Lee uses an acoustic guitar on this one. That should be an indication of where the song could go or not go. "Beauty" follows two upbeat songs and why? Why place the exotic violent love ballad third? For the first time, Sonic Youth actually takes some time to place the songs in a cohesive running order.
The music is slow and loud. Lee composed the music using 4 guitars all in F#F#C#C#C#C#. A wall of sound type method was used layering each guitar along with some droning on the top two strings. The track was completed solely by Lee but Kim provided the vocals. Kim sings a melody along with the C# strings and paints the picture of a violent love story. "Do you want to see the explosions in my eye?" she asks in a very powerful manner as if the person the question is being directed to is in for something terrible. Power of woman?
When played live, Thurston played bass, Lee played guitar and Kim sang. Steve got a break. The live version on "Hold That Tiger" bootleg is rather different mostly because of the fewer sounds from the band. It still holds up but not enough to come back into the set. "Beauty" has not been played since 10-24-87.
The band made a video for this song. It can be found on the Screaming Fields of Sonic Love video. I found it on YOUtube but it won't let me post it. If you are that interested in seeing it, just check it out on youtube.
This video is from 9-14-87 Atlanta, Ga.
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