Sonic Youth Goo CD

Sonic Youth: Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo (vocals, guitar); Kim Gordon (vocals, bass); Steve Shelley (drums).
Additional personnel: Nick Sansano (percussion); Don Fleming (percussion, background vocals); J. Mascis, Chuck D. (background vocals).
Producers: Sonic Youth, Nick Sansano, Ron Saint Germain.
Recorded at Sorcerer Sound and Greene Street, New York, New York.
Personnel: Don Fleming (percussion, background vocals); Nick Sansano (percussion); J Mascis (background vocals).
Recording information: Greene Street Recording Studio, New York, NY; Sorcerer SOund, New York, NY.
Any doubts as to the continuing relevance of Sonic Youth upon their jump to major-label status were quickly laid to rest by Goo, their follow-up to the monumental Daydream Nation. While paling in the shadow of its predecessor, the record is nevertheless a defiant call to arms against mainstream musical values; the Geffen logo adorning the disc is a moot point -- Goo is, if anything, a portrait of Sonic Youth at their most self-indulgently noisy and contentious, covering topics ranging from Karen Carpenter ("Tunic") to UFOs ("Disappearer") to dating Jesus' mom ("Mary-Christ"). Even Public Enemy's Chuck D joins the fracas on the single "Kool Thing," which teeters on the brink of a cultural breakthrough but falls just shy of the mark; the same could be said of Goo itself -- by no means a sellout, it nevertheless lacks the coherence and force of the group's finest work, and the opportunity to violently rattle the mainstream cage slips by. ~ Jason Ankeny
GOO was Sonic Youth's major label debut and allowed the band to blend its skewed sense of aesthetic and cultural criticism into a more understandable stab at pop culture. GOO unleashed the band's ability to create monster riffs out of fuzzy, unlikely tunings, while bringing their once aloof songwriting into a more pop-sensitive light.
GOO's stunning collection of material once again highlighted Sonic Youth's unique writing talents. "Dirty Boots" and "Mary Christ" showed Thurston Moore's delicious slant on rock melody. Yet it was Kim Gordon who stole the show with her chilling "Tunic (Song For Karen)" and the brilliant "Kool Thing."
In "Tunic," Gordon wrapped her cunning insight around the Karen Carpenter story: "I feel like I'm disappearing/Getting smaller every day/But I look in the mirror/And I'm getting bigger in every way..." The song was one of the album's many attempts at understanding the mechanics of pop stardom. "Kool Thing" summed up rock's once blatant "fear of a female planet" by placing women rockers in a rap context. "Are you going to liberate us girls/From male, white, corporate oppression?" Gordon toyed, saying more in her deadpan delivery than years of articles on women in rock or rap combined.Rolling Stone (8/9/90) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...a brilliant, extended essay in refined primitivism..."
Entertainment Weekly - "...moves from lush, airy chords to brutalizing power riffs--the bristling sound of rock in the future." - Rating: B - Ranked by EW as the #6 Album of 1990.
Q - 3 Stars - Good
Uncut (p.121) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[S]panning spazzed-out Krautrock, malevolent electronic drones and open-tuned jazz-punk....Exhilarating."
Down Beat (11/90) - 4.5 Stars - "...This album is miles away from pop music with its unpredictable tempo leaps, the fidgeting with speaker noise and feedback, and the stumblings through instrumental excursions that succeed by a combination of drive and joy....immensely rewarding..."
Option - Highly Recommended - "...a compelling, identifiable consistency..."
New York Times (Publisher) (12/30/90) - Rated #6 of the Top 10 Recordings for 1990.