walkin blue just sounds like something off thurston's new solo but with kim singing. i mean its good but my strong impression was that i liked the song better when it was on trees outside the academy

agree 100%

still think its their worst though :p

This proves you're a moron. I may dislike the song but at least I know who sings it? >.> Kim isn't involved with that song I'm prettyyyy sure.

ok sorry i was thinking of the next song massage the history

"i know we're all confused its true. i know you feel the same way."

so give me a break alright

ok, worse then :|
massage the history is probably the best song in the whole album.
you should try listen to it again... really. :)

You mean "Massage", don't you.
Cuz Walking Blue is a signature Lee track
dOOd!!!!

ok starting now

and walkin blues just kicked my ass :)

and i suppose massage the history isnt that similar to trees outside the academy. its just the opening acoustic line thats very similar.

I'm quite surprised how strongly and positive everybody feels after a good couple of listens. this was my initial ideas.


And I still kind of agree with that but after about the 3rd listen it started to catch. I think I've come to the conclusion that people like songs more than albums - as an album i find that it all kind of merges into one and doesn't flow all that great and I get a lttle fatigued listening to it by the latter half - it's good though don't get me wrong, better than RR I think, but not exceptional. What it is is a tight collection of solid accessable songs. And i think that's what people want. I enjoy all of it but a little disapointed that nothing has surprised me - which RR did do. I don't expec the band to have to surprise me at all but it is one aspect i enjoy of getting a new album.. (I kind of like going, what is this shit?! and then it to slowly eek in.) and I kind of think it needs a few more things to break it up. Everything is kind of in the same style and tempo.
Its a really good album - i think high points for me are massage the history, malibu gas station, anti-orgasm and thurstons lou reed impersonation - though the vocal panning on the chorus of that song is a bit shit.
That said I wouldn't stand by these opinions - I haven't had the album long enough. I also think it'd be a better album not to listen to in the context of a new release - rather than picking it up randomly when getting the catalogue of SY. if that makes any sense at all!
but i dont understand all the instant love also.

I'm after first listening and I really like it. It's fine album as a whole.
Though I can't stop smiling when I hear "In The Court of The Crimson King" in chorus of "Antenna". Anyone noticed?

Maybe because of the piss poor bit rate of the stream????

Someone also said that in this thread. I can't say anything about it cause I don't know that cd :)

Anyone else not impressed after the first listen?

^: Nope

A good, solid album. It's probably not going to crack into the list of one of my favorites, but it's better than their weaker albums. So it's somewhere in the middle of the pack of their LPs, which means its pretty darn good.

My quick description would be the more mature 21st century SY songwriting style mixed with a Goo/Dirty type of aesthetic...if that makes any sense.

The Lee songs are the best Lee songs since NYC Ghosts, for sure. Walkin Blue is actually one of my favorite Lee songs ever, I hope it makes it to the live repertoire.

Massage the History is the best song on the album, though. So atmospheric and moody, love Kim's vocals, the acoustic guitar, etc... Fantastic way to end the album.

Malibu kicks ass. Antenna should become a Thurston concert staple. Actually, the only 2 songs I'm not really into are Sacred Trickster and Anti-Orgasm. I like the music of Anti-Orgasm, especially the spacey outro at the end, but the lyrics and "vocal stylings" are just... lame. Like if I was listening to Eternal with a friend or two at my place, I'd skip it so I wouldn't have to feel embarrassed to be listening to it. But I guess I'm in the minority on that opinion...oh well.

Walkin' Blue is better than anything off of Trees.

For me Rather Ripped was total trash on first listen, then grew on me. Though it still has big problems for me.

To me I loved on first listen and subsequent listens has made it even better. Though the OMG new album this is the best thing in the world has faded from it for me now.

It had to happen sometime. But one should take that into account, & space their listens out more.

