timeline

Sister

A loose concept record inspired by Philip K. Dick, cut on 16-track analog, and later a critics' favorite.
Sonic Youth, 1987

Released
1 June 1987
Recorded
March to April 1987
Studio
Sear Sound, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
Label
SST (Blast First in the UK)
Producer
Sonic Youth
Length
37:32

Recorded in March and April 1987 at Sear Sound in Manhattan on 16-track analog tape, with Bill Titus engineering. Walter Sear programmed the Moog heard on Pipeline/Kill Time, Howie Weinberg mastered it and Lucius Shepard illustrated the sleeve. The album is loosely tied to Philip K. Dick. Gordon said she and Moore read him in 1987 and found his descriptions of schizophrenia better than any medical journal, and she linked the title to the death of Dick's twin sister shortly after birth.

It was not a commercial success on release. Christgau wrote that the band had finally made something worthy of their aesthetic, and Slant called it the last great punk album of the Reagan era. Pitchfork gave it 9.8 and AllMusic five stars, while Spin was negative at the time. It placed 12th in the 1987 Pazz & Jop poll and fourth in the NME critics' poll.

Track listing

  1. Schizophrenia4:38
  2. (I Got A) Catholic Block3:26
  3. Beauty Lies in the Eye2:20
  4. Stereo Sanctity3:50
  5. Pipeline/Kill Time4:35
  6. Tuff Gnarl3:15
  7. Pacific Coast Highway4:18
  8. Hot Wire My Heart (Crime cover)3:23
  9. Kotton Krown5:08
  10. White Kross2:59
  11. Master-Dik (CD bonus)5:10

Personnel

More from Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth (1982), Confusion Is Sex (1983), Bad Moon Rising (1985), EVOL (1986), Daydream Nation (1988), The Whitey Album (as Ciccone Youth) (1988), Goo (1990), Dirty (1992), Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star (1994), Washing Machine (1995), A Thousand Leaves (1998), NYC Ghosts & Flowers (2000), Murray Street (2002), Sonic Nurse (2004), Rather Ripped (2006), The Eternal (2009)

Sources

  1. Sister (Sonic Youth album), Wikipedia
  2. The author that inspired Sonic Youth's Sister, Far Out