June 9 : Sonic Youth’s ‘The Eternal’ with BEGN option

Amen. It's a great record that sounds just fine.

 

I was referring to the cd, not the LP. Have you heard the cd?

 

Same question, have you heard the cd or are your referring to the LP? I have a feeling the LP mastering might sound better, but I haven't heard it. I might shell out the money for it if it's an improvement over the cd.

 

I've criticized the sound of the cd earlier on in this thread.
I bought the lp (praying for a non faulty pressing) and the sound is slightly better to my ears than the cd I've listened to.
I also correct / temper what I told about modern vinyl pressings and quality issues. Maybe I've got lucky, but not being dead quiet, it's fairly good.

 

Ok, cool. I've seen the vinyl locally, so I might pick it up. I originally wanted the double lp, but it was a lot of money for me to shell out for one new album, so I went with the cd instead. I may have to pick it up.

Also, I do enjoy the live LP. Very nice bonus!

 

I got the autographed LP sleeve too!

Time for me to eat some crow: At the end of this BEGN program, I think the goodies come closer to justifying the premium price than I'd been criticizing Matador for in the weeks leading up to the release date.

In the end, they have delivered everything they promised (especially after sonicyouth.com stepped in to provide an addition bonus MP3 live track), and throwing in that autographed LP sleeve was a great surprise addition. So ultimately I will have to admit that this BEGN is at least on par with the last Pavement BEGN (and the autographed LP sleeve might have just tipped the scales! ).

I still will consider more carefully whether to participate in BEGN offerings in the future, but that's as much due to my changing financial priorities as to the quality of the program.

Anyway, I apologize for being so much of a grumpy sourpuss in this thread.

Now, after I finish listening to the Beck Sea Change MFSL gold CD (both arrived today), I'll give the Sonic Youth CD a spin.

Oh -- I was touched by the simple tribute in the sparse liner notes: "Ron Asheton forever."

Craig.

 

Surprised to not see any more discussion about this LP. It's grown on me quite a lot since I first heard those 30-second snippets. At that time my immediate reaction was a bit "uh-oh...", but I am starting to like this more and more.

IMO, this album is much stronger than Rather Ripped, which I quickly forgot about. RR has some strong songs, but the overall production lacked punch and sounded..."swimmy"? I first heard the RR songs on a live broadcast, so the album was a disappointment when it came out.

The Eternal, now that it has sunk in, strikes me as "Sonic Nurse Vol. 2". Since I love SN, that can't be a bad thing, but it also means they don't really do anything new on this album. It's a little tighter and more rocking than SN for the most part, but there are enough detours to make it interesting in the Murray Street/Sonic Nurse vein of intricate, jangly guitar excursion. For me, it makes 4 stars out 5.

 

A couple of weeks and numerous plays later and i have to agree that this is a great album. Thankfully some of the static and surface noise on my first couple of plays has subsided and it sounds okay now on the turntable.

I love every song on this album. It was good to initially listen to it on vinyl in short three song bursts at a time. its helped me focus on the album bit by bit playing certain sides a couple of times in a row. It is of course great to listen to all the way through as well. I think it sounds great as well, lovely warm layered guitar tones as i expect from SY.

New Dinosaur Jr album is great as well. However have to say that the vinyl is the loudest i have ever heard. The cd has been compared to the Iggy Raw Power remix and the vinyl isn't far behind. Total volume overload probably suits Dinosaur though they could have eased off a wee bit!

 

I'm a bigger fan of The Eternal than I was at first. I agree it's closer to Sonic Nurse than Rather Ripped, but I though the latter was a better record. I still don't totally love it but it's a solid album with some nice moments. I also picked up the Sonic bio which is middling, written as if someone reading it might be a casual fan, and quite repetitive.

The new Dino--if they wanted it to sound like that, they should have just done it on a 4 track--their first two sound better than the most recent one, production-wise.

 

edb15 thanks for your input here, I agree with your feeling on the production of the last few Sonic Youth records. A little compressed and dark with a fat bottom. Not terrible, not great, and doubtfully nothing that could be fully eradicated in mastering. I got the Lp of Eternal, though Greg Calbi is credited for mastering it's someone else's initials in the wax, so I'm guessing he did the cd but not the Lp. I saw them a few days ago for the first time and liked the show a lot, I can't really say how it ranks among their live shows since I never saw them before but have been listening to them for years. I thought they did the songs better live (the whole set was either Eternal stuff or really old stuff with nothing in between). Here's a stream of the show I saw, it actually has pretty good sound qulaity for a recorded live stream- the sound at the show was better than I expected. Enjoy
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106222765

 

Thanks for the link. In NY we got TV, Catholic Block, Brother James, DV69, World Looks Red and PCH. I thought they seemed happiest doing the old stuff, especially the noise intros they played, and wished they had let loose like that more. They also had a few flubs on the new stuff--sounded better on the insound videos. The venue is an awesome space (and just a couple blocks from my house) but too huge to have good sound. Downstairs it was bass heavy, upstairs crisper but lacking punch.

Here are some pictures of the venue--the last big movie palace built in NY before the 1929 crash. Also a set list and a report of the show.
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2009/07/sonic_youth_the_2.html

 

Ooof. The next Buy Early Get Now has gone up by $5 (now $29.95 at Insound.com, compared to Sonic Youth's BEGN, which was $24.99) for the CD + bonus LP edition:

http://www.insound.com/Yo_La_Tengo_...dition)__PRE-ORDER_CD/productmain/p/INS62366/

Looks like a compelling set of extras/bonuses, but sadly, my current financial priorities won't allow me to participate.

Ironically, I found out about this new BEGN for Yo La Tengo (and how it's too much for me to afford) on the day I wore my "Inside Out" YLT tour shirt to work.

Probably want to create a new thread for this YLT BEGN if folks want to talk about it (didn't intend to derail this SY thread, but since we'd been talking earlier about the pricing/value of the SY BEGN, I felt this was a valid follow-up comment). I decided it was best not to create a new thread for the YLT BEGN with a gripe about the pricing, so hopefully someone else more enthusiastic about it can start the thread instead?

Craig.

P.S. - Considering how the YLT BEGN is $5 more, the SY BEGN seems even more like a bargain in comparison!