Sister

Classic 1987 album is one of the band’s greatest releases and reissued on the band’s Goofin’ imprint. Includes a cover of Crime’s ‘Hot Wire My Heart’. Once again, the band that completely revitalized guitar rock in the ’80s brings all its beautiful weapons to bear on this well-crafted and exquisite set of instant classics.

Sister finds Sonic Youth in top form and tentatively reaching out for a wider audience. The album benefits from being recorded on all vacuum-tube equipment (even down to the mixing board). The resulting sound is fat, warm, and full of wonderful harmonics. The songs are as evocative and challenging as any in the band’s repertoire, though several veer dangerously close to traditional rock territory before being swallowed up in devastating soundscapes. If ‘Schizophrenia’ alone doesn’t convince you of this band’s godliness, nothing will.