I think that Rather Ripped is excellent!!!!! I got it on the 13th and was pleased that I waited. I began listening to this gem on the drive home and was impressed. This album is not shabby. There sure are a lot of haters here on this Sonic Youth site. Sonic Youth is not making the same album over and over again. For a band that has been around for like 28 years I think thats pretty fucking respectable. I am pretty sure those who hate Rather Ripped so, are simply discruntled and just want something to bitch about, and why bitching about one of the greatest bands that you are supposedly fans of (this being a fan site) there are some extreemly harsh opinions. Ofcorse everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and damnit!, this album is very good!!!

sleepin around is way better live. and yeah it would be good without vocals too.

I always liked 'Or' ..really cool closer. Its like the quietest Sonic Youth closer ever. Sleepin' Around is a bit shite in the lyrics but I think its kind of supposed to be intentionally bluesy-shallow kind of like plastic sun.

When i first heard the album i had this hypothesis that they wrote all the songs and then kim and thurston traded all their songs...:)

And as for rather ripped being such a sick summer album i totally agree....I am also quite down with the ice cream/final fantasy + rather ripped deal too...

Hell yeah! I'm going to kick off one of those in a few minutes. It's nice having my new mixer now too, so when the record's over I can switch right to the awesome Nobuo Uematsu music in the game.

'Rather Ripped' is mostly awful. There are some quite good songs on there but they get boring quickly and the rest just make me cringe, mainly because of really annoying vocals and pretentious and annoying lyrics that Sonic Youth sometimes do. Although I am missing Nycg&F and Murray Street I would say its the worst album since 'Dirty' (a lot of the songs have the same problem of annoying vocals/lyrics) as that was a really bad album too.

After a few more listens, RR seems like a good record that's just different, not bad at all.

Yeah, this album is great, not as good as nurse, because that was as good as Daydream in my opinion. I like it better than Murray Street though.

And I also don't think Sonic Youth has made the same album 3 times. RR has a similar sound to Nurse and Murray Street but it has a totally different vibe to it. People always complain that SY keeps making the same album and yet, most of the time those are the same people who want SY to make albums like Sister and EVOL again. If you miss those albums go listen to them again.

See? Best album since Dirty. It just depends on whether you have good or bad taste.

Worst album since dirty.

Dirty is their flat out worst album either way.

Yeah Dirty sucks....those songs are really lame. I heard Kurt Cobain wrote most of them during the "grunge days." Wish Fullfillment....now there's a dumb song. Don't even get me started on Purr or Chapel Hill....gag. Kim's lyrics don't make any sense and Steve doesn't do anything worthwhile on the drums. That album isn't even Sonic Youth really....they played pretty much what Kennedy from Alternative Nation said to play. Boy, that album really sucked!!!!

Yeah I agree with atsonicpark and krastian. 'Dirty' always seems to me like a parody of Sonic Youth or some shit band who have gone beyond being influenced by them and are just blatantly copying them. Though I would say that 'Wish Fulfillment' and 'Chapel Hill' are some of the better songs on that album though the lyrics are fucking shite, songs like '100%', 'Youth Against Fascism', 'Drunken Butterlfly' and 'Nic Fit' (why did they even put this on the album? It's only a cover) are really why I hate that album.

Dirty sags at points, especially towards the end. I think Goo is better then dirty, just better songs. The really heavy stuff on dirty is cool though..100%, Swimsuit Issue, Drunken Butterfly.

On the Strip is really cool too.

Anyway back to criticising 'Rather Ripped'. 'Do You Believe in Rapture' isn't too bad but gets boring pretty quickly and why the fuck did they have to make it a religious song!? For fucks sake, religion and music DO NOT MIX! It's just annoying!

'Turqoise Boy' is incredibly crap. So annoying and sentimental it makes me want to vomit, same with 'The Neutral'. Same with 'Lights Out', "She scans the room for a star to consume", these lyrics with the way they are sung is just really fucking crap.

Yeah Goo is so much better then Dirty

What crawled up your ***? :)

Jesus fucking Christ....you guys must really be retarded. Ever heard of drunken sarcasm? It just seems like people are always like "Oh Dirty sucked....it was their "alternative album" that they made to be part of the "grunge mainstream." "Yeah man, they really sold out on that one." I never in my life thought that people would say that Dirty sucked on a SONIC YOUTH FORUM. None of their albums "sucked." Whatever, I was just sick of always biting my tongue about all the negativity on this board, let alone towards SY. Fuck it.

