Sonic Youth: Daydream Nation (2LP) [GOOFIN']

Why you'll love it

This Goofin' Records 2LP set uses the 2007 Golden Mastering remaster and comes in a gatefold jacket with a band poster. Daydream Nation came second in the Village Voice's 1988 Pazz & Jop poll, and the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry in 2005.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Remastered
• Gatefold jacket
• Poster included
• Download card included
• Stereo mix

About the album

Friends like Henry Rollins kept telling Sonic Youth that their records never captured the long, wild jams of their live shows. So for their fifth album they stopped trimming. Thurston Moore was writing faster than ever, the improvisations stretched past half an hour, and the band ended up with their first double album.

They recorded at Greene St. in Manhattan in July and August 1988 with engineer Nick Sansano, who was more used to hip-hop and won them over by playing his work on Public Enemy's "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos." "Teen Age Riot" opens with one of their most loved songs, "Silver Rocket" and "The Sprawl" (inspired in part by William Gibson) push into noise and back, Kim Gordon's "'Cross the Breeze" builds to a rampage, and "Hey Joni" tips a hat to Joni Mitchell. The closing run of "The Wonder," "Hyperstation" and "Eliminator Jr." is a glorious, sprawling ride out.

The album won them a major label deal and is widely considered their magnum opus. Gerhard Richter lent his candle paintings for the front and back covers, which makes it the rare noise-rock record you could hang in a gallery, provided the gallery has thick walls.

Also at Kops: more Sonic Youth on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Goofin' (cat# goo-017), a reissue of the 1988 album.