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Rating: Throughout his life, Thomas Mann always kept alive a "mischievous" novel (Confessions of the Confidence-Man Felix Krull) without ever really finishing it, which accompanied him until his death, so much so that it was published posthumously, not definitively concluded. Parallel to his more famous writings, he carried this on as if he used it for relief from the other things he produced, a vent, a place to regenerate and distract himself from the heavy atmospheres of himself and his works.
That's exactly the impression the Ciccone Youth album (+ Mike Watts, my goodness!) gives me about Sonic Youth, a "playful" distraction compared to their previous works, and even if they always maintain their fierce presence, I sense a grounding of a noise vanity that has reached a point of no return: "Well yeah, let's not take ourselves too seriously instead of pondering sound abysses, let's completely abandon the belief that we can do something, and we convey this awareness that 'everything happens' through the mole on the face of the self-declared tumble... and let's enjoy this espresso."
The result is that with the "white album," Sonic Youth has produced a compilation of new pieces under a pseudonym that resets our perception of the group (are they truly Madonna fans?!?) where they scan their previous production and revere not just Madonna, but various underground genres, sparing Sean Penn this time... And even if it was released later, they first "flow virginal" before a work like "Daydream Nation," an album where they confess the menarche with the mayors: well, indeed, the virtue of a "Bad Moon Rising" cannot be disintegrated with anything, sonic chastity...
And that impossible title of Carmelo Bene's autobiography "Sono apparso alla Madonna" seals the "Whitey Album" and marks the change of Era for our troublemakers: it is the last unexpected album of Sonic Youth. The tracks flow by force of inertia, here is the diversion, here is the relaxation of the band that by appearing to the invisible surpasses the fatigue of demonstrating their bizarre presence. The dogma is reversed. "Distortion" is a means, no longer the goal!
The tracks glide in surplace between noise, pop, industrial, rock, silence, dance... The debatable Louise Veronica is revisited unconsciously rejoicing: blessed "youth." Yes, I like Madonna for those two covers there. Not to mention Kim Gordon who, in the remake of "Addicted to Love" karaoke style, nullifies the machista universe and flips the roles' pancake by proposing in her video the "Disposable Soldiers" + phallic guitar instead of the latex-object women in Palmer's video. And the spoken piece "two cool rock chicks..." with Neu! background is the apotheosis of their revisionism, they observe masked as "Who's that girl(s)?" the transformation with astronomical detachment.
We are in '89, far from the erotic-new Age skid of the buxom one, the revisitation is on two genuine pieces like Burnin'g Up & Into the Groove(y) that, after the manipulation that tears the veil of Maya, appear blinding. The cover enchants with Madonna who seems to tell us "I will give you everything (just don't ask me anything...)" but it's the "noisy youngsters" who actually give us everything without any second thoughts.
And so we have a neat work, recreation, snack time, a pure playful manifestation: here is the "restless adolescence" necessary to launch oneself towards a healthy youth. Sure, the "Ciccone," as an alter ego, maintain an ear-corkscrew imprint but the Om is comforting, remaining fierce. The game is tough and we like it that way.
"Let yourself be overwhelmed by the rhythm... YOU MUST!"
Without a barcode, my copy...
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 (silence) (01:03)
I can't believe it's over
I watched the whole thing fall
And I never saw the right man was on the wall
If I don't land
Days were slipping past
That the good things never last
That you were crying
Summer turned to winter
And the snow it turned to rain
And the rain turned into tears upon your face
I hardly recognized the girl you are today
And god I hope it's not too late
It's not too late
'Cause you are not alone
I'm always there with you
And we'll get lost together
Till the light comes pouring through
'Cause when you feel like you're done
And the darkness has won
Babe, you're not lost
When your worlds crashing down
And you can't bear to fall
I said, babe, you're not lost
Life can show no mercy
It can tear your soul apart
It can make you feel like you've gone crazy
But you're not
Things have seem to changed
There's one thing that's still the same
In my heart you have remained
And we can fly fly fly away
'Cause you are not alone
And I am there with you
And we'll get lost together
Till the light comes pouring through
'Cause when you feel like you're done
And the darkness has won
Babe, you're not lost
When the worlds crashing down
And you can not bear to crawl
I said, baby, you're not lost
I said, baby, you're not lost
I said, baby, you're not lost
I said, baby, you're not lost
03 G-Force (03:39)
(shit)
don't be a fool girl
he's taking me all the way
we've come to burn you up
you've come going to burn me up
got to, it's real alive
you make me feel stupid
(sugar come here, hey sugar)
wish it was five minutes before yesterday
do you remember the time when we were gonna, do that
(sweetheart, come here)
bring me all your food that I don't care to eat
darling, darling
do you wanna fuck me?
