Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

The intention is to span genres and the decades, I may even throw in some "classics" from artists who I have little or no respect for Notorious B.I.G and Korn immediately spring to mind. So I devised a little list of Albums in no particular order:

Looks like I have plenty to classics to blow through and I'm sure I'll trickle these reviews out at my own leisure across the next year or so. So which album do I start with, well guess what, it's not one from the above list, yep, the album that I'm going to start with is hailed by many as the greatest album of the eighties, considered one of the truly great alternative albums of all time and a corner stone of American Youth culture from its 1988 release right through the 1990s. Got it yet? Well my first album is.......

Before diving into the music one has to comment on both the album cover and the title itself. The album artwork is among the greatest, most iconic and sublime in all of music history, there is something so poignant and indefinable about the candle artwork. It posesses such deep symbolism; the candle, the light in the dark is one of the most common literary images it normal depicks hope, education, safety here Sonic Youth have made it seem glib and forbodining a symbol of bleak dissolution. It fits so perfectly with the sublime title Daydream Nation combined with that cover it so suncinctly sums up everything you need to know about Sonic Youth and this record before you even hear it, it's perfect. It represents a moment in time, the emotions, the feelings, the timing perfectly, just as the Strokes couldn't have picked a more perfect title than Is This It for their much anticipated debut.

There is one factor that always makes reviewing albums like this so tough, it's who I am, I was a one year old when this record came out, living in England, and even as a devout student of history and politics I can never understand what it was like to first hear Daydream Nation in the US in 1988, as much US tv as I watch and history I read I can never asimilate that culture and can never recreate those feelings. However, I can fully understand the importance of The Smiths in Thatcher's Great Britian as I've grown up with that cultural legacy. But I can't tap into the emotional ressonance of that this LP evoked in the US. Now you maybe thinking "JUST REVIEW THE MUSIC DICKHEAD" and in many respects you'd be right but there is an important situational factor that turns a Great album into an all time classic, and I get that nagging feeling that as much as I listen to this album I'll never quite "get it" in a way that the American audience will. Just like as much as they try American's can't understand just how fundementally important the Arctic Monkey's debut was in this country and while it will forever adorn greatest album lists in this country.

With that in mind this is an incredibly powerful effecting record. It has huge emotion resonance from the moment Teen Age Riot kicks in till the last scratchy lick of Trilogy. It's an amazing power how this record makes you feel depressed, full of sympathy and pathos like and outsider. In many ways it is a staple of American alternative music yet at the same time as it feels ghostly like a fleeting daydream (did I mention how bang on that title was) it hits you with wonderful bubble gum choruses that the Beach Boys would have been proud to pen before dropping into a suddenly into an extended scratchy, abbrasive yet always tuneful guitar break down. It's a hell of a ride. This whole experience is encapsulated within the walls of The Wonder (part one of trilogy). It's a majestic work of artistry following from section to section never feeling dull or unneccesary and always feeling perfectly organic. It truly is a staggering work and the 14 minutes of The Trilogy in many ways perfectly encapsulates the whole album.

To step away from the cultural and emotional importance of this record, which is a bloody hard task as this record is so affecting, it's full of superbly written music and pop gems. Teen Age Riot kicks off the album in sublime fashion its just a wonderful track so effortless, so relaxed, the soft melodies are just superb it feels like a warming summer anthem but it's not, its a track with balls, that rocks hard, with with tight guitar work and pounding drums. It sublimely sums up a sense of pent up frustration that's conteracted by that overiding disinterest and apathy "It takes a teenage riot to get me out of bed, right now". I think we've all been there, God knows I have.

Lyrically there are two distinct themes, one coming from Thurston Moore and the other from Kim Gordon. Thurston lyrically feels disinterested yet vital telling stories of walking through the city or laying in bed thinking and dreaming. Kim on the other hand channels the spirit of Patti Smith spitting out lyrics with vile agression that are absoluting dripping with cool; "I wanted to know the exact dimensions of hell, does this sound simple? Fuck You, Are you for sale? Does fuck you sound simple enough? This was the only part that turned me on". You do not want to get on the wrong side of this chick. Its a great contrast, it's almost like Deal and Black reversed.

Ultimately what makes this album so great is that musical it packs a punch, it can be frantic, visceral, aggresive almost like an indy Metallica at times but it's also bloody humable, it's amazing, even at the albums most abbrasive, when the guitars thrash, squel and zip it still feels totally accessable. It's a remarkable feat that certainly doesn't feel like it's by design. This is an album in the truest sense its not merely a collection of tracks its one single entity that should be listen to in full from start to finish. Truly an album that ticks all the boxes, great songs check, huge influence check, cultural significance check. While this album will always be a cornerstone of American culture it goes sadly unapprecaited over here in little old England. It remains an incredible work.

Sonic Youth will forever sit aside the Pixies and Dinosaur Jnr. as one of those incredibly brave and important bands of the eighties that were kicking and punching away at the door that Nirvana would eventually smash through when US Alternative culture went supernova. However like so many scenes and movements in music history the original is always the best. Daydream Nation and Doolittle both remain beyond special records while Ten and Nevermind will have to settle for merely great. Even if incomparision they feel like Total Trash ;)

Is this the greatest album of the Eighties? Well that's an incredibly tough to say, without a doubt it's in the debate but with The Queen Is Dead, Doolittle and Master Of Puppets as competition, it will take a hell of a lotta dislodging on the rock front alone to sneak to number one. But who cares? Honestly? An absolutely classic how I could go twenty years with out hearing this record, I do not know. A masterpeice, a moment in time, that is forever timless, as great now as it was then, perfect. (10/10)

Wow if album one is this good I look forward to the rest (asides from Korn)! I'm open to suggestions as ever.