This double album is widely regarded as their breakthrough achievement, and with good reason. The band rips right from the beginning with the single "Teenage Riot," and the rollicking good time rarely lets up after that. Moreover, the LP is remarkably coherent; they even manage to pull off a 14-minute three song medley which could have been ridiculously pretentious but ends up flowing well, ending the album on a high note with the killer hyped-up "eliminator jr," the band's one-up tribute to ZZ Top. Go out right now and buy this - almost every track is brilliant. The only possible throw-away is "Providence," a silly piano and tape-loop song often compared to the Beatles' "Number Nine." Anyway it's pretty funny the first time you hear it. The band at their pre-DGC peak. (JLM)

By the time Sonic Youth released "Daydrem Nation" in 1989, a huge shadow of expectancy had moved over them. Their two previous efforts - "Sister" and "EVOL" - had set particulary high standards and another big one was expected. How little did people know what they had up their sleeves. "Daydream Nation" was a spawling concept without a concept album, the sound of a band totally in tune with each other. Calmly strummed guitars, Kim Gordon whispering and a quiet rhythmic kick off "Teenage Riot", until it explodes into a revelry of all that was great about American indie music at the time. "Silver Rocket" kicks itself around a punk playground before losing control and ending up in fuzz of feedback. Kim spits anger and lethargy over "The Sprawl" before "Eric's Trip" slips in and out of your head in a staggering psychedlic manner, "Total Trash" calls to mind the new wave of late Seventies New York, sounding like the Ramones on downers. "Hey Joni" is a druggy love song being constantly stabbed by Steve Shelly's drums. A taped phone conversation with Mike Watt is played over static noises and a delicate piano lullaby on "Providence" resulting in one of Sonic Youth's best moments, incredibly simple and incredibly exquiste. "Kissability" is a cascading whirl of noises and words tumbling out of control, falling down and down and being pushed back up by some unseen force. Things finish off with "Trilogy" three pieces of power pop from the darkside of the American dream. "Daydream Nation" was a landmark in the American guitar scene that was not reached again until "Nevermind" was released. After it, Sonic Youth signed to a major label and their career stuttered with only occasional moments of genius that they so carefully crafted the whole way through on "Daydream Nation". As essential as other great New York albums like "Marquee Moon" or "Velvet Underground And Nico". (John Dee)