jrnls80s by Lee Ranaldo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"[...] without saying a word to each other or touching or being in a very close proximity we had quite a full relationship just through the eyes. so satisfying. it was very beautiful and delicate and complete in itself, a blown kiss from her and it was over. no names, no games, just a tunnel of desires flowing between us that said it all, what was and what could have been. it didn't have to be. it was already complete."

Lee Ranaldo (I will use capital letters in the review in spite of the author's lower-case mannerism) was a guitarist for Sonic Youth, probably the most influential band in the entire history of the so-called alternative (experimental, "indie", avant-garde) rock music. Sonic Youth were my favorite band and I believe I have listened to every single piece of music they released in their 30-year history (1981 - 2011). Mr. Ranaldo is universally acknowledged as one of the most talented and influential rock guitarists of all time. I haven't known him as a writer but his JNRLS80s (1998) - whose subtitle "poems, lyrics, letters, observations, wordplay, and postcards from the early days of Sonic Youth" aptly describes the contents - is quite a worthwhile, interesting, and readable medley of literary pieces.

I would distinguish three intertwined literary modes in the book. Many long fragments read like diaries of Sonic Youth early tours - several tours in Europe and in the USA. The reader will find some mesmerizing passages, like the one about the Broken Circle/Spiral Hill land art project, near Emmen in the Netherlands, or general observations about how different Europe is from this country.

On the other extreme, reading many passages in the book feels like surfing through someone's dreams, where the author's words evoke hazy, foggy, indistinct, phantasmagoric images of places, people, and events. The author's stream of consciousness is often hard to read yet there are brilliant, eloquent fragments, like:

"that wonderful purple that hangs under the eaves at twilight, and washes cool thru evening trees. the color of nighttime sunshine, an indigo flame, bathing dark nights in desire. [...] i am secreted away in dark depths. a dream, in purple shades, with a lover, by an opaque sea."

I have some difficulties though with enjoying the author's poetry, which sometimes reads (to me!) pretentious and stilted. But then poetry is my least favorite form of literary expression and I may simply be too ignorant and unqualified to judge. Though the reader will likely agree with me that the lyrics to many Sonic Youth songs that are included in the book are of much higher quality than the usual rock lyrics, even in the most sublime avant-garde genre.

Since I love the Sonic Youth's music so much I was happy to read Mr. Ranaldo's brief remarks about the band's work on their breakthrough album, DayDream Nation (1988), a seminal album in the alternative rock music genre. I only wish he gave much more of that material than just a single page. And I love the page-and-a-half beautiful passage about Lordes, a woman whom the author knew a long time ago. A heartfelt and deeply human portrait of an unconventional person.

A recommended read, not only for Sonic Youth fans.

Three-and-a-quarter stars.


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