A Thousand Leaves.
 

After listening to this CD non-stop for two days I cant help but to mention it's beauty. I find this to be one of their most artistic albums in sound and in art. Mentioning Allen Ginsberg is great as well. (The Howl....) At first this record seemed slow but I later found it just has really heavy undercurrents but also explode into heaviness in the songs Ineffable Me French Tickler and Sunday. Contre Le Sexisme is wonderful to me becuz I love SYR5 so much. Heather Angel, Hoarfrost.................The whole damn album is magnificent. This record and NYC Ghosts and Flowers are linked in very many ways. Who else totally loves this album?

i really love Hoarfrost and Karen Koltrain. i played this album to my dad and he really love it, it was hard for him to admit as he hates sonic youth and thinks they are just all noise and feedback, but when he heard it he said "mmmm this is quite melodic".

Their second best album since 1990 (the best is NYC Ghosts & Flowers), in my opinion - and I love them all... It's a fantastic album, and I love the "preparation" made by SYR 1 & 2

I don't have it, but I downloaded Karen and Hoarfrost and love them. I don't know why I've never gotten it...

in my opinion it was their best album since DDN before nurse came out.

Go buy it right now.

EDIT: I was talking to acousticrock87

Arguably their best 90's album, incredible stuff. the double whammy of Hits Of Sunshine and Karen Koltrane is fucking great. really hard to pick out highlights, because it works so well as a whole.

Its my favorite Sonic Youth record hands down.

I thnk it could've been easily one of the top 3 albums if it weren't for Kim's songs and a rather raw production. The beginning of French tickler is one of the most beautiful openings all songs considered, but when Kim starts ranting it ruins what could've become a classic. The same goes for the innefable me, her vocals are just too much for me, espacially the end of the song I still can't figure out. I like Heather angel though. Hits of sunshine starts off nicely but doesn't seem to be going anywhere afterwards.
That being said it stands out as their most inspired album in the 50's.
I wish they'd re-recorded later with better production.

Wildflower Soul is on it. That alone makes it great.

That's a shame. I love KIm on this album and all albums for that matter.I can see where you're coming from though when you talk about French Tickler.

amazing album.
highlights for me:

wildflower soul
hoarfrost
heather angel

Thurston, Lee & Kim..............you covered them all. Nice faves.

I agree 100% about Kim's songs. I do like the production on the album though. My only major gripe with their last 3 albums is that they are all over-produced. I also think they have been using too many effects.

what is the problem with the production on this album. it suits the songs perfectly. there are no ugly frequencies that jump out, it is all at a good level. the guitars, bass, drums, vocals sound fantastic. hits of sunshine is one of the best SY tracks ever, and the lee tracks are fucking awesome on this album. kim's vox also kick ass on 1k leaves.........:p

I don't know if any of you hear a Donovan influence in 'Hit's of Sunshine' ....

It has that flowery 60s soft psychedelic sound....and the voice...wow....I love it....very mellow and trippy...

This is a beautiful cd....

I don't understand the hate critics have for Kim Gordon. Is it because she threatens their masculinity and/or pre-conceived, slave-indoctrinated faux, femininity? Do they have a problem because she is obviously a strong, brave, creative, talented, intelligent woman? I guess I'll never know. A Thousand Leaves would not be the same record without Kim Gordon's backbone infused throughout its sublime beauty. Contre Le Sexisme is noise with beauty shining through it like gossamer.

Actually, the only time I've liked Kim's vocals more than on A Thousand Leaves is on 'I Love You Golden Blue'

Totally. Contre Le Sexiskim.

Eh, its probably half and half. She does something harsh and beautiful and some people find that abrasive and just plain don't dig it. With that half, its probably purely textural. The other half are probably put off by the things you said and don't give the texture enough time to stew and realize there's at least merit, and more.

I, on the other hand, dig it.

That's my hippy response and I'm sticking to it.

kims vocals are perfect on a thousand leaves. the whole album is perfect.
i have a thousand leaves tattood on my arm from the year it came out.
the tattoo itself looks rather shite, but ive no regrets about the words.

Dude, sorry to contradict but it's obvious that she cannot sing in tune except when she's wispering (even more flagrant live). And her ranting, I guess it's supposed to be the ultimate proof of her punk roots but it pisses me off and it's just ugly on this album. I have nothing against harsh vocals ( Plastic Sun is one of my favorite Kim songs) but sometimes hers seem unjustified musically speaking.

