Never one to do anything conventionally, Sonic Youth have released Hits Are For Squares. The band have got writers, actors and musicians such as Diablo Colby, Radiohead, Beck and Gus Van Sant to choose their favourite Sonic Youth tracks for this collection.

The collection features some wonderful and highly illuminating sleeve notes, where the collective describe what the tracks mean to them and why they were chosen. There are some fantastic tracks that chart the twenty-eight career of a important and influential act.

Track highlights include the truly immortal “Teenage Riot”, a blueprint for the Sonic Youth style and sound. It is nice to see some left field choices on this release, such as “Slow Revolution” and their remarkable cover version of the classic by The Carpenters, “Superstar”.

This is a truly essential purchase for Sonic Youth die hard fans. For the uninitiated, this is a brilliant place to start.

– Neil Evans


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