Sonic Youth "Walls Have Ears"

Culled from three 1985 gigs in the UK during a transitional and transcendent time in the band's story, Sonic Youth's "Walls Have Ears" appeared/disappeared as a 2xLP set in 1986; not just a live album, but an artful tapestry full of live experimentation with songs, between-song tape segues, darkness, humor, and audio verite. In this 2xLP set brimming with primitive classics like "The Burning Spear," "Death Valley 69," and "I'm Insane" (uncredited on sleeve), segues and live guitar changes ooze together threaded by Madonna tapes and vocal loops off the board (somewhat a necessity for distraction until the band had a full-fledged stage crew to prepare guitars). This document remains an essential representation of some lean and mean years of the quartet's throttling march out into the world.