| Sonic Death | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | 1984 | |||
| Recorded | 1981–1983 | |||
| Length | 68:02 | |||
| Label | Ecstatic Peace! | |||
| Producer | Sonic Youth | |||
| Sonic Youth chronology | ||||
| ||||
Sonic Death is a live album by American rock band Sonic Youth. [1] It was released in 1984 on cassette tape by the Ecstatic Peace! record label.
Sonic Death contains live recordings from 1981 to 1983. Many of the tracks on the album appear only as fragments, often with no breaks between them. Most of the songs are live versions of tunes from Sonic Youth's first three releases, Sonic Youth , Confusion Is Sex and the Kill Yr Idols EP.
Because Sonic Youth used many different alternative tunings, but could not afford to travel with separate instruments for each tuning in the band's early years, members of the band can be heard changing tunings between songs.
The album was originally released as a cassette tape on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace! label. It was later re-released on cassette and released on CD by Blast First and SST Records. It is currently out of print.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote: "Sonic Death: Early Sonic 1981-1983 captures the early incarnation of Sonic Youth at their noisiest and artiest", but calling it "often [...] unfocused and tiresome." [1] Trouser Press called it "a compilation of poorly-recorded live performances." [2]
The album's cover has no track listing, and CD versions consist of only one track, or two tracks (depending on the release), matching the two sides of the original cassette. The following is a list of songs that can be recognized clearly.
Side A
Side B
Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon 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.
Thurston Joseph Moore is an American musician best known as a member of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Moore was ranked 34th in Rolling Stone's 2004 edition of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." In May 2012, Spin published a staff-selected list of the top 100 rock guitarists, and ranked Moore and his Sonic Youth bandmate Lee Ranaldo together at number 1.
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.
Robert Bertelli, better known as Bob Bert, is an American rock drummer.
James Sclavunos is an American drummer, multi-instrumentalist musician, record producer, and writer. He is best known as a drummer, having been a member of two seminal no wave groups in the late 1970s. He is also noted for stints in Sonic Youth and the Cramps, and has been a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds since 1994. Sclavunos has led his own group the Vanity Set since 2000.
Dirty is the seventh studio album by American rock band Sonic Youth, released on July 21, 1992 by DGC Records. The band recorded and co-produced the album with Butch Vig in early 1992 at the Magic Shop studios. The sound on Dirty was inspired by the grunge scene of the time, and was described as avant-rock. Some songs on the album mark the first appearance of three guitars in Sonic Youth songs.
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.
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.
Confusion Is Sex is the debut studio album by American noise rock band Sonic Youth. It was released on vinyl LP in February 1983 by record label Neutral. It has been cited as an important example of the no wave genre. AllMusic called it "lo-fi to the point of tonal drabness, as the instruments seem to ring out in only one tone, that of screechy noise".
EVOL is the third studio album by the American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released in May 1986 by SST Records, the band's first release on the label. The album is notable for being the first with a new drummer, Steve Shelley, replacing Bob Bert, and for showing signs of the band's transition from their no wave past toward a greater pop sensibility.
Kill Yr Idols is an EP by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released in October 1983, originally only in Germany, by record label Zensor.
The discography of American rock band Sonic Youth comprises 15 studio albums, seven extended plays, three compilation albums, seven video releases, 21 singles, 46 music videos, ten releases in the Sonic Youth Recordings series, eight official bootlegs, and contributions to 16 soundtracks and other compilations.
State of Confusion is the twentieth studio album by the English rock group, the Kinks, released in 1983. The record features the single "Come Dancing", which hit #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was one of the band's biggest hit singles in the United States, equaling the 1965 peak of "Tired of Waiting for You". The album itself was a major success, peaking at #12 on the Billboard album charts.
Live Skull is a post-punk/experimental rock band from New York City, formed in 1982.
"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. A demo version of the song was released in December 1984 on Iridescence Records. A re-recorded version was released in EP format with different artwork in June 1985; this version was featured on their second studio album, Bad Moon Rising.
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.
Walls Have Ears is a Sonic Youth bootleg live recording from 1985. It was released on 2x12" vinyl in 1986 without the consent of the band.
Live at the Continental Club is a live album by alternative rock band Sonic Youth, recorded at Continental Club in Austin, Texas on April 12, 1986. Many of the songs performed were from their new album EVOL.
Bad Moon Rising is the second studio album by American rock band Sonic Youth, released in 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.
"Heart of Gold" is a song by the British rock band The Kinks. Written by Ray Davies, the song appeared on the band's 1983 album State of Confusion.
| Studio albums | |
|---|---|
| Extended plays | |
| Live albums | |
| Compilation albums | |
| Other albums | |
| SYR series | |
| Singles |
|
| Video albums | |
| Books about Sonic Youth | |
| Side projects | |
| Related articles | |
