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Critic's Review
Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
Though Sonic Youth's first EP is the least of their major works and was the only one to not receive reissue in 1995 by DGC, it's not a complete blunder. Awkward and rather formative, the record sounds like a fusion of no wave and an early Factory band. A couple tracks ("The Burning Spear," "I Don't Want to Push It") match the best of Confusion Is Sex, steeping itself in death disco and minimal scree. Thurston Moore yelps, Kim Gordon rambles, and the guitars go plink-plink-plink. Tumbling and tinny tribal drums are provided by Richard Edson, who would be seen as an ill-intentioned parking attendant four years later in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. [Sonic Youth was finally given the reissue treatment by Geffen in 2006, arriving in a deluxe edition that featured a remastered version of the EP, early live recordings, and extensive liner notes by Glenn Branca, Richard Edson (the Youth's drummer in the early '80s), and Byron Coley. Though not nearly as lavish as the Goo and Dirty reissues, it's a fitting way to honor Sonic Youth's first release.]
