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"Tuff Gnarl" is probably the fourth or fifth best number on Sister--probably the best from side 2.
"Hotwire My Heart" is a great cover tune, and would have fit in quite nicely on White Light/White Heat. In fact, I would argue that in spite of all the Velvet Underground comparisons, and all the influence that SY themselves claim the group had on them, it is one of the few numbers from all their albums where they actually sound Velvety--the other numbers being "Candle", "Washing Machine", "Do You Believe in Rapture?" and maybe one or two more. In terms of classic rock, I hear far more Doors, Pink Floyd and Detroit rock (Stooges/Cooper/MC5/Dukes) in their sound than Velvet Underground. I also hear a fair bit of Sabbath and Zeppelin, among others.
As for EVOL and Confusion Is Sex being better than Sister (as someone has insisted), I would put Confusion on par with Sister (despite the two albums having very little in common thematically or musically), and therefore tied for second place to Daydream Nation as far as their '80's output goes. As I've discussed in another thread, Daydream Nation had the unfair advantage of being a double album, and therefore gave them more space for some longer numbers which represent the improvisational, jammy side of the group. If Confusion and (certainly) Sister (which sounds very similar to Daydream both musically and lyrically), had had an extra two sides apiece to allow for some longer jams, they would have both been at least tied for the #1 '80's spot with Daydream--Sister would probably even pull ahead.
As far as EVOL goes, one of the things that first fascinated me when I started checking in with the internet was the devotion and praise so many fans (especially female and/or American ones) show this album. Quite frankly, I've always considered EVOL to be one of the group's lesser '80's releases, and definitely their least consistent. Don't get me wrong--it's still a B/B+ record (out of 10, I would give it a 7 or 7.5), and I dig it very much, but compared to the others, it does sound rather inconsistent. (It is, however, their most obviously transitional album from the '80's--side 2 harkens back to the sounds of Bad Moon Rising, Kill Yr. Idols and Confusion Is Sex, while side 1 foreshadows Sister and Daydream.) Also, the two tracks they promoted--"Shadow Of A Doubt" visually and "Starpower" singularly--were probably the weakest on the album (Kim sounds like she just crawled out of bed with a hangover on the latter, her vocals are so lackluster and "run-through"). Therefore, I'm not surprised that Gordon has gone on record as saying that she doesn't care much for this album. "Green Light", "Tom Violence" and "Expressway To Your Skull" (nice Doorsy sound on this track, reminiscent of "The End" both lyrically and musically) are probably the best numbers on EVOL, which probably explains why Thurston has called it a "good" album. Also, this is the SY album where Mr. Ranaldo starts to come into his own as poet, vocalist and songwriter--can't forget "IN the Kingdom #19"!
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