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Originally Posted by atsonicpark
Nah. It's their best. It's their definitive work. It's like their Trout Mask Replica -- it may not be their best collection of songs, but it's their ultimate statement, definitely. Just by being a double album in the first place proves that the band thought highly of it and were setting out to create their masterpiece, and I think they succeeded. Personally, it's not in my top 5 sy albums, maybe not even in my top 10, but, judging the album for its importance and its inspiration... objectively speaking here... it's their best, by far, no contest. I think the only album that they've done that really was as important was (my personal favorite) Confusion is Sex, just because there'd really never been anything like it before. Daydream is the archetype; it's the sound people identify SY with, it's the sound that they themselves haven't really escaped from.. mainly because it's such a diverse album, stylistically, with punkier songs like Eliminator Jr and more beautiful songs like "Candle"... actually, I love this album just for TRILOGY alone -- that's probably why the album is ranked so highly, because that whole thing is just incredible. It's the album that really showed them coming into their own, and I think it's the one that all their fans can reccomend to anyone. Whether you're more of a fan of their early stuff or their late stuff...
Flaws? Well, it's their longest, so it's not completely perfect, it's maybe a chore to get through at times, but it also has their most brilliant moments on it. It's the first one that really hooked most people, and it's their best balance of noise and melody. Just amazing guitar interplay (listen to "Cross the Breeze", probably their best song; also listen to "Hey Joni".. some of the best interplay ever!).
It's just the shit.
Going back to my Trout Mask Replica example, I definitely think it's Beefheart's most overrated, and I wish people would focus on his other albums, but it's the most important album of all time, it created its own language, and has inspired thousands of bands, and created new forms of rock genres; a record label like Skin Graft couldn't exist without TMR.
In the same way, I think Daydream Nation might be "overrated" as far as SY albums go, but that's only because they've released so many great albums. Overall though, I think it's definitely one of the most important albums of all time, and it's probably the only album since Trout Mask (except for maybe a Residents album or two and Wire's "Pink Flag") that really created its own language... its the one that said "why is everyone tuning to standard? Let's tune to some fucked up ridiculous tuning -- and craft catchy, melodically pleasing, brilliant songs out of it!" Arguably, Sister did the melody-fused-with-detuned-instrumentation thing better, but the production on Sister is terrible. Actually come to think of it, Daydream Nation is their first really-well-produced album (and in some ways, it's still their best production -- okay, those Butch Vig albums are, but those are TOO clean... I don't think vocals have ever sounded better on an SY album).
So... creating its own musical language and universe, inspiring thousands of bands, possibly crafting new genres, and boasting a good 70 minutes of brilliant music... I dunno, I can't really call it overrated anymore. It's just too important of an album -- where would music be without it?
It's kinda like Nirvana. I've never really many people whose favorite album was Nevermind -- but 99% can agree it was their most important.
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