Murray Street (album)

Murray Street (sometimes written as Murray St.) is the twelfth studio album by American rock band Sonic Youth, released on June 25, 2002 by DGC Records.

Received to critical acclaim, it is the band's first album as an official five-piece, with Jim O'Rourke playing guitar and bass to bolster the group's sound.

Background and recording

Recording began in August 2001 in the band's Echo Canyon studio in New York City, following their final NYC Ghosts and Flowers/Goodbye to the 20th Century tour. The first release of material from the sessions was the song "Plastic Sun", on a promotional CD included with an issue of Jane magazine. However, due to an error in the pitch, the band re-released the song on their website.

Recording sessions reached an unexpected halt following the September 11 attacks as the band instead led a World Trade Center benefit festival on October 9. Several other benefits and gigs led them to their rescheduled March 17, 2002, appearance at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Los Angeles, California. By then, recording and mixing for the album was complete and all seven tracks (first revealed on the band website) were played at the festival. The new material was hailed as a return to the style of distorted and complex instrumentals that made the band underground favorites.

The album is named after the address of the Echo Canyon studio, 47 Murray Street, in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan. It was located within a block of the former World Trade Center, and during the attacks, a plane engine landed on Murray Street.

Content

Art director Frank Olinsky led the conception of the cover designs. The young blonde-haired girl pictured to the right on the album's cover is Coco Gordon-Moore, Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon's daughter, picking strawberries with her friend, Stella, who is on the left. No title is shown on the cover, just a scrawled "SONIC YOUTH". The three-page, double-sided CD booklet, whose cover features a reverse color image of the CD cover, includes liner notes, photographs and album credits. The back cover depicts the Murray Street street sign. June 10 was the release date in Europe and June 25 was the release in North America. In France, 500 copies came with a limited-edition bonus blue vinyl 10" EP, named Kali Yug Express, which featured three exclusive tracks from their recent soundtrack developments: "Derniere Minute Electrifee" on one side, "Le Paysage Zim Zum" and "Coca Neon Kamera Sutra" on the other. In North America, the disc was enhanced, including a screen saver and link to a "secret" link on the Sonic Youth website that offered promo photographs, music videos and all three songs from the Kali Yug Express EP. The gatefold vinyl edition was released on the Smells Like Records Goofin imprint.

Critical reception

Murray Street received a score of 82 out of 100 from Metacritic based on "universal acclaim". The A.V. Club gave it a favorable review and said the album "doesn't mark an epochal moment for Sonic Youth, but its familiar nods and new ingredients--from Steve Shelley's occasionally near-funky drumming to O'Rourke's tingly laptop textures--stake out another high point for a band achieving self-realization by reconciling self-absorption with a sigh and a smile". Neumu.net gave it a score of 8 of 10 stars and stated: "Written with some basic, inviting rock structures, the album replaces the hyper energy and angst of older material with slowed-down, complex textures and delicate grooves -- but still rocks out intermittently". Nude as the News gave it a score of 8 out of 10 and said, "Whether they came on board at Daydream Nation or Experimental Jet Set, true believers will relish this one". Mojo also gave the album 4 stars while labeling it as the "Album of the Month", and said, "The band's conventional elements are even more conventional while the boundary-pushers stretch as far as ever".

Alternative Press gave the album 3.5 out of 5 stars and said that it "features less avant-garde noodling and more straight-up Youth". Kludge included it on their list of best albums of 2002. Robert Christgau, who was somewhat unimpressed in his original Village Voice review, later said that "Murrays song-soundscape fusion ... sounded strong" in retrospect.

Accolades

The Wire named Murray Street its record of the year for 2002. Pitchfork placed Murray Street at number 108 in their list of the 200 greatest albums of the 2000s.

Track listing

Note: On the LP edition of the album, "Karen Revisited" is ordered before "Rain on Tin".

Personnel

Sonic Youth

Thurston Moore – vocals (1–3, 5), guitar, photography
Kim Gordon – vocals (6, 7), guitar (1, 2, 4, 6, 7), bass (3, 5), backing vocals (5)
Lee Ranaldo – vocals (4), guitar, backing vocals (1), keyboards (7)
Jim O'Rourke – guitar (3–5), bass (1, 2, 4, 6, 7), recording, engineering, mixing
Steve Shelley – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

Jim Sauter – horns (5)
Don Dietrich – horns (5)

Technical personnel

Sonic Youth – production
Aaron Mullan – assistant engineering
John Golden – mastering

Design personnel

Frank Olinsky – art direction
Monique Voorhout – photography, artwork
Stefano Giovannini – photography

Charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align: center"

|+ Chart performance for Murray Street

! scope="col"| Chart (2002)

! scope="col"| Peak position

! scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)

| 78

! scope="row"| US Billboard 200

| style="text-align: center"| 126