I've heard of sarcasm, don't know what difference being drunk would make. Although you sounded pretty stupid mantioning Kurt Cobain etc, I was just agreeing with your view that it was shite. I didn't say anything about it being their "alternative album" or them selling out etc. Just because someone likes a band doesn't mean they will like everything that that band produces. Why bite your tongue? Just express yourself, I thought thats what forums are for?

Dirty was a good album.

That was the whole idea....to be stupid. The references I made obviously didn't make any sense. I didn't mean you specifically....this view point seems to come up all the time on here and on the old board.....I just think it's insane. Stick around for awhile and you will see all the repetitive bs about SY sucking and whatnot and you'll see what I mean by "biting my tongue" and just ignoring everything. If you would try and tell people to go away/put people in their place about this crap all the time you'd go crazy. Just ask anybody on here who truly loves this band, which to me is the reason to be here. Yes, I know that a lot of people don't like EVERYTHING they did, that's fine. It just gets fucking old.

Yeah, well, just thought you were being an idiot, didn't pick up on the sarcasm. I am missing a few albums but apart from 'Dirty' and 'Rather Ripped' and a few odd songs I love their stuff and it's not like I dislike everything on those albums.

Right on man.

imho dirty is not a mileston as sister, and daydream nation was.

and i also think that murray street was a milestone as well

so lets go to rather ripped

This is sonic youths pop album, 13 Songs (at least my euro-edition) and 50 Minutes. I wonder why they focus on songwriting now, although jim o rourke left the band, and keep the effects and the power guitar tracks almost the entire album away. This album sounds like a new sonic youth, the murray street chapter has closed and this great band starts with a new beginn.

Well after 4 times listening, Rather Ripped has 4 excellent stand out tracks, which may qualify as a sonic youth classic: Rapture, Lights out, Pink steam and or. Most of the songs, sometimes sound like a filler to me, i cant keep them in my head, or i dont know why they appear on the album. They are entertaining to listen, but its not the sonic youth classic feeling.


On the other hand rather ripped is a great album, compared to the experimental albums from the end 90s. So in the list of my favorite albums, it will be probably number 9 or so. Not a classic, but a straight good album, an ok sonic youth album, and definitly one of the five hottest records this year.

Assblaster dumb twat.
Is there any sy record you like?

Rather Ripped is quite good in my opinion. Overall I still prefer Murray Street and Sonic Nurse but the new material is great also. More pop than anything they have done since Jet. Nice production also...

DIRTY is a joke album, almost as much as psychic hearts.

goo was better than nurse/dirty/exper/rr .. but not much else.

I understood your humor, and thought it was funny as always.

Haha! This is so funny, all the people hating their two best albums in here.

Explain what you mean. I don't think they were jokes.

They're joke albums because they(atsonicpark) don't like them. And it's a trendy thing to say. Duh!

Burn!

It's trendy to not like bad music? Well, I'm trendy then.

Yeah--and these people are not very nice either.

I like Goo better than Dirty. It was more consistant and creative. Dirty was ok, but not great. Goo wasn't all that great either though. DFon't get me wrong, it's till really good, but it wasn't amazing. There are some amazing songs on it, but thee whole album doesn't quite hold up as some others. I'm still really into it though. I like Goo a lot more than I like Rather Ripped. I like Dirty more than RR too.

Dirty just sucked. That doesn't mean I'm trendy.

It might mean that you are being trendy, and you just don't know it. You have to ask yourself whether you are being honest with yourself about whether you dislike Dirty. Given the right environment, and the right coaching, and a few treatments, you might learn to like it after all.

Why would I waste time trying to listen to shitty music, though? I'm not lying to myself.

I forgive you.

I kind of have mixed feelings towards Rather Ripped. Sometimes it comes across as pretty good, and sometimes not. I think it all depends on what mood I am in. If I'm not into listening to what Rather Ripped has to offer, I brush it off. But if I'm in the right mind frame then it can sound pretty good. It's one of those weird albums that band's make that you never really know with where you stand.

Lately I've been wanting to hear Rather Ripped about twice a day, which is way more than any other album recently and way more than any Sonic Youth album that has come out since A Thousand Leaves.