Track Listing

1. Teen Age Riot
2. Eric's Trip
3. Candle
4. Into The Groove(y) - Ciccone Youth
5. G-Force - Ciccone Youth
6. Beauty Lies In The Eye
7. Kotton Krown
8. Shadow Of A Doubt
9. Expressway To Yr Skull
10. Starpower
11. Death Valley '69 - Lydia Lunch, Sonic Youth
12. Halloween
13. Flower
14. Inhuman
15. Making The Nature Scene
16. Brother James
17. I Dreamed I Dream

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #84813 in Music
• Released on: 2005-11-07
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds
• Running time: 76 minutes

CD Description
After their watershed album DAYDREAM NATION (1988), Sonic Youth moved from the minor to the major leagues, and, as partof the deal, their back-catalogue was reissued. SCREAMING FIELDS OF SONIC LOVE (1995) is a "greatest hits" package assembled from that material. Though SY purists will no doubt argue endlessly over the inclusion of one song over another--like the omission of "Catholic Block" from SISTER (1987) in favor of, say, the somewhat flimsy novelty of "Into the Groove(y)", a Madonna cover from 1988--this collection was reallydesigned to introduce the band's older stuff to fans of their newer stuff.
Arranged in reverse chronological order, it opens with three tracks from DAYDREAM--"Teen Age Riot", "Eric's Trip", and "Candle"--and are all jewels in the band'scatalogue. The tracks from SISTER, EVOL, and BAD MOON RISING are also classics, ranging from the creepy, echo-draped song-stories of "Beauty Lies in the Eye" and "Halloween", to the experimental post-punk of "Expressway to Your Skull", andthe strident political sloganeering of "Flower". This is the place to start investigating the career of SY, but keep inmind that you'll end up wanting to buy all the original albums.

Customer Reviews

Lovely primer of Blast First-era SY from the 1980s...
Screaming Fields of Sonic Love takes in SY from around 1983 to 1988 where they delivered the brilliant Daydream Nation, prior to signing to Geffen & producing such albums as Goo & Dirty. As a budget-priced primer to SY it offers a clear guide to their works of the 80s, on which their reputation was formed.

The album is in reverse order, opening with an edited version of TeenAge Riot (about one J Mascis)- followed by the gnarly-pop of Kissability, Lee Ranaldo's classic Eric's Trip & the single of Candle (of course one asks where Silver Rocket,'Cross the Breeze & Rain King are/one should own Daydream Notion in its entireity). We then get a Ciccone Youth-interlude, Indie Hit single Into the Groove(y) & Macbeth from The Whitey Album (their response to Pussy Galore's cover of the whole of Exile on Main Street). Again there are omissions- where is the 'beatbox' single version of Masterdik? Or their amusing cover of Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love?

We reach the Phlip K Dick-concept album Sister next, Beauty Lies in the Eye features Lydia Lunch (Teenage Jesus, Harry Crews); Kotton Krown is a wonderful trippy number. But surely Sister could have been better represented: White Kross? PCH? Hot Wire My Heart? Schizophrenia/Catholic Block (the two tracks that should have definitely made it here). Oh well, tis but a sampler!

There are three tracks from 1985's Evol, which heralded the arrival of Steve Shelley on drums- all wonderful, though Shadow of a Doubt should maybe have been ditched & replaced by Tom Violence. No one can argue with the post-Velvets pop of Star Power, or the epic/infinite-Manson inspired Expressway to Yr Skull (or Madonna,Sean&Me!- since bettered by Washing Machine's The Diamond Sea).

A highlight for me remains the single Death Valley 69 (from 1984's Bad Moon Rising- their last album with Bob Bert, who would join Pussy Galore)- Lydia Lunch co-sings this track with Thurston Moore, namechecking The White Album/Manson link as we're deep in death valley, wired on amphetamines, LSD, brainwashing with dreams of Helter Skelter & bubble cars. Wonderful repetition of chords until the song comes back in at the end (there are also three tracks found on the Death Valley69 ep- Inhuman (the opener of Confusion is Sex), I Dreamed I Dream & Brother James- all brilliant/why not include Satan is Boring though??????).

Making the Nature Scene, along with Inhuman represents the harsh Confusion is Sex album (much better than the later Ciccone version); though the classic Halloween/Flower single is impetus enough to own this set (Halloween would be memorably covered by Mudhoney on Sonic Youth's split-single where they covered Mudhoney's Touch Me I'm Sick: why was this left off?????)

Screaming...is a lovely primer of an era of a great band, though as I've pointed out many classic tracks are left off- and many great tracks were yet to come on albums such as Experimental Jet..., Washing Machine, Murray St, Leaving the 20th Century etc. A great intro, but I'd recommend paying the extra and getting Bad Moon Rising, Evol, Sister & Daydream Nation for starters...Sonic Youth, as this compilation proves, were one of the underground bands of the 1980s, alongside such acts as The Fall, Pussy Galore, Beat Happening, The Wipers, Husker Du & Black Flag-