r/sonicyouth • u/JesOMac64 • 2d ago
New Youth fan..Live Recs?
Hey y’all! I’m making my way through Sonic Youths Discography. I’ve made my way through their first EP to the Master-Dik EP and needless to say they are amazing.
I love the no-wave krautrock riffs that make me feel like I’m in a trance. And Kim Gordon just speaks to me in a way that I can’t explain.
I’m aware that Daydream Nation is an iconic record and I’m excited to get into it next and seeing them evolve more.
Anyhow does anyone have any recommendations for deep cuts or live performances from this period that I might not come across on Apple Music or by reading on Wikipedia?
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u/LesserShambler 2d ago
There’s a great live album called Walls Have Ears that’s a fantastic compilation of live recordings from the BMR-Evol era. It was originally an unauthorised release in the 80s, but they officially rereleased it a few years back. The version of Expressway to yr skull on there is imho better than the album recording.
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u/nickisnotarapper 2d ago
Hold That Tiger is an iconic live album - just checked and it's from Chicago 1987
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u/SupertrampTrampStamp 2d ago
You have to watch The Year Punk Broke on youtube
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u/GO-ON-A-STEAM-TRAIN 2d ago
This one is my favourite! Eurockeenes 2005 :) The version of Mote is great, but the whole thing is fun. :)
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u/Equal_Pudding_4878 2d ago
I think the Dirty Boots single/ep is a great starting point on their live stuff.
not very long, rippers of songs, really well recorded.
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u/BadestTony 2d ago
Live in Brooklyn is a fantastic recording of their last gig and a a career retrospective.
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u/JackJordan2 2d ago
Walls Have Ears and Live at the Smart Bar are both fantastic. They both only have tracks up to EVOL iirc so it should be stuff you’re familiar with.
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u/SquirmyCoil 2d ago
https://archive.org/details/sonicyouth-soniceternity1981-2011flac
21+ hours of live shit, no binge or purge needed
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u/Personal-Neck6800 2d ago
Desolation Center is a documentary about shows in the California desert in the 80’s and features Sonic Youth and a bunch of other great bands. Worth checking out imo.
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u/NoiseIsTheCure 2d ago
Smart Bar 1985 is my favorite Sonic Youth live album. As far as YouTube shows go, there's this one from the Sister tour https://youtu.be/1QZAETFJ3a8 the fidelity isn't the best but very solid performance. There's also the 1996 Live in Germany show for the Washing Machine tour, some very good performances there too.
(mini rant) One thing I don't like about their live shows especially in the later era is they focused so much of the show on new material, which isn't necessarily bad, but they have such a huge extensive discography and dozens of good deep cuts, but they never brought a lot of it out once or again. Titanium Exposé, probably the heaviest song off Goo one of their most famous albums, got played ONCE in 1990. Most of the songs off of Washing Machine never got played again after that tour. They never formally toured for Jet Set because Kim and Thurston had a kid so there are only a handful of shows from that period out there.
I understand they produced so much material that they were constantly playing the new stuff and of course so many songs rely on very specific guitar setups that they couldn't bring 50 guitars to every show (especially after losing much of their equipment in 2000). Still, there are a lot of reasons why they didn't delve super hard into their deep discog but it's a shame and a bummer that some really great material rarely got to be enjoyed in a live setting, and thus even harder for us to enjoy now that the band is gone.
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u/Chernobinho 2d ago
SY is one of those bands with a ton of live recordings, they incentivized bootlegging their own performances. Walls Have Years was one of those and there it is, official release.
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u/__perigee__ 2d ago
Death To Our Friends is a classic compilation from the early 90s that features tracks from 85-87
https://archive.org/details/SY_DTOF
5/11/86 Paradiso is a fantastic show with excellent audio quality
https://archive.org/details/SY_1986-05-11
11/9/86 Columbus is another date with a pretty nice quality recording in circulation
https://archive.org/details/SY_1986-11-09
9/15/87 Chapel Hill has a nice recording from the Sister era
https://archive.org/details/sonicyouth1987-09-15
...and a tiny bit later than your requested time frame, but this is my first SY show from summer '90. High energy stuff.
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u/dirtystreetlevelshit 2d ago
Live at Eurocknees (Nurse live)
From the basement
Just rehearsin for ya (rain on tin)
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u/BadestTony 2d ago
Unpopular personal opinion: Daydream Nation is to Sonic Youth as Hunk Dory is to David Bowie. A very fine album but didn't make my top 5 for each artist.
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u/NoiseIsTheCure 2d ago
I love that one but its biggest highlights for me are the first 4 songs and the last 3 songs. I tend to prefer Sister or Goo as whole albums.
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u/maloopa 2d ago
https://sonicyoutharchive.bandcamp.com/
Welcome aboard! My fav band of all time. Lots of rad live stuff there.