Album Review: Thurston Moore- The Best Day
Well, Thurston Moore sure made an album.
Over the halfway point on Thurston’s latest solo effort, The Best Day, that was my thought. Not
to sell it short, because it is exponentially better than Moore’s work with
Chelsea Light Moving; but it, like countless other records released in 2014 it
becomes just that—a record released in 2014.
Let’s backtrack a second, though.
Hey, remember Sonic Youth? Yeah, me too. They were pretty
great, despite how abrasive and confrontational they were at times. Going out
on a bit of an uneven note with 2009’s The
Eternal, the band subsequently dissolved at the same time Thurston Moore’s
marriage to Kim Gordon dissolved after he opted to live pretty much a double
life and continue engaging in an affair with art book editor Eva Prinz.
The Chelsea Light Moving album from last year could be
looked at as a bit of a “midlife crisis” for Moore, and if we look at it that
way, then The Best Day could be
looked at as Moore, now 56, remembering what people want his music to sound
like.
They want it to sound like Sonic Youth.
Even at their most reserved, Sonic Youth was still
interesting because of their balance of dissonance with the hints of marginally
accessible songwriting buried under all that dissonance and ugliness. What The Best Day comes off as is Sonic Youth
at their most reserved. The record is so reserved (and safe sounding) that at
times becomes boring, even monotonous, and meanders often. But strangely—it’s never
unlistenable.
It opens with the lengthy “Speak to The Wild,” which itself
with some very familiar sounding guitar harmonics plucking, prior to settling
into a very Sonic Youth-y groove. Assisting in that groove is Sonic Youth
drummer Steve Shelley behind the kit. Rounding out Moore’s band for this effort
is James Sedwards on guitar and then My Bloody Valentine bassist Deb
Googe—and let’s face it, Googe is like the least essential member of MBV, but
she’s certainly the only one having fun in that group if their live presence
says anything about them.
By the end, after sticking to pretty much the exact same
sound on each of the album’s eight songs, Moore veers headfirst into cool dad
rock territory (at least musically speaking) on “Germs Burn.” Lyrically and
vocally it leaves much to be desired. Although I guess I should cut Moore a
break on his voice—nobody in Sonic Youth was ever, like, praised for their
incredible singing abilities.
I think in a review earlier this year, I used the expression
“masturbatory music fails to climax” to describe the record in question. Part
of me wants to use that again here for The
Best Day, but this isn’t even masturbatory music. While Moore has always
been an impressive and inventive guitarist, there is little “showing off” here.
On many songs he seems all too comfortable with just being comfortable. The Best Day isn’t good, or bad; it just
simply “is.”
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