Hold That Tiger (Blue Vinyl) - By:Sonic Youth - Model Number: SV212LPX

Description

Blue Vinyl!

In October 1987, four months after the release of their critically acclaimed Sister LP, Sonic Youth showcased their latest work in a blistering set at Cabaret Metro, Chicago. The concert was introduced by Big Black™s Steve Albini (who at the time was banned from the venue) and subsequently released as a semi-official bootleg under the title Hold That Tiger on writer/provocateur Byron Coley™s impishly Geffen-baiting label Goofin™ (years later the band would use this nom de guerre for their own imprint).
Hold That Tiger™s sterling reputation among the Sonic Youth faithful is well deserved. In fact, it isn™t a stretch to suggest that the album is to the first handful of SY releases what It™s Alive is to the first three Ramones LPs”a feral and liberatory public snapshot of a band™s blossoming imperial phase. Indeed, HTT is the sound of a group at the peak of their powers, presenting new songs alongside a handful of older ones with the kind of wild, cathartic enthusiasm common to rock ™n™ roll™s most revered live albums.
Taking nothing away from Sister”inarguably one of indie rock™s first true masterpieces”it is reasonable that many fans prefer the live versions heard on Hold That Tiger to their studio counterparts. On HTT, Sonic Youth is a spiky, pummeling and confident force, alternately mammoth and meditative. Sister and its predecessor EVOL notably added an airy, dreamlike reverie to the band™s turbulent doom-lurch, a stylistic evolution that seems to crystallize on HTT. Throughout, Kim Gordon™s sinewy, sumptuous bass and Steve Shelley™s propulsive, tom-heavy percussion provide the bedrock groove for Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo™s ferocious barrages of noise-guitar crunch.
By 1987, the band was confidently articulating their dual lexicon of punk-noir dissonance and supernal, psychedelic sonic calligraphy”bending their jagged, streetwise gnarl into balloon animals of dazzling and beautiful songs. This collision of splendor and chaos would become a hallmark of the group™s singular alchemy as well as provide a blueprint for the post-SST American underground they would help invent and ultimately nurture.
Hold That Tiger™s encore”four songs by the band™s beloved Ramones, which Thurston would later astutely compare to the perfect pudding after a hearty meal”serves as a reminder that, like any true punks, Sonic Youth never could resist a good, rousing anthem to send the kids home with their ears ringing, their hearts hot-wired.
This first-time reissue comes with gatefold jacket. Mastered by Bob Weston from the original tapes. Recorded by Aadam Jacobs. Audio repair/editing by Aaron Mullan.

¢ Classic live album by Sonic Youth from 1987 Sister tour

¢ Originally released in 1991 on Goofin'

¢ Features encore of four Ramones covers

¢ First-time reissue with speed-corrected master

¢ Liner notes by Thurston Moore and Aaron Mullan

Label
Revolver

Tracks & Genre

RHYTHM