I was bound to put on Sister and Evol after awhile just to see what I thought of them, and they're still my favorites. Though the band is so different now, it's like comparing Fugazi's The Argument to Repeater.

listening to the stream right now. first listen. sacred trickster and anti-orgasm are pretty fucking rocking. didn't expect the gorgeous ending to anti.

i'm up to leaky lifeboat and for some reason i keep repeating it. i LOVE this song. i love the harmonics. it's such a great song, i don't know why. steve's drumming fucking rules

Listened for the fourth time today. The album is just really, really great.
There's no "Sleepin' Around" to make me go, "Ugh what the fuck".

i really like the album. the sound is great and i dig most melodies. still, i would have liked to trade some "rock riffs" for some shifting guitar harmonies. they barely do this since sonic nurse.

btw...poison arrow sounds like girls vs. boys covering lou reed..in a good way :-)

true fans don't think poison arrow sounds like girls vs. boys covering lou reed..in a good way :-)

Glad someone else caught that, I was starting to think I was going crazy on that.

Yep, it's there. King Crimson :D
Sure, Thurston must have known what he's doing. And it works great.
Along with "Massage The History" my favourite track from the album.

I love the tinges of darkness on Antenna. I didn't catch the Court of the Crimson King thing, but now that you point it out I do.

omg you
there's no such thing as true fans

only trve fans

Just finished listening to it for the third time. What a great surprise, a good new Sonic Youth album that I feel like listening to over and over again, save for a few tracks that I don't like at all. I'm too tired to write more, I'll just say that 'Massage The History' is as great a song as its title would suggest. One of the best Kim Gordon vocal deliveries ever, quite beautiful.

Lee's songs on Eternal are throwaways, though he's been hurting since "Paper Cup," in my opinion. "Rats" is an unimaginative variation on "Mote" with all the energy sapped. It was good live. But not as good as "Reena," "Rapture," "Jams," "Pink Steam" etc. Rather Ripped was definitely, for me, more song-oriented. Eternal is more interesting sounding, though. SY has always been about melding the experimental soundscape with inventive songwriting. Eternal comes closer to this for me than Rather Ripped, although the latter has some great songs. Think of it this way: someone could easily get away with covering "Reena" or "The Neutral" and it would sound great. Clearly the SY sound is inessential to that album, but the songs endure.

I'm addicted to those subtle eastern sounding undertones in Leaky Lifeboat. I'm not sure what it is, sort of sounds like a ring modded guitar but not really. Probably more of an intense envelope filter effect or something like that.

Good points.

I jokingly asked if RR had songwriting though because the songs on RR are rather simple verse/chorus/verse type affairs. Of course there is writing though.

my exact thought

I wish Walkin Blue would go on for another minute or two...
I know it may be too early to say, but it may be one of my all-time favorite songs. Shit, it's beautiful.

This album reminds me so much of Washing Machine. Does anyone else feel like Walkin' Blue is a harder and slightly darker Saucer-Like ?

Really enjoying the Eternal. As with all Sonic albums, a few listens reveals greater nuances to wallow in. This album also finds them copping some of their cheesiest rock moves and, for some reason, it works. The whole thing's fairly solid. Walkin' Blue has a cool psychedelic shimmer. Massage the History is gorgeous. Even the weakest tracks are decent (Thunderclap and Poison Arrow).

Definitely a Rather Ripped beater, cannae wait to cop it on wax.

Hmmm, I don't really hear that at all.
I hear quite a few other recycled riffs in other songs. Most notably, Calming the Snake which reminds me of Plastic Sun redux (but much better)

I don't see what's so cheesy about the rocking fuzzed out riffs that they've been jamming on. I don't see what's so wrong with rock and fucking roll. Like that one in What We Know. I love it.

I don't really hear Plastic Sun in Calming the Snake. Though I do hear stuff here and there on albums. They do that on just about every album though.

i wish i could feel this , but i really don't AT ALL.
awesome songs though.

I feel that a little bit in that it is an album that is more sonically explorative.
Except no stinkers like "Panty Lies"

I've only had a couple listens through this, so I'm not going to make any wild statements until I've actually become that accustomed to it. One thing that sticks out on my first listens though is the production on the vocals- I really don't like it- sounds too glossy to me. Kim's vocals on Sacred Trickster and Calming The Snake are maybe the best examples of this.. that echo is buck nasty. She'd have benefitted without the echo, maybe some distorted effect instead. It'd make the vocal more immediate and in keeping with the rockin riffage beneath. Oh also the way Kim has reused that 'Come on down to the river' line from Nevermind (What Was it Anyway) is really bugging me. And Thurston's singing on Thunderclap is embarrassing.