Sister | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | June 1, 1987 | |||
Recorded | March–April 1987 | |||
Studio | Sear Sound, New York City | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 37:32 | |||
Label | SST | |||
Producer | Sonic Youth | |||
Sonic Youth chronology | ||||
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Sonic Youth studio album chronology | ||||
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Sister is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released in June 1987 by SST Records. The album furthered the band's move away from the no wave genre towards more traditional song structures, while maintaining an aggressively experimental approach.
Like Sonic Youth's previous records, Sister was not successful at the time of its release. In the years following, however, it received much critical praise, with several publications naming it as one of the best albums of the 1980s.
Sonic Youth released their third album, EVOL , in May 1986. During the tour of the album, the band began writing material for a new album ("White Kross" had been written earlier, circa May 1986). Sister was recorded to 16-track in March and April 1987 with Walter Sear at Sear Sound, entirely on analog tube equipment, giving it its characteristic "warm", vintage feel. [1] [2]
Sister is a loose concept album (like its follow-up Daydream Nation ). Sister was in part inspired by the life and works of science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. The original titles for the album were Kitty Magic, Humpy Pumpy and Sol-Fuc, [1] but it was named Sister as a reference to Dick's fraternal twin, who died shortly after her birth, and whose memory haunted Dick his entire life. [3] "Sister" was also the original title for "Schizophrenia", and Thurston Moore often introduced it as "Sister". [4]
According to Sputnikmusic's Adam Downer, Sister deviated from the frenetic sound of Sonic Youth's previous music in favor of a refined style of noise pop that would typify the band's subsequent work. [5] The album features aggressive noise songs such as "White Kross" and "Catholic Block", as well as a menacing noir ode, "Pacific Coast Highway", although it also featured more traditional song structures. Some of the lyrics on "Schizophrenia" were originally written for early song "Come Around" ("Your future is static, It's already had it/But I got a hunch, it's coming back to me"). [6] "Sister" was the original title for "Schizophrenia", and a live recording of the song from June 4, 1987 at The Town and Country Club in London was released on the B-side of a bootleg 7" single under the title "Sister". The A-side featured their cover of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" with Iggy Pop. [4] Both tracks from the single were later issued on the VHS portion of Screaming Fields of Sonic Love .
The band used acoustic guitars on some songs on the album for "melodic" purposes, one of the first being "(I Got A) Catholic Block". [7] Another was "Beauty Lies in the Eye", which used three or four guitars. [8] "Pipeline/Kill Time", sung by Ranaldo, was written on April 5, 1987, although several lyrics were not included in the final song. [9] "Tuff Gnarl"'s working titles were "Sea-Sik" and "Smart and Fast", but the band ultimately decided to call it "Tuff Gnarl", inspired by the line "He's running on a tuff gnarl in his head". Mike Watt covered the song on his album Ball-Hog or Tugboat? with Sonic Youth members Moore, Ranaldo and Steve Shelley performing it with him. [10] For the eighth song on the album, the band covered Crime's song "Hot Wire My Heart". "Kotton Krown" (or "Cotton Crown") was the first Gordon and Moore duet, although Moore usually sang it alone during live performances. [11] The last song on the album, "White Kross", was the oldest song on the album and was featured on an NME 7". On the band's 1987 European tour, they extended the song, adding five or six minutes of white noise at the end; this coda was later named "Broken Eye". [12]
The artwork of the original front cover contained a photograph of 12-year-old Sandra Bennett, taken by Richard Avedon on August 23, 1980, but it was censored for later releases after a threat of a copyright lawsuit. [13] At first the picture was merely covered up with a black sticker, but on later pressings the photo was totally removed, only showing a black area. Similarly, a photo of Disney's Magic Kingdom on the back cover was later obscured by a Universal Product Code. [13] Very early promotional posters and pressings of the album did feature these photos, but later ones did not.
A unique feature of the packaging is that the band is named as "The Sonic Youth" in the cover art.
Sister was released in June 1987 by SST (USA) and Blast First (UK) on vinyl, CD and cassette. After its release, the band began their European tour, during which a part of the Master=Dik EP was recorded at a radio session in Geneva. They toured the USA in September and October, replacing their usual encores of "Hot Wire My Heart" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog" with four Ramones cover versions. A recording of a concert the band played on October 14 in Chicago was officially released as Hold That Tiger . [14]
Videos were shot for "Beauty Lies in the Eye" and "Stereo Sanctity". The black-and-white "Stereo Sanctity" video, featuring clips of whirring factory machinery and brief live shots of the band, can only be seen on a rare 1980s SST video compilation titled Over 35 Videos Never Before Released. The band did not release an official single from the album.