Right on.

oh god. don't be a riot girl, please.

Just expressing how I feel about most critics panning Kim Gordon on principle it seems... Sorry, that's how I feel about it...

Her vocals aren't that harsh at all on "Plastic Sun". It's one of her more melodic songs in a lot of ways.

Her vox are absolutely perfect on 1,000 Ls. The production is perfect. Lee's songs are matched only by his two on WM and "Rain King" in my opinion. Their last great album.

and where does it say she has to sing in tune?
do you realise that your comments are no different from someone going on about how sonic youths guitars always sound so out of tune, oh, its all so noisy, why dont they tune their guitars properly and play songs more traditionaly!!!

go listen to rather ripped if you want something a bit more friendly on your poor ears.

I love "A thousand leaves", it's my favorite album ever;:-))))))))))))))))

One of the all-time greats...and next to Murray Street its my second favorite SY album from the past 10 years.

This is my all time favorite SY album. I can remember me and my friend, who's an even bigger SY fan than I, buying it the day it came out and we were instantly blown away by the sheer beauty of songs like "Wildflower Soul" and "Snare Girl". We spent that entire summer getting stoned, driving around in his car and playing it over and over again. Whenever I play it now it takes me back to those days. Good times.... I see a couple of you have singled out Lee's songs for praise and I agree wholeheartedly. "Hoarfrost" and "Karen Koltrane" are probably my favorite Lee songs ever. I'll never understand why this album is so underrated. It's nice to see I'm not alone in my love for it....

Hahaha !!
You should read carefully, singing in tune doesn't mean singing gentle and poppy lullabies it just sticking to the tone of the piece and it's not a secret that she can hardly sing in tune live (however harmonically complex the song may be). I'm just making a fair observation, so chill! About the guitars though, they rarely bother me even when they're noisy the thing is that when SY makes noise, it's rarely random noise as opposed to some of Kim's vocal (and let me stress this again, it happens most of the time live, I usually feel that her record performances are OK).

To get this over with I still prefer ATL to rather ripped, "n'en déplaise tes petits commentaires de merdeux".

im chilled.
so, how is the singing on innefable me or female mechanic out of tune with the piece?
i can kinda see what you mean on french tickler, but totaly disagree on the rest. her singing os more in tune with the album on atl than it is on alot of other albums.
and i did read carefully. i know english is not your first language, and your english is very good, but please dont tell me i should read carefully when its you who failed to say what you wanted to say.

I read an interview somewhere and Kim was talking about trying different ways of singing. She was saying something about how she likes to try and be really atonal, which certainly comes across in a lot of her songs. When I first started listening to SY I was really turned off by a lot of Kim's singing, but I've really grown to like even her most crazy vocal tangents. And I love her understated, whispery vocals on songs like 'Shadow of a Doubt' simply gorgeous. Anyway, I can totally see where you're coming from.

Il y'a d'autres français sur le forum :D

:eek:Diantre! Je suis démasqué !!

my gripe with kims vocals is that (not always) they sound so throaty and .. kinda gross. and her vocals on NYC G&F especially are kinda annoying because they sound too much like they are trying to be poetic.

**I thought RR and Nurse have been her best vocals yet.

One of the last albums of theirs I ever really tried to get into. In the last month, I've listened to the album about 25 times and found two live shows online from this tour. I have to say it may now be my favorite album, and I totally disagree with peoples thoughts on Kim. French Tickler and Ineffable Me are two of my fav Kim songs.
By the way, does anyone know what songs she plays bass on? It's sometimes hard to tell if there is any bass going on at all.

I am a fan of this album. A big fan. It's a very good album. Yes, a very good one. Probably my favourite, after CIS. Very good. Yes.

The whole phase that went from Experimental Jet Set up to Murray Street is Sonic Youth at the peak of their powers.Everytime a new album of theirs came out was cause for euphoria in Marras's household.It's still like that but in a way the euphoria has left me a bit disappointed of late.I'll always buy their records simply because: like them,dislike them,criticize them but Sonic Youth are Sonic Youth and can't be touched.If they didn't make as good an album as 'A Thousand Leaves' i wouldn't care much because they really are one those bands that gave so much good music to the world for it to just shut the fuck up and listen.How many bands can claim to have made such phenomenal records so late in their career?Very,very few.

I have double standards,by the way.