Sonic Youth: Evol

Release Year: 1986

Tracks:

1. Tom Violence

2. Shadow of a Doubt

3. Star Power

4. In the Kingdom #19

5. Green Light

6. Death to Our Friends

7. Secret Girls

8. Marilyn Moore

9. Expressway to Yr. Skull

10. Bubblegum

Lineup:

Thurston Moore

Lee Ranaldo

Kim Gordon

Steve Shelley

General Commentary:

Evol marks Steve Shelley's introduction into Sonic Youth. The meshing of the fab four is clear and works so well that it's easy to see why they haven't needed to replace Steve.

Evol is love backwards. It makes sense with the themes of the album. I feel like backwards love is what I get out of this band. They write such perfect love songs but they're so fucked up and deranged that it's hard to feel giddy and light when listening to them. They pack the full punch of love--the good and the bad.

Most fans consider this album, Sister, and Daydream Nation to be their best three record run. I'd have to agree solely because of how much they evolve over these three beasts. Each one has a very unique sound and approach. Sonic Youth have always worn their influences on their sleeves (with instrumentation and lyrics), and their fancies tend to pass wildly.

Evol has a very dark sound. The band is clearly attempting more epic sounds than they had before. Maybe not, though. It might be that this album simply works better than the previous as a mainstream release. It's weird and edgy, but it has some catchy moments that even non-fans would probably like. "Starpower" is almost a straightforward pop song.

This might have something to do with the bands' obsession with pop music. I guess it's not so much an obsession as an interest. "Expressway to Yr. Skull" is titled "Madonna, Sean, and Me" on the back of the record. It's clear that they were tapping into a Madonna-esque groove on "Starpower". It's a bright catchy love song with a dark twist lurking in the middle.

The cover and inside artwork sets something in motion on this album. The cover features actress Lung Leg looking totally out of her mind and fucking evol. The back has the band looking remotely happy--especially the adorable bespectacled Steve Shelley (age twelve). There's also a great picture of Thurston holding his hands (with large crazy drawn on eyes) over his eyes. Four records in, Sonic Youth was clearly established at this point. Their image of listenable insanity/ punk rock for day traders was formed.

Top Five Moments:

1. The buildup on "Expressway" is absolutely epic and has not been duplicated by the band. Their finest moment.

2. I've always really loved the riff for "Green Light"

3. The lyrics for "Tom Violence" are probably the band's best. My favorites: "I left home for experience/Carved 'suck for honesty' on my chest" (hence my blog title), "My tongue is tired of sleeping nights awake", "There's a thing in my memory holding on for dear life".

4. I love it when Kim's vocals reenter after the break in "Starpower".

5. The firecrackers going off in "In the Kingdom #19"--just because I know the back story.

Personal Connection:
I don't have a very deep personal connection to this album. Many consider this Sonic Youth's finest hour. I love this album, but it has never been one particularly close to my heart.

Bob Monahan loaned me this tape in sophomore year Biology with the words of warning, "It's crazy." He said "Tom Violence" was an especially great track. Looking at the cover, I had the feeling that I had when I first started buying tapes in the sixth grade. I was a bit scared to listen to it. I was afraid of what the music would sound like. God, I wish I could have that feeling again. It's gone for good, though.

I've only seen two of the songs performed live. "Tom Violence" so many times that I used to beg that they would retire it. "Expressway" is always completely amazing, though. They played it the first time I'd ever seen them--at Lollapalooza in 1995. It was majestic--they had oddball staticy lights everywhere that went batshit crazy at the point of the buildup.

For as good of an album as it is, I simply just don't have any deep connection to it.

Overall Rating: 7.4

Though considered to be the best by many, I find that this album has moments of distinct glory, but does not work as a complete album like some of their other ones. I gave it a bit of a bump (from the song rating average) because I love the cover art and think that the band was making a statement with this piece. It's not as good as the previous album, but it does go in a great new direction. The stage is nearly set for the band to create their masterpiece.

I wish side two had one more great poppy moment to break up the monotony of "Death to Our Friends" through "Marilyn Moore". This album could be epic! It seems like there is such an outpouring of creativity; I wish they would have put a little more time into this one and added some other songs.

Track By Track:

1. "Tom Violence": 9

Though I've grown tired of this song, it is certainly one of their best. It's hard to deny the brilliance of the lyrics, sleepy delivery, and cathartic instrumental release in the build up. Thurston sounds exhausted in this song--like he simply can't take it anymore. He's not about to crack up and kill people, but he's about to fucking explode inside himself.

I've thought a lot about the lyrics. They're pointed and abstract at the same time. Growing up, I found that these lyrics tapped into a feeling inside myself that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Still do. In many respects, this song captures my essence. I'm tired, ready to do something crazy, yet I only implode. My violence has never existed outside of my own insides.