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [15] |
Blender | [16] |
Chicago Tribune | [17] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [18] |
Los Angeles Times | [19] |
Pitchfork | 9.8/10 [20] |
Q | [21] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [22] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 9/10 [23] |
The Village Voice | A [24] |
In a contemporary review for The Village Voice , music critic Robert Christgau called Sister an album that was finally worthy of the band's aesthetic. Christgau said that while Sonic Youth had learned to temper their penchant for "insanity", their guitar sound was still "almost unique in its capacity to evoke rock and roll without implicating them in a history few youngish bands can bear up under these days". [24] In a negative review, Spin magazine said that the band failed to successfully mix their previous "nonsense" with "real rock tunage", as the more tempered musical approach lacked riffs and strong ideas. [25] The album was voted the 12th best album of the year in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll for 1987. [26] Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it fifth on his own list. [27] The album ranked No. 4 among "Albums of the Year" for 1987 in the annual NME critics' poll. [28]
In a retrospective review, AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine called Sister "a masterpiece" and "one of the singular art rock records of the 1980s, surpassed only by Sonic Youth's next album, Daydream Nation ". [29] Slant Magazine called it "the last great punk album of the Reagan era, and the first great pop album to emerge from the American underground", while listing it as the 72nd best album of the 1980s. [30] Pitchfork ranked Sister as the 14th best album of the 1980s. [31] NME rated it No. 80 in their list of the greatest albums ever, and No. 37 in their list of the 50 greatest albums of the 1980s. [32] In July 1995, Alternative Press magazine voted Sister the third best album of the decade spanning 1985–1995. [33] Paste magazine's Josh Jackson listed the album at No. 39 on his list of "The 50 Best Post-Punk Albums", saying, "While the following year's Daydream Nation may be their indie-rock masterpiece, the weirder, more muscular Sister exemplifies everything great about post-punk music." [34]
All tracks are written by Sonic Youth (Lee Ranaldo, Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Steve Shelley), except as indicated
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lyrics/vocals | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Schizophrenia" | Gordon, Moore | 4:38 | |
2. | "(I Got A) Catholic Block" | Moore | 3:26 | |
3. | "Beauty Lies in the Eye" | Gordon | 2:20 | |
4. | "Stereo Sanctity" | Moore | 3:50 | |
5. | "Pipeline/Kill Time" | Ranaldo | 4:35 | |
6. | "Tuff Gnarl" | Moore | 3:15 | |
7. | "Pacific Coast Highway" | Gordon | 4:18 | |
8. | "Hot Wire My Heart" (Crime cover) | Johnny Strike | Moore, Gordon, Ranaldo | 3:23 |
9. | "Kotton Krown [lower-alpha 1] " | Gordon, Moore | 5:08 | |
10. | "White Kross [lower-alpha 2] " | Moore | 2:59 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
11. | "Master=Dik" | 5:10 |
Sonic Youth
Technical
Region | Date | Distributing Label | Format |
---|---|---|---|
US, UK | June, 1987 | SST Records, Blast First | Vinyl, CD, Cassette |
Brazil | 1989 | Stileto | Vinyl |
US, Europe | 1994 | DGC, Geffen | CD, Cassette |
UK | 1996 | Mute | vinyl |
US | 2011 | ORG Music | Purple marble vinyl |
Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City and formed in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo remained together for the entire history of the band, while Steve Shelley (drums) followed a series of short-term drummers in 1985, rounding out the core line-up. Jim O'Rourke was also a member of the band from 1999 to 2005, and Mark Ibold was a member from 2006 to 2011.
Daydream Nation is the fifth studio album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth, released on October 18, 1988. The band recorded the album between July and August 1988 at Greene St. Recording in New York City, and it was released by Enigma Records as a double album.
Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star is the eighth studio album by American experimental rock band Sonic Youth, released on May 10, 1994, by DGC Records. It was produced by Butch Vig and recorded at Sear Sound studio in New York City, the same studio where the band's 1987 album Sister was recorded. Unlike its predecessor Dirty, Experimental Jet Set features a more low-key approach and references the band's earlier work on the independent record label SST Records. The album contains quieter and more relaxed songs that deal with personal and political topics.
Psychic Hearts is the debut solo studio album by former Sonic Youth member Thurston Moore released in 1995 through Geffen Records. The album was remastered and reissued in 2006. The two-record vinyl version of the reissue contains bonus tracks on the fourth album side where on the original vinyl release the fourth side had a drawing by cover artist Rita Ackermann etched directly into the vinyl.