no, bring me all your food
don't be a fool girl
(shit)
you ought to have made our american dream come true
don't go in the water
darling, darling
got to, it's real life
come on, come on, c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon
I don't remember what it was like yesterday
was there a yesterday
g force, eight ninety-nine, seventy-nine ninety-five
the ice ballet
sleeping beauty
she's a real jogger
what becomes a mirrorshade most?
huh
c'mon girl
we're gonna burn you
you're contaminated
something's out there, look
don't you see
something used to be out there
I have it all in this book
do you wanna fuck me?
(shit)
we used to go to the place
tell you what I'm gonna do
I'll make you an offer
don't do that
what's it gonna be pal
(shit)
don't be a bully just becuz I'm a girl
do I make you feel silly
is he the tall one?
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to just sound like that
honey you can pick up that phone,
call parker, and all your troubles will be over
I just hope it was worth it
as soon as the sun goes down
he's going into town
and he's gonna play pool
got to, it's real life
she always told me he would
somehow I didn't believe her
I'll tell you one thing though
I think it's gonna rain tomorrow
07 Burnin' Up (03:51)
go burn me up, cause I'm on fire
and I can't reach my desire
do you know that I'm burning up for your lovin'
you ain't convinced that that is nothing
with my soul in this position
and I presume the imposition
you know I'm alive
and there's so mean in my heart, it won't die
I'm burning up
I'm burning up (3x)
you're always closing the door
I think that that only makes me want you more
damned I, too hard for you lovin'
you aren't conviced that that is nothing
justify my wanting you
tell me what you want me to do
I'm not blind, and I know
that you're going to want me, but you can't let go
I'm burning up (3x)
do you want to sit down with me
[mumbling...]
.. would you please
I ain't the same see I got no shame
I'm on fire
fire
come on let go
do you want to sit down with me
[mumbling...]
.. would you please
I ain't the same see I got no shame
I'm on fire
fire
I'm burning up (repeated)
you got me burning up baby
I'm burning up (repeated)
10 Two Cool Rock Chicks Listening to Neu (02:56)
(S=Susanne) (K=Kim)
S: That's what you should do, you should be dinosaur's manager
K: yeah well dinosaur has like ten managers
S: they don't have any other managers
K: they have like...are you kidding? they have a manager in every city
S: it'd be such an easy job though to just tell them what to do, I think
K: erm, yeah but, it's like, they want you to do everything, you know,
they're that kind of band, like, they want to do everything
S: yeah but that's easier to do everything than to just do some of it,
it's easier you know
K: that's true, and have somebody else...
S: and then have somebody else fuck up what you've done by doing part
of your job it's like easier just to do the whole thing
S: in some ways I think like someone like redd kross would be easy
to manage cos they'd just be so like "well, whatta we do now?" and
you just tell them and that would be it
K: they just wanna rock
S: yeah right they don't wanna do anything
K: they just wanna be rock gods, you know
S: seems somebody hit a snare in here
S: so let's call Jay
K: okay
K: hello, is Jay there?
oh ah can you just tell him Kim and Susanne called,
okay, thank you, bye
16 Into the Groovey (04:36)
music can be such a revelation
pass around and do the sweet sensation
we might be lover if we tried
I hope this feeling doesn't end tonight
get into the groove
boy you've got to prove your love to me, yah
get up on your feet and step to beat, boy what will it be
gotta know you in a special way
do it every day
I see the fire burning in your eyes
only when I'm dancing can I feel this free
(by myself)
wanna dance with some else
get into the groove, boy you've gotta prove your love to me
get up on your feet, yeh, step to the beat, boy what will it be, yeh
live out your fantasies here with me
just let the music set you free
touch my body
(now I know you're mine) (x2)
get into the groove, boy you've gotta prove your love to me
get up on your feet, yeh, step to the beat, boy what will it be, yeh
you've got to..
get into the groove, boy you've gotta prove your love to me
get up on your feet, yeh, step to the beat, boy what will it be
you've got to... get...
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By cicire
The only goal was to survive another day. We all love to experiment, make noise, and mess around.
It is an original work full of interesting insights, born from SY’s creative side, less attentive to market logic.
