The Best Day (Thurston Moore album)

The Best Day is the fourth solo studio album by the American alternative rock musician Thurston Moore, released on October 20, 2014 on Matador Records. The album cover is a photograph of Moore's mother, Eleanor Moore, circa 1940 and a photograph of Moore's parents as artwork.[1]

The Best Day
A black-and-white photograph of a woman in water holding a dog. In the upper-left corner, white text inside a teal circle reads "Thurston Moore" in standard case, followed by "The Best Day" in uppercase text.
Studio album by
ReleasedOctober 20, 2014 (2014-10-20)
GenreAlternative rock, noise rock
Length50:22
LabelMatador
ProducerThurston Moore
Thurston Moore chronology
Demolished Thoughts
(2011)
The Best Day
(2014)
Rock n Roll Consciousness
(2017)
Singles from The Best Day
  1. "Detonation"
    Released: February 7, 2014

Release

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The Best Day was announced for release in March 2014 on Sonic Youth's official news blog.[2] A month prior to its announcement, Moore released "Detonation" as a standalone 7-inch single, backed with "Germs Burn" as its B-side, on the independent English label Blank Editions as part of its Solo Series.[3][4]

A formal announcement of The Best Day, including cover art, a track listing and release dates, was made on August 20 by Matador Records.[5] The album was released on October 20 in Denmark, France, Sweden and the United Kingdom; October 21 in Spain and the United States; and October 24 in Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Officially licensed streams of the album were made available on NPR Music and The Guardian's official web sites a week prior to its international release.[6][7] The Best Day was issued as a double LP, single CD and as a digital download, with the first 100 U.S. LP pressings featuring an autographed poster.[8]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic75/100[9]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [10]
The A.V. ClubB[11]
Consequence of SoundB−[12]
Cuepoint (Expert Witness)  [13]
The Guardian     [14]
NME8/10[15]
Pitchfork Media7.1/10[16]
PopMatters7/10[17]
Rolling Stone     [18]
Slant Magazine     [19]

Track listing

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No.TitleLength
1."Speak to the Wild"8:30
2."Forevermore"11:15
3."Tape"5:54
4."The Best Day"4:31
5."Detonation"2:56
6."Vocabularies"4:31
7."Grace Lake"6:53
8."Germs Burn"5:52
Total length:50:22

Personnel

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The Thurston Moore Band

Release history

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Region Date Format Label Catalog
Denmark[20] October 20, 2014 2×LP, CD, digital download Matador N/A
France[21]
Sweden[22]
United Kingdom[23]
Spain[24] October 21, 2014
United States[25]
Germany[26] October 24, 2014
Ireland[27]
Netherlands[28]
Switzerland[29]

References

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  1. ^ "Thurston Moore's New Day: Inside His Upbeat Rock & Roll Solo Album". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  2. ^ "Thurston: New LP The Best Day, upcoming shows w/ Deb Googe, Steve Shelley and James Sedwards". Sonic Youth. March 20, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  3. ^ "Hear Thurston Moore's "Detonation" 7" inspired by Stoke Newington activists". Fact. The Vinyl Factory. January 23, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  4. ^ Minsker, Evan (January 22, 2014). "Listen to Thurston Moore: "Detonation" | News". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  5. ^ "Matablog | Coming October 21: Thurston Moore's The Best Day". Matador Records. August 20, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  6. ^ Mosurock, Doug (October 13, 2014). "First Listen: Thurston Moore, 'The Best Day'". NPR Music. NPR. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  7. ^ "Thurston Moore – The Best Day: album stream | Music". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. October 13, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  8. ^ "The Best Day by Thurston Moore". Matador Records. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  9. ^ "The Best Day - Thurston Moore". Metacritic. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
  10. ^ Thomas, Fred. "The Best Day - Thurston Moore". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  11. ^ Mincher, Chris. "In closing the book on Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore holds on to a few pages". The AV Club. Onion Inc. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  12. ^ Bray, Ryan. "Thurston Moore - The Best Day". Consequence of Sound. Townsquare Music. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  13. ^ Christgau, Robert (February 13, 2014). "Expert Witness". Cuepoint. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
  14. ^ Gibsone, Harriet. "Thurston Moore: The Best Day review – former Sonic Youth frontman returns to noise-rock". The Guardian. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
  15. ^ Cottingham, Chris. "NME Reviews - Thurston Moore - 'The Best Day'". NME. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  16. ^ Berman, Stuart (October 20, 2014). "Thurston Moore: The Best Day". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  17. ^ Gu, Marshall. "Thurston Moore: The Best Day". PopMatters. PopMatters Media.
  18. ^ Brunner, Rob. "Thurston Moore's New Album". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  19. ^ Winograd, Jeremy. "Thurston Moore - The Best Day". Slant Magazine. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
  20. ^ "Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore". iTunes Store. Apple. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  21. ^ "Musique – The Best Day par Thurston Moore" [Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore]. iTunes Store (in French). Apple. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  22. ^ "Musik – The Best Day av Thurston Moore" [Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore]. iTunes Store (in Swedish). Apple. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  23. ^ "Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore". iTunes Store. Apple. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  24. ^ "Música – The Best Day de Thurston Moore" [Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore]. iTunes Store (in Spanish). Apple. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  25. ^ "Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore". iTunes Store. Apple. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  26. ^ "Musik – "The Best Day" von Thurston Moore" [Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore]. iTunes Store (in German). Apple. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  27. ^ "Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore". iTunes Store. Apple. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  28. ^ "Muziek – The Best Day van Thurston Moore" [Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore]. iTunes Store (in Dutch). Apple. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  29. ^ "Musik – "The Best Day" von Thurston Moore" [Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore]. iTunes Store (in German). Apple. Retrieved August 20, 2014.