A Thousand Leaves is the tenth studio album by American rock band Sonic Youth, released on CD and cassette on May 12, 1998, by DGC Records. A double-LP vinyl issue had been released three weeks earlier on My So Called Records. It was the band's first album recorded at their own studio in Lower Manhattan, which was built with the money they had made at the 1995 Lollapalooza festival. Since the band had an unlimited amount of time to work in their studio, the album features numerous lengthy and improvisational tracks that were developed unevenly. The highly experimental extended plays Anagrama, Slaapkamers met slagroom, and Invito al ĉielo were recorded simultaneously with the album.
"Flower" is a song by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was originally released as a 12" single in 1985 by UK record label Blast First, with "Satan Is Boring" as the B-side. This version was quickly withdrawn at the band's request. In January 1986, Blast First and the band's American label, Homestead Records, both released "Flower" as a 12" backed by "Halloween"; the first run of the UK edition was on yellow/orange vinyl. Blast First also issued the song as a 7" single in edited form, retitled "Flower ", with a backwards version, "Rewolf ", on the flipside.
Washing Machine is the ninth studio album by the American experimental rock band Sonic Youth, released on September 26, 1995, by DGC Records. It was recorded at Easley Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, and produced by the band and John Siket, who also engineered the band's previous two albums. The album features more open-ended pieces than its predecessors and contains some of the band's longest songs, including the 20-minute ballad "The Diamond Sea", which is the lengthiest track to feature on any of Sonic Youth's studio albums.
Sonic Youth is the debut EP by American rock band Sonic Youth. It was recorded between December 1981 and January 1982 and released in March 1982 by Glenn Branca's Neutral label. It is the only recording featuring the early Sonic Youth lineup with Richard Edson on drums. Sonic Youth differs stylistically from the band's later work in its greater incorporation of clean guitars, standard tuning, crisp production and a post-punk style.
EVOL is the third full-length studio album by the American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Released in May 1986, EVOL was Sonic Youth’s first album on SST Records, and also the first album to feature then-new drummer Steve Shelley who had just replaced Bob Bert.
NYC Ghosts & Flowers is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Sonic Youth, released on May 16, 2000 by DGC Records. The highly experimental album is considered to be a reaction to the theft of the band's instruments in July 1999, when several irreplaceable guitars and effects pedals were stolen. NYC Ghosts & Flowers was the first album since Bad Moon Rising in which the band used prepared guitar.
The Whitey Album is an album by Ciccone Youth, a side project of Sonic Youth members Steve Shelley, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore, featuring contributions from Minutemen/Firehose member Mike Watt and J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr.
Screaming Fields of Sonic Love is a compilation album of songs culled from Sonic Youth's various releases from the 1980s. It was released in 1995 on DGC.
SYR2: Slaapkamers met slagroom is an EP by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released on 12" vinyl on September 2, 1997, and was the second in a series of experimental and mostly instrumental releases issued on the band's own SYR label.
"Death Valley '69" is a song by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth and featuring Lydia Lunch. The song was written and sung by Thurston Moore and fellow New York musician Lunch, and recorded by Martin Bisi in 1984.
"Starpower" is a song by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released in 1986 by record label SST as the first and only single from the band's third studio album, EVOL. It was re-released on colored vinyl in both 1990 and 1991.
Hold That Tiger is a live album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth, recorded at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago on October 14, 1987. It featured songs from the album Sister. It was released on vinyl in 1991, with a CD release in 1998. Apparently, the actual tape of the live recording was sped up to fit vinyl, but was not slowed down again for the CD release.
Master-Dik is the third EP by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released on November 4, 1987, in the United States by record label SST, and on January 22, 1988, in the United Kingdom by label Blast First.
Bad Moon Rising is the second studio album by American rock band Sonic Youth, released on March 29, 1985, by Blast First and Homestead Records. The album is loosely themed around the dark side of America, including references to obsession, insanity, Charles Manson, heavy metal, Satanism, and early European settlers' encounters with Native Americans.
Goo is the sixth full-length studio album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth, released on June 26, 1990, by DGC Records. For this album, the band sought to expand upon its trademark alternating guitar arrangements and the layered sound of their previous album Daydream Nation (1988) with songwriting that was more topical than past works, exploring themes of female empowerment and pop culture. Coming off the success of Daydream Nation, Nick Sansano returned to engineer Goo, but veteran producer Ron Saint Germain was chosen by Sonic Youth to finish mixing the album following Sansano's dismissal.
Between the Times and the Tides is the ninth studio album by the American alternative rock musician Lee Ranaldo, released on March 20, 2012 on Matador Records. His first release on Matador Records and since Sonic Youth's indefinite hiatus, the album features a more straightforward songwriting approach to his prior material and includes guest musicians such as Nels Cline, John Medeski and Leah Singer. The album was originally intended to be a minimalist acoustic album but its sound was developed by Ranaldo during its recording at Echo Canyon West in Hoboken, New Jersey during a seven-month period in early 2011.