A Thousand LeavesSome of Sonic Youth best albums
in my mind are albums which create a
mood by themselves like Sister and
Bad Moon Rising. If A thousand leaves
creates a mood with me it's an uncomfortable one.
The opening track Contre Le Sexism
probably has a lot to do with that.
Sure it's kind of cool in a spooky way
but is it strong enough as a song to be
the opening track of an album? I don't
really think so. Perhaps it could have
been the perfect ending but it's not.
Then we get 'the single' Sunday, which is a catchy song but it's
a re-release of the Suburbia soundtrack and has been stripped
of it's noisy guitar solo. Kind of like the Diamond sea radio-
edit. I guess Geffen just demanded that they threw something on
the record which they could release as a single to promote the
album.
I do like the next two songs, Female Mechanic and Wildflower
Soul a lot better. Lots of really cool guitar work. Both of
them build up well and have lots of variation. Hoarfrost is
wonderfull too the score is pretty simple but Lee's lyrics lift
this track to a level of its own.
I have no idea why French Tickler was put on the album. Kim sings
a song which is completely unsuited to her voice. It's bizar how
it clashes and just completely unkind to the ear.
Thankfully, it's possible to skip to what is probably the best tracks
of the whole album. It's one of the best Sonic Youth songs ever made.
It's 11:01 minutes long but as far as I'm concerned it could just
go on forever. It's a classic.
In a way Hits of Sunshine just lingers in your mind through Karen
Koltrane and The Ineffable Me. They're both quite good but in a
way Snare Girl kind of picks up the mood of HOS as if it was put
on as an afterthought to it. It just let's you wallow in Sonic
heaven for a little longer.
Heather Angel finishes the album off and in my mind takes just a
little too long to get going. It's a rather introspective track
which is a feature which seems to dominate Kim's songs on this
album and I think that this has a lot to do with the uncomfortable
mood I was describing earlier.
On A thousand leaves it somehow seems that the three singing
members of Sonic Youth have each gone off in their own direction.
This to an extend that it almost seems like you're presented with
three solo albums rolled into one. Kim's completely immersed into
herself Thurston's gone to heaven and Lee's poetic voice reaches
new heights too. Listening to the album as a whole you just get
the sense of being pushed around a little too much.