I read that Thurston got a lot of influence for this song from Black Flag. He compared it to "My War" and the cover image of the Family Man album. These are good things.

2. "Shadow of a Doubt": 6

This is a powerful song with Kim going from a subtle whisper to a full on growl by the end. Having seen this also many times live, I have grown to appreciate it, though it's not one that I often seek out.

Many of the lyrics reference the Alfred Hitchcock film Strangers on a Train. The lyrics are good and powerful, but for some reason, I feel like Kim's songs on this album are heavy handed. I could never get into them much.

3. "Starpower": 8

The heavy handedness of "Shadow" is definitely not on "Starpower". This is a perfect little pop ditty--the first in the Sonic Youth cannon. Mike Watt's bass thumps are audible in the break, and they add a richness to the song. Though it's pure pop bliss, it's also got a great/weird noise break in the middle. Kim comes back in and sends the song to sleep.

4. "In the Kingdom #19": 6

Lee created the weirdest song on a very weird album. The lyrics are about "death on the highway... all right" and the delivery is conversational but monotone. His later semi-spoken word artist type albums are predicted here. It's a cool a-rhytmic rave up that never quite fits into any sort of structure. I guess that's the point.

The title seems to make it out to mean that this highway death culture is our animal kingdom. Maybe not. It's so tripped out and druggy that any sort of analysis might be ridiculous.

Though this isn't a song, the intention makes me appreciate it. The end features an open mic session where (I think) Mike Watt and Thurston read short poems. "I never gave a damn about the meter man until I was the man who had to read the meters, man." Brilliant.

Fireworks go off and Lee screams. Apparently, Thurston, the sacred trickster that he is, decided to throw a whole pack of Black Cats in the recording room where Lee was laying down the vocals. Lee did not see the humor.

5. "Green Light" 7

The first half of "Green Light" is very different from the second. The first half is a straightforward rock riff behind some wonderful and lovely lyrics from Thurston. "Her light is the night/I'm not blind/I believe in you." This shifts into a noisy drone for the second half. It's polarization is cool and makes for an interesting song.

This song creates what would later be a frequent song formula for the band. Short lyrical opening followed by noise until the end. They did this frequently on Sister. It's an exciting and different approach, but I tend to prefer the more standard structure with another set of lyrics following the noise section.

6. "Death to Our Friends" 5

Nothing wrong with this one, it's a nice instrumental rock tune. It never did all that much for me, though. Nothing here to get too excited about. Neat title, though.

7. "Secret Girls" 4

Kim is really heavy handed here. I can't get into this song. It sounds like it's very emotional for her.

I never could sense what this song is about. It seems like it might be about sex, abuse, violence. I don't know. It just didn't hit the mark. Many fans love this song, but I never connected.

8. "Marilyn Moore" 6

Thurston gets weird on this one. His vocal delivery ranges from a cattle call, to a deep throated "ooooh", to a monotone off tempo moan. It's not pretty. The instruments do little to create any structure.

This song would be a dud for me if it weren't for the part where T yells, "You get to a point." It takes the song in a new direction. Like Tom Violence, he sounds tired and ready to explode. It works well on this album. It doesn't come close to achieving the brilliance of "Tom Violence", though. The lyrics seem like they were scrawled on a paper plate at four in the morning, taken to the studio, and thrown down in one take. Cool, but not great.

The title is a bit absurd. Another pop culture reference, I suppose.

9. "Expressway to Yr. Skull" 10

Sonic Youth's finest hour. "Expressway" defines the Sonic Youth experience--beautiful, ugly, and transcendent all at once. There's a lot to take in on this song. Everything came together and it works perfectly.

"We're gonna kill

The California Girls

We're gonna fire the exploding load

In the milk-maid-maidenhead.

We're gonna find the meaning

Of feeling good

And we're gonna stay there

As long as we think we should

Mystery train

Three Way Plane

Expressway to Yr. Skull"

The opening riff to this song slays. Its tempo and pattern is a bit off, making the listener just hang for a second before the next chord is struck.

I adore the words to this song. I wrote them on one of my Sonic Youth posters that used to hang on my wall. "We're going to find the meaning of feeling good." Yes, I agree. I want to get there too.

I have no words that can capture what takes place after the lyrics are finished. It's just a maelstrom of chaos, but it's not too out of control. The song then shifts into a whisper which is just as epic as the rest of the song. On the original album, they used a "locked groove" technique to get the album to play forever, meaning, it would just play the drone over and over until the needle was taken off it. The play time for the track is listed as infinity.

Many consider this one Sonic Youth's best, and I'm close to agreeing. Not my favorite, but I have mad respect for what was done here.

10. "Bubblegum": 6

This is a nice cover of the Runaway's song. It's fairly standard and doesn't have a whole lot to it. Used to be one of my favorites--Kim's vocals sound great and it's a rock song on a really weird album. I guess this wasn't on the original but was added to the CD and tape.