The Best Day (Thurston Moore album)

The Best Day
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

The Best Day is the tenth solo studio album by the American alternative rock musician Thurston Moore, released on October 20, 2014 on Matador Records.[1] The album cover is a photograph of Moore's mother, Eleanor Moore, circa 1940 and a photograph of Moore's parents is used as artwork.[2]

Release

The Best Day was announced for release in March 2014 on Sonic Youth's official news blog.[3] 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.[4][5]

A formal announcement of The Best Day, including cover art, a track listing and release dates, was made on August 20 by Matador Records.[6] 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.[7][8] 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.[9]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic75/100[10]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[11]
The A.V. ClubB[12]
Consequence of SoundB−[13]
Cuepoint (Expert Witness)[14]
The Guardian[15]
NME8/10[16]
Pitchfork7.1/10[17]
PopMatters7/10[18]
Rolling Stone[19]
Slant Magazine[20]

Track listing

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

The Thurston Moore Band

Release history

Region Date Format Label Catalog
Denmark[21] October 20, 2014 2×LP, CD, digital download Matador N/A
France[22]
Sweden[23]
United Kingdom[24]
Spain[25] October 21, 2014
United States[26]
Germany[27] October 24, 2014
Ireland[28]
Netherlands[29]
Switzerland[30]

References

  1. ^ Burrows, Marc (October 23, 2014). "Thurston Moore: The Best Day". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved January 5, 2026.
  2. ^ "Thurston Moore's New Day: Inside His Upbeat Rock & Roll Solo Album". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  3. ^ "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.
  4. ^ "Hear Thurston Moore's "Detonation" 7" inspired by Stoke Newington activists". Fact. The Vinyl Factory. January 23, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  5. ^ Minsker, Evan (January 22, 2014). "Listen to Thurston Moore: "Detonation" | News". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  6. ^ "Matablog | Coming October 21: Thurston Moore's The Best Day". Matador Records. August 20, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  7. ^ Mosurock, Doug (October 13, 2014). "First Listen: Thurston Moore, 'The Best Day'". NPR Music. NPR. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  8. ^ "Thurston Moore – The Best Day: album stream | Music". The Guardian. October 13, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  9. ^ "The Best Day by Thurston Moore". Matador Records. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  10. ^ "The Best Day - Thurston Moore". Metacritic. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
  11. ^ Thomas, Fred. "The Best Day - Thurston Moore". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ Bray, Ryan. "Thurston Moore - The Best Day". Consequence of Sound. Townsquare Music. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  14. ^ Christgau, Robert (February 13, 2014). "Expert Witness". Cuepoint. Archived from the original on February 14, 2015. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
  15. ^ Gibsone, Harriet. "Thurston Moore: The Best Day review – former Sonic Youth frontman returns to noise-rock". The Guardian. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
  16. ^ Cottingham, Chris. "NME Reviews - Thurston Moore - 'The Best Day'". NME. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  17. ^ Berman, Stuart (October 20, 2014). "Thurston Moore: The Best Day". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  18. ^ Gu, Marshall. "Thurston Moore: The Best Day". PopMatters. PopMatters Media.
  19. ^ Brunner, Rob. "Thurston Moore's New Album". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  20. ^ Winograd, Jeremy. "Thurston Moore - The Best Day". Slant Magazine. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
  21. ^ "Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore". iTunes Store. Apple. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  22. ^ "Musique – The Best Day par Thurston Moore" [Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore]. iTunes Store (in French). Apple. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  23. ^ "Musik – The Best Day av Thurston Moore" [Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore]. iTunes Store (in Swedish). Apple. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  24. ^ "Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore". iTunes Store. Apple. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  25. ^ "Música – The Best Day de Thurston Moore" [Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore]. iTunes Store (in Spanish). Apple. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  26. ^ "Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore". iTunes Store. Apple. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  27. ^ "Musik – "The Best Day" von Thurston Moore" [Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore]. iTunes Store (in German). Apple. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  28. ^ "Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore". iTunes Store. Apple. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  29. ^ "Muziek – The Best Day van Thurston Moore" [Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore]. iTunes Store (in Dutch). Apple. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  30. ^ "Musik – "The Best Day" von Thurston Moore" [Music – The Best Day by Thurston Moore]. iTunes Store (in German). Apple. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.