album // Bad Moon Rising
In twenty or so years, when the likes of Mojo appraise
the Mute and Blast First legacy - which I firmly believe
will have by then achieved the recognition afforded the likes of
Sun, Stax or Motown only for a more marginalised, independent audience
- they will pick through the releases and highlight this as one
of the most important alternative rock albums of its time. Bad
Moon Rising owes its release in the UK exclusively to Paul
Smith's commercial risk-taking (he set up Blast First specifically
for this album), who licenced this album from Sonic Youth's
US home in 1985. Blast First / Mute no longer hold the UK licence
for any of Sonic Youth's early albums, and instead these are now
released by Geffen. The album was produced by the band with John
Erskine and Martin Bisi.
In 1985, Sonic Youth consisted of drummer Bob
Bert, bassist Kim Gordon, and the twin guitar onslaught
of Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo. Bad Moon Rising
is a product of their honed approach to sculpting sound, finding
distortion and pure noise colliding with cyclical drumming (although
Bert would not scale the heights of percussive texture that Steve
Shelley ultimately would) and melodic fragility. The lyrics,
alternately sung by Gordon and Moore take their inspiration from
Reagan-era societal woe, trash novels and sexual politics. The result
is a self-assured, adventurous epic that was a product of eighties
ideas but which resonates to this day as a timeless post-punk masterpiece.
Perhaps it's the evil scarecrow cresting a hill
with a typically corporate cityscape in the background that adorns
the sleeve, but there is a sinister wind blowing through Bad
Moon Rising; the inclusion of the classic tracks 'Hallowe'en'
and 'Death Valley '69' probably don't help. Elsewhere, on the sleeve,
collages and a mix of meticulously typed and messily scrawled lyrics
indicate Sonic Youth's artistic leanings.
What still surprises about Bad Moon Rising
is its confidence and lack of audible naïvete; it is not the
aggressively rockist album one would expect, highlighting the sudden
and stark acceleration of style from their more obviously punk earlier
Kill Yr Idols EP and Confusion Is Sex album.
Starting off with the meditative, atmospheric guitar
drift of 'Intro', the pace quickens with the bass-heavy dirge of
'Brave Men Run (In My Family)', sung by Gordon after near enough
two full minutes of grungey jamming. Almost as quickly as it was
constructed, it soon breaks down into the droning, feedback noise
of 'Society Is A Hole'. A steady bass guitar riff, clanging guitar
passages and gentle percussion underpin Thurston's evocation of
Cold War-era America ('You've got big hair / And everybody's
scared'). Rising, corruscating noise gives way to a fuzzy, broken
background recording of an Iggy Pop classic, which flows directly
into the seven minute 'I Love Her All The Time', a plaintive, fragile
epic sung by Thurston with a great fast section filled with loud
drums and distorted guitars, which like a devastating wave eventually
ebbs and slows, revealing the brittle love song underneath.
Haunted guitarscapes lead directly to the appropriately-titled
'Ghost Bitch', which accelerates via some droning, train-like guitars
into a rising poem delivered by Gordon over pounded drums. 'You're
the first day of my life' she concludes, leaving the track to
break back down into cycles of feedback and cavernous reverbing
drums. My personal favourite, 'I'm Insane' follows, a Thurston fast-paced
rocker taking its lyrics - it seems - from the covers of pulp fiction
novels and leftfield comics. Gordon works a lazy, melodic bassline
while a chugging quiet guitar riff nudges the sparse rhythm along.
'Inside my head my dog's a bear / She was significant / I'm insane'
intones Moore in a near whisper as the track concludes.
Static and what could be the abrupt sound of plugs
inserted and removed from an amp introduce 'Justice Is Might'. A
heavily distorted Thurston explains what the song's about, before
a leaden guitar part and rolling drums kick in - this is a dense,
cranium scraping, multi-layered song filled with sloganeering. 'Death
Valley '69', recorded with Lydia Lunch is one of the Youth's
classic tracks - coming out of nowhere with a riff that recalls
surf-rock's darkened moments, long droning passages and an erotic
/ sinister lyric. Lydia effects less of a banshee wail here than
a naïve, girlish fragility. Until she emits a blood-curdling
scream toward the end. 'Satan Is Boring' is informed by all manner
of evil spirit, Thurston's vocal panning across both stereo channels
with grotesque processing, while locked guitar loops and some very
improv drumming run randomly in the background. 'Flower', sung by
an emotive Kim, is a feminist diatribe - of sorts - with a chorus
of 'Support the power of women / Use the power of man / Support
the flower of women / Use the word fuck / The word is love'.
It's got an apocalyptic edge, the instruments rising out of the
background to produce a motorik, pulsing rhythm.
'Hallowe'en', again sung by Kim, is a hushed, dark
track befitting of its title. Sparse and quiet instrumentation renders
this quite a tender song, only the final couple of minutes producing
a kind of fear and tension. The album ends with the short 'Echo
Canyon', a studio experiment of sorts where noises are subjected
to deep sonic reverb to the extent that they distort in the upper
registers, ending with the sound of a needle scraping viciously
across vinyl.
Blast First's Paul Smith describes experiencing
a musical epiphany when he first heard Bad Moon Rising. Before
putting together this review I probably hadn't heard this for almost
six years; re-discovering this now has reminded me of just how captivating
and devastating its unique sound is.
Track listing:
1. Intro
2. Brave Men Run (In My Family)
3. Society Is A Hole
4. I Love Her All The Time
5. Ghost Bitch
6. I'm Insane
7. Justice Is Might
8. Death Valley '69
9. Satan Is Boring*
10. Flower*
11. Hallowe'en*
12. Echo Canyon*
* Bonus tracks not featured on LP/Cassette. 'Flower'
and 'Hallowe'en' were produced by Sonic Youth.
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