The second of the three albums that made Sonic Youth underground stars in the ’80s, EVOL isn’t as harrowing as Bad Moon Rising, nor is it as amped-up and melodic as Sister. It’s a moody middle ground, with a stronger backbeat than they’d ever delivered before thanks to new drummer Steve Shelley. The first three songs — “Tom Violence,” “Shadow Of A Doubt,” and “Starpower” — are some of their most beautiful, with Kim Gordon’s half-distracted murmuring on “Shadow” maybe her best vocal performance in the band’s entire catalog, while “In The Kingdom #19” allows Lee Ranaldo to indulge his beatnik tendencies over noisy riffs and tape collages. The big finale, “Madonna, Sean, And Me” (aka “Expressway To Yr. Skull”), begins as a surprisingly anthemic proto-shoegaze song that builds to a noisy climax about halfway through, then descends slowly to earth, sounding almost dubbed-out at times.

– Phil Freeman