall? I'd say one of Sonic Youth's best albums, actually. I didn't think I was going to say that, but.. definitely VERY listenable compared to DAYDREAM NATION and SISTER, at least in my opinion. |
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| "Let it grow on you." | 2005-07-14 |
| - Reviewed By User: A39W4DYKP4Q31D |
| I'm a huge SY fan and I love all of their output. "Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star" is a very fitting title because the songs are short and unconventionally put togther unlike anything SY has ever released before. There's no big opener or big closer like usual. It's sort of like they were doing all of these songs and somebody just so happend to be recording them without the band knowing. It's a very unorthodox major label release, which shows that the band has complete creative power. The songs are very intricate and progressive, with at times obscure lyrics, but it's very much well worth it. Like I said, I'm a huge Sonic Youth fan so I automatically loved it, but for some people it might have to grow on you before you can appreciate & love it. It's a great addition to your SY collection. |
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| "SY's most overlooked album" | 2003-06-22 |
| - Reviewed By lifeofcandlelight |
| And I don't really see why. Longtime fans call it their poppiest, and while it's definitely the mellowest, that doesn't mean that it's not noisy or self-indulgent for the mainstream. While the lyrics don't mean all that much, it adds up the eccentricness of the album, making it more fun with each listen. About the only other flaw with this album is that Lee Ranaldo doesn't sing on any tracks on this album. "Bull in the Heather" is a classic, as is its video with that Le Tigre girl cameoed in it. Kim has an excellent voice on it, as well as it being loved among the fans. The outro part sounds real cool. Opener "Winner's Blues" is a real nice track, as it's an acoustic-like track, a brilliant track on this album. I just love "In the Mind of the Bourgeois Reader". It's a punk-like track here, probably the fastest one, and Thurston sounds as if he's having a lot of fun during the recording of it. Then it goes into "Sweet Shine" the only song with any real length on the album. It's a great love song. She has some pretty interesting tracks as well. Her style overall has a sexy sound to it. "Bone" is very awesome, I love the energy of the drums on it, then the chords are well-progressed. It's just a real memorable one on this album. She sings 7 of the 14 songs. 'Experiental Jet Set, Trash and No Star' is something that really shines on track 12 "Tokyo Eye", a very noisy song. It's very awesome to listen to either in the car or on your stereo. This one's good for introducing people to SY. I got this January of this year, and I think it's excellent. There are some flaws, but overall, I think it's pretty good. The songs are very short, which helps, 'cuz it doesn't really contain enough epic stuff. So yeah, I am recommending it here. Esp. if you don't like the mainstream much and think that this sounds cool, like I do. |
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| "Sonic Youth as its best......neta!" | 2003-02-19 |
| - Reviewed By jilvertoumar |
| This is probable the greatest Sonic album....it has the classic cosmo-grunge guitars that characterizes it and excellent songs.....the weird thing about this album is that it's a 3-4 minutes average album.....instead their past albums had 18 minutes songs....(a totally electric orgasm)and even a 34 minute song at the end of Day Dream Nation......this is the kinda album that could get these guys on top of the mainstream....but they kept away from those pendejadas.....really cool album.....buy it before the world ends....... |
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| "Weird is a good thing" | 2002-03-27 |
| - Reviewed By roland66x |
| Its hard to know what's going on in the collective mind that is Sonic Youth. They sure don't seem to move by conventional standards in regard to what kind of albums they make. I think with this album they were just trying to be really weird and act like they just don't care anymore. I mean, just look at the title. The liner notes are kind of unconventinal too, a series of cards instead of the standard book or fold-out poster. "Bull in the Heather" is probably one of the best Sonic Youth singles ever, experimental with some weird, almost off-key-moaning Kim Gordon vocals but still very catchy and addictive. As for the rest of the album, don't expect that kind of payoff. Lots of songs are very self-indulgent and hard to listen too, as if Sonic Youth just wanted to throw down a bunch of ideas and record an album in their garage one night. Some songs are almost funny in their weirdness. Like the song "Androgynous Mind," in which the title is sung repeatedly with much enthusiasm, over and over again. I remember listening to that for the first time with one of my friends and just saying something to him like "what is this?" I'm not generally a fan of indie rock, but then again I wouldn't consider this indie rock so I guess that doesn't matter. Its more like art-noise or something, as if the whole point of the band is to take noise and bad sounds and try to turn them into something good. It doesn't always work, and hey its sometimes not even interesting, but I guess I can't blame them. The title Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star describes this album perfectly, so at least Sonic Youth are being honest about what they're selling. But its all good, even the "no star" part, although if it were up to me I'd cut half the Thurston Moore vocals off this album and make Kim sing them instead. To me, she and her ridiculously cool vocal style will always be the thing that makes this band great. |
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