LOS ANGELES (UMe Records) - "A college student named Debbie recently told me ... 'When I was about 12 years old someone gave me a copy of 'Goo.' It's the only thing that saved me from being a teenybopper.'" - Byron Coley, Liner Notes, "Goo -
Deluxe Edition"
Sonic Youth's "Goo," a landmark album in the history of alternative rock, receives the Deluxe Edition treatment with digital remastering and the addition of rarities and unreleased recordings. The two-CD "Goo - Deluxe Edition" (Geffen/UMe), released September 12, 2005, expands the original 1990 album with outtakes, b-sides, rehearsal recordings, demos and the audio from a tongue-in-cheek promotion-only interview flexi disc.
"Goo - Deluxe Edition" invites a new generation to discover the album that broke alternative rock into mainstream consciousness. Retaining the original Raymond Pettibon artwork and purposefully over-the-top inside photos, the package adds an informative booklet. Within the latter is an extensive essay penned by music writer Byron Coley on the making of the album - based on exclusive interviews with the band's Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Kim Gordon and Steve Shelley - and a reminiscence by former Geffen/DGC executive Mark Kates.
Sonic Youth's eighth album, "Goo" was the band's first to receive major label distribution, and first to find a place on Billboard's Top 100 Albums chart. "Goo" reached more ears than any earlier SY album, including those of Neil Young ... who invited the band on tour with Crazy Horse.
Along with the Top 10 Modern Rock hit "Kool Thing," guesting Public Enemy's Chuck D, Disc One of "Goo - Deluxe Edition" presents "Tunic," "Disappearer," "Titanium Expose," "Dirty Boots," "Cinderella's Big Score," "My Friend Goo," "Mote," "Mary-Christ," "Mildred Pierce" and "Scooter + Jinx." Added are two previously unreleased tracks, a vocal take of "Lee No 2" and "Tuff Boyz," plus the rarities "That's All I Know (Right Now)" (a cover of the proto-punk Neon Boys song), a live version of "The Bedroom," and "Dr. Benway's House," the band's contribution to William Burroughs' "Dead City Radio" album.
For Disc Two, previously unreleased instrumentals "Isaac" and "Can Song" join a cover of the Beach Boys' "I Know There's An Answer" recorded for the "Smiles, Vibes And Harmony" compilation and the promotion-only "Goo" interview flexi disc. Also heard are 11 demos, highlighted by extended versions, a pre-Chuck D "Kool Thing" and near-nine-minute "Blow Job" (aka "Mildred Pierce"), actually one of the first SY songs ever written. The demos were widely bootlegged before the band issued them via their fan club. They are heard remixed and remastered for the first time on "Goo - Deluxe Edition."
A 4xLP vinyl box set of "Goo - Deluxe Edition" will be available thru the band's own Goofin' imprint via Smells Like Records/Revolver USA on or shortly after the September 12 release date.
