Vinylla fudge.(THE MUSIC)(Sound recording review)

Sonic Youth The Destroyed Room, b-sides and rarities (Goofin' Records goo-012)

It seems as if for this issue's column I'm returning to some old favorites once again. It's not my fault: they keep releasing records, and I keep acquiring them. This time out, Sonic Youth releases on their own label a two-LP set with rare material from 1994 onwards. I guess the older rarities end up on the deluxe versions of their older albums that they've been releasing for the last ten years or so.

The sound quality of this album is excellent, as is the quality of the rather thick slabs of vinyl contained in the gatefold jacket. There are fairly thorough liner notes on the inside cover giving the details for each track. As far as the music goes, it is all over the place, from a pretty laid-back cover of Alice Cooper's "Is It My Body?" from a rare 7-inch single, to a host of superb, discordant free jams done in various studios released on various samplers on various labels. In fact, the album is rather avant-garde for a current-day Sonic Youth release. "Is It My Body?" is one of only three songs with vocals.

All in all, not an essential release, but a must for fans of this band. They seemed to go out of their way to gather some rather rare material, but tyros should steer clear.

Eric Dolphy Quintet Outward Bound featuring Freddie Hubbard (New Jazz 8236)

This double LP re-issue cut at 45 rpm is painstakingly pressed by Acoustic Sounds (for 50 bucks! Who would have ever thought it would come to this?). And you know I couldn't resist this one, such a big Eric Dolphy fan that I am. I've owned the single-disc re-issue of the re-issue on vinyl for years. Although the label says Prestige, it's a Fantasy release. I've always liked the album, even though it is in a rather straight-ahead mode for Mr. Dolphy. My biggest problem with the LP was the sound. Roy Haynes's ride cymbal is the loudest feature of the mix, and even though the rest of the band's instruments sound quite good, the cymbal sounds as if it were recorded on a different track using a different machine--a cassette recorder, perhaps? It is pretty bad.

Alas, the new release of this album doesn't fix the problem like I hoped it would. I guess that's just the way it was recorded, and now that's the way I'm going to have to listen to it. Every thing else is fine. The 45-rpm pressing has an ultra-silent background, bringing out every ...