North London Expressionist Paintings The Eternal by Sonic Youth | Review

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The Eternal by Sonic Youth

Below the review are YouTube videos of all The Eternal songs performed live by Sonic Youth at various concerts.
Sacred Trickster starts showing the brilliance of Kim's vocals, and the band for playing the kind of straight rock you might think wouldn't work for Sonic Youth, but does. Thumping uh-uh's start in the fantastic Anti-Orgasm. Old memories of Drunken Butterfly from Dirty, the way the instruments all fall apart together, but keep their volume. Beautiful instrumental play out, with sounds I guess are from guitar effects, but can't tell. Kim's la-la's in Leaky Lifeboat, duet vocals (sometimes all three singing together on The Eternal), the weird stuttered background fuzz during the break, the constant pace of the song, this albums starts off as fresh and brilliantly easy as any Sonic Youth album. Antenna has an anthem feel to it, and the similar thumping drums that seem to be a theme of this album. Thurstons vocals, along with the sound of the album as a whole, sound too young for him, and fresh especially in the chorus of Antenna. The Buggles, Smashing Pumpkins and now Sonic Youth have realised the potential of the three syllable dreamy 'Ra-di-o' in punchy pop-rock songs.
What We Know, perhaps the best intro ever. I wrote about my love for drum intros in the beginning of Sister review. Currently my favourite Lee song, nudging out Daydreams Rain King. Sonic Youth found a consistency with their albums production, that was more varied across albums before. Could be a good or bad thing, but at least proves the variety is coming from the bands songs, not studio techniques. There seems to be some though on the vocal to Calming the Snake, but it works. Calming the Snake builds to sonic ecstasy that made Rather Ripped for me, so good to see more on The Eternal. Poison Arrow is fast, and after the intro starts a chaotic Goo sounding guitar stuff. Songs made for Thurstons vocals.
By Malibu Gas Station, the album settles down, but only to build up to finish. The echoey sound of Kims voice, energetic drums than usually seem defining The Eternal. Thunderclap (For Bobby Pyn) is Sonic Youth again time-traveling to the early days of rock. No Way, again a relatively traditional rock song confirms The Eternal as a landmark album for what sounds like rock-Sonic Youth, during the three year gap between this, and their last album. Walking Blue is beautiful, like euphoric REM and spaced out lead guitar that made much of Rather Ripped. The album only really slows down for the final song, Massage the History, yet another dimension to Sonic Youth. The Eternal is a majorly brilliant album. Enjoy the YouTube videos of live performances of all the songs below.
The Pay No Mind bonus track Beck cover has great climaxes to it, and strips the song down to the great vocal melody it has. The other bonus track off the Japanese and Brazilian releases (Why do they get special treatment?), No Garage is also a good old-style rock instrumental, which has a different live sound to the album.

Sacred Trickster:


Anti-Orgasm:


Leaky Lifeboat:


Antenna:


What We Know:


Calming the Snake:


Poison Arrow:


Malibu Gas Station:


Thunderclap for Bobby Pyn (second song on the video):


No Way:


Walkin Blue:


Massage the History:

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Uploaded by Edgeworth Johnstone - Contemporary Expressionist Artist from Muswell Hill, North London. Visit artists blog.