Rating:

Well, I’m a little late with this one, and probably the last person on the ‘net who plans on reviewing Rather Ripped. All I can think to say is “It’s not bad.” There’s a lot of dissonance, a little bit of noise, but where most critics are calling this Sonic Youth’s most accessible album, all I can think is that it’s probably their most boring. For a band that’s supposed to be one of the best at what it does, nothing I hear convinces me of that. There’s too much cacophony for this to be a chill-out record, but it’s still too sparse to be a noise record. There are hooks, sure, but they’re nothing special and certainly not plentiful enough for this to be considered a pop record. Now, I’m not saying Sonic Youth need to retread old ground, nor do they need to “sell out.” However, if you want people to listen to an album you have got to give them a reason, and in that respect Rather Ripped misses the mark. It’s not a bad record by any means, but there’s always something else I’d rather listen too.

1. Reena

2. Incinerate

3. Do You Believe In Rapture?

4. Sleepin Around

5. What A Waste

6. Jams Run Free

7. Rats

8. Turquoise Boy

9. Lights Out

10. The Neutral

11. Pink Steam

12. Or

– Quinton

This 25-beetsreview was posted on August 9th, 2006. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.