Sonic Youth: Dirty (2LP) [GEFFEN]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set is remastered on 180g vinyl, with two printed inserts and a download voucher. Dirty reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart and gave the band four singles, including "100%" and "Sugar Kane."

This edition

• 2LP set
• 180g vinyl
• Remastered
• Printed inserts
• Download card included

About the album

By 1992 the rest of the world had finally caught up with Sonic Youth, who had signed a five-album deal with Geffen after Daydream Nation. They'd toured Europe with a young Nirvana the summer before, and for their second record on Geffen's DGC they hired Butch Vig to produce and Andy Wallace to mix, the same pair behind Nevermind (the band insisted that wasn't why). Vig told them up front he wanted tighter arrangements and a sharp focus on the guitar sounds.

The result is the band at their most direct. "100%" hits like a slammed door, "Sugar Kane" is a gorgeous noise-pop rush, "Youth Against Fascism" charges at full tilt, and Kim Gordon takes "Swimsuit Issue" and "Drunken Butterfly." "Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit" and "Chapel Hill" had been road-tested on that 1991 tour, captured in the film 1991: The Year Punk Broke, and "Nic Fit" is a short, sharp cover of the D.C. punk band The Untouchables.

They toured it around North America, New Zealand and Australia into 1993. The back cover of this pressing misprints "Shoot" as "Sheet," a typo we have decided to treat as an extra, collectable feature.

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

Tracklist

Listen

On DGC / Geffen (cat# 4734935), a reissue of the 1992 album.