Sonic Youth - Bad Moon Rising (1985) [Reissue 2015]

1985 sophomore album, back in print! CD and LP download card add four bonus tracks. Features Death Valley '69 with Lydia Lunch. EVOL, Sister and Confusion Is Sex reissues will follow this release. Sonic Youth's second full-length LP Bad Moon Rising was originally released on Homestead and Blast First in 1985. The album is a fascinating examination of "the junction where hippie idealism [meets] the cold hard world," says guitarist Lee Ranaldo, "where Woodstock [meets] Altamont Death Valley, Charles Manson, Brian Wilson, musicians, murderers, heroes and villains." Its original eight-song tapestry of droning guitar feedback, distant clattering percussion, and sullen vocals, all held together with interstitial noise loops and shadowy haze, ambles through a long, dark night before the feverish Death Valley '69, driven by runaway guitar riffs and a frantic Thurston Moore / Lydia Lunch vocal duet, pounds the capstone into place. Sonic Youth's big leap forward from Confusion Is Sex and Kill Yr Idols "reflects the spirit of the time," to quote All Music Guide. Bad Moon Rising views "American gothic through the glassy eyes of wilful moonlit paranoia." Back in print on Goofin' Records, this reissue includes bonus tracks Flower and Halloween, both from a 12" single of the same era. The sound collage morsels Satan Is Boring and Echo Canyon are your cue to begin moving toward the exit and get out while you can.