Any doubts as to the continuing relevance of
Sonic Youth
upon their jump to major-label status were quickly laid to rest by
Goo
, their follow-up to the monumental
Daydream Nation
. While paling in the shadow of its predecessor, the record is nevertheless a defiant call to arms against mainstream musical values; the
Geffen
logo adorning the disc is a moot point --
is, if anything, a portrait of
at their most self-indulgently noisy and contentious, covering topics ranging from
Karen Carpenter
(
"Tunic"
) to UFOs (
"Disappearer"
) to dating Jesus' mom (
"Mary-Christ"
). Even
Public Enemy
's
Chuck D
joins the fracas on the single
"Kool Thing,"
which teeters on the brink of a cultural breakthrough but falls just shy of the mark; the same could be said of
itself -- by no means a sellout, it nevertheless lacks the coherence and force of the group's finest work, and the opportunity to violently rattle the mainstream cage slips by. ~ Jason Ankeny