BY: MARIO C

For almost twenty years now, Sonic Youth's "Daydream Nation" has been one of my all-time favorite albums. I finally picked up the deluxe 2-Disc expanded and remastered edition and it's like discovering the whole record again.

If you are unfamiliar with Sonic Youth and/or "Daydream Nation," there's a whole world of new discoveries waiting for you.

Sonic Youth are a New York avant-rock band that has always had one foot planted in classic pop/rock and the other foot planted in avant-garde guitar noise/feedback experimental music. They blend the two with an ironic sense of humor about the world of celebrity culture in which we live and in which they exist, although very much on the fringe of it.

"Daydream Nation" is their 1988 double LP masterpiece (one of them - "Sister" and "Dirty" being the others) that was a landmark upon its release and is still a blueprint for bands with any 'artistic' leanings and desires beyond just regurgitated guitar riffs and simple song structures.

More than most bands could ever dream of doing in one song, almost all SY songs have unusual structures, strange guitar tunings and effects, along with oblique lyrics inspired by writers like William Gibson and Phillip K. Dick. Yet these songs often contain enough pop-music hooks so that these often strange and seemingly fractured songs find their way into your head and breed there. The music is at various times chaotic and violent, at others times still and peaceful. It can be angry or aggressive, it can be soothing or dreamlike and all points in between, and it is almost always cinematic in scope.

"Daydream Nation" opens with "Teen Age Riot," a celebration of the growing underground music scene of the 1980s, which culminated four years later with the explosion of Nirvana's "Nevermind." (Nirvana signed to Geffen on SY's recommendation to both the label and the band, and Kurt Cobain agreed because if Geffen was good enough for SY, it was good enough for him.) "Teen Age Riot" opens with a dreamy preamble ("Spirit Design") that helps create a continuity for the whole album, as the feel and chord changes are reconnected with later. But first, "Teen Age Riot" itself begins. Angular stabbing guitar chords come first, then drumsticks clicking and popping, creating a feel of acceleration and anticipation. By the time the whole band starts a pulsing, driving riff it feels to me like an ecstatic moment, all elements coming together in a pure moment of bliss. There is a strut and flow to this song that never fails to put a smile on my face and a bounce in my walk.

"Silver Rocket" is the second song and a perfect example of SY at their best. A great, catchy opening riff leads the band into a racing, throbbing song that speeds along (like an, um.... rocket?) until after the typical verse-chorus-verse- chorus of the normal rock song, then just breaks down. It falls apart into noise and chaos until the band eventually find their way back into the core of the song. The tension created while the band start to reenter the atmosphere is one of the most exciting moments for me on the CD. This is a good rendition of the song live but one that doesn't touch the version on the CD or other live versions I've heard.

From there the album goes on to explore ambient musique concrete ("Providence"), psuedo-speed metal ("Cross the Breeze"), ZZ Top-ish riffery ("Eliminator Jr."), psychedelia ("Eric's Trip," "Rain King") and the pure guitar pop of "Total Trash" and "Candle."

"Daydream Nation" might first appear to be inaccessible to a newcomer, but on repeated listening the subtleties and nuances start to show. So the more you listen, the better it gets. After all my years of listening to this record I'm still discovering new things and to me that is how music should be. I mentioned earlier that I felt this CD has a cinematic quality to it and I can't help but feel that every time I listen to "Daydream Nation" I get to see a movie I've never seen before.

BONUS! The new CD reissue has a second disc of all the songs on "Daydream Nation" performed live at the time of its release! Thankfully they didn't just replicate the CD track listing sequence but took the various tracks (from different shows) and placed them in a sequence more suited to a live performance, creating an ebb and flow very different from the original sequence but still with a continuity and dynamic give and take. I'm still listening with fresh ears to the live disc but so far it's very exciting and refreshing to hear these songs performed in blistering raw form. The version of "Silver Rocket" alone is worth the entire CD purchase. It really makes me regret that I missed the summer Sonic Youth tour this year where, in celebration of this reissue, they performed the album in its entirety.

Mario C has dilly-dallied most of his life working in record stores and compiling useless knowledge. He is currently the customer service/cashier supervisor at Bookmans Ina and is a music snob of the first degree.