SONIC YOUTH > Daydream Nation 2007 Deluxe edition

Since 1988, few albums have matched the splendor of Daydream Nation.  The 70 minutes spanning Sonic Youth’s seventh release are an expert blend of dissonance and melody, syncopation and sprawl. Cascading chromatics bleed into soft, dreamlike digressions; elsewhere, pooling tones snap into full-throttled power chords. Label: GEFFEN
[Rating: 4]

Since 1988, few albums have matched the splendor of Daydream Nation.  The 70 minutes spanning Sonic Youth’s seventh release are an expert blend of dissonance and melody, syncopation and sprawl. Cascading chromatics bleed into soft, dreamlike digressions; elsewhere, pooling tones snap into full-throttled power chords.  There is something undeniably joyful in those moments of straightforward rocking-when the kick drum punches through the wash, and both guitars clamp on the same riff.

Daydream Nation, put simply, is one of the best albums of our time. With a booklet of incisive essays and rare pictures, as well as a full CD of supplemental material, the Deluxe Edition is requisite for any SY fan.  The second disc’s live selections (culled from the album’s supporting tour) showcase their excitement over the new material; they veer through the songs at amphetamined pace, and scrabble and squelch with abandon.  As a bonus, four amazing covers have been generously squeezed into the remaining minutes:  The Beatles’ “Within You Without You,” Mudhoney’s “Touch Me I’m Sick,” Neil Young’s “Computer Age,” and Captain Beefheart’s “Electricity.”