Some Yo La Tengo from John

Sometime last year I did a mega-big Yo La Tengo post......I thought it was pretty damn comprehensive, John N sends me some stuff that I did not have that first time..... if you are new to this blog or to Yo La Tengo, my best guess is that most of the links are still active as it was a pretty popular post. I'm not going to rehash thier lengthy history here, if it's of interest to you, please seek out the original posts.

So, let's see what we got here.....most interestingly, and unbeknownst to me, 2013 marked the 30th anniversary of the band, and somewhere around there (2014 evidently) they reissued the classic "Painful" in a super-deluxe edition ("Extra Painful") with not only bonus discs but a slew of download-only material, all of which John has included in these links.....as I always thought "Painful" was a hell of a fine album, it amazes me that noone told me of this reissue. I guess I need to watch more MTV or something (no not REALLY).

From 2012 we have "Fade" which I think I missed the first time, it also contains an extensive bonus disc....... We have the "Stupid Things" EP (2012) with a myriad of versions of that particular tune. Also of interest (to me at least) is a split CD  with YLT and Bardo Pond each taking on a 20-minute plus experimental/psych epic. A good one, listened to it earlier today and to me it's the highlight of this package. And, finally, from 2015, "Stuff Like That There", which is actually of more recent vintage than the original post....it's pretty cool as well, with updated versions of some of their older tunes and some interesting cover versions.

Not going into a hell of a lot of detail here because if I recall the original post was 4 or 5 parts, all the background info you'll need is there.....but this really fleshes it out, this is a band I've always really liked, and thanks VERY MUCH to John N for these super badass links.

EXTRA PAINFUL (D1)-01 Big Day Coming/02 From a Motel 6/03 Double Dare/04 Superstar
Watcher/05 Nowhere Near/06 Sudden Organ/07 A Worrying Thing/08 I Was the Fool Beside You For Too Long/09 The Whole of the Law/10 Big Day Coming/11 I Heard You Looking

EXTRA PAINFUL (D2)-01 Nowhere Near (demo)/02 From a Motel 6 (live)/03 Tunnel Vision (unreleased instrumental demo)/04 Sudden Organ (demo)/05 Smart Window (unreleased Painful session)/06 Big Day Coming (Live Acoustic)/07 Slow Learner (Unreleased demo)/08 Double Dare (demo)/09 A Worrying Thing (demo)/10 I heard You Looking (live)

EXTRA PAINFUL (D3 7")-01 Shaker/02 For Shame of Doing Wrong (8 Track Version)

EXTRA PAINFUL (Download Bonus Material)-01 Double Dare (Sominextraction) (Live)/02 What She Wants (Live)/03 Ashes on the Ground (Live)/04 Nutrica (Live)/05 For Shame of Doing Wrong (Live)/06 Superstar Watcher (Live)/07 Big Day Coming (Live)/08 I Was the Fool Beside You For Too Long/09 Shaker (Live)/10 Artificial Heart (Live)/11 Whole of the Law (Loops)/12 Nowhere Near (Live)/13 Sleeping Pill (excerpt)/14 Big Day Coming (live)/15 Sudden Organ (Live)

FADE (D1)-01 Ohm/02 Is That Enough/03 Well You Better/04 Paddle Forward/05 Stupid Things/06 I'll Be Around/07 Cornelia and Jane/08 Two Trains/09 The Point of It/10 Before We Run

FADE (BONUS DISC)-01 01 Ohm (live)/02 Two Trains (demo)/03 Note To Self/04 Move To California
(Times New Viking Cover)/05 Is That Enough (live)/06 Cornelia and Jane (Instrumental)/07 A Day In the Life of a Tree/08 Super Kiwi/09 Stupid Things (EYaf Remix)/10 I Saw the Light/11 Stupid Things (Instrumental)/12 Ohm (live 2)/13 Oriole 5/14 La Grange

STUPID THINGS EP-01 Stupid Things (12" Mix)/02 Stupid Things (EYAEZ Remix)/03 Stupid Things (Original Instrumental)

STUFF LIKE THAT THERE-01 My Heart's Not In It /02 Rickety/03 I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry/04 All Your Secrets/05 The Ballad of Red Buckets/06 Friday I'm In Love/07 Before We Stopped to Think/08 Butchie's Tune/09 Automatic Doom/10 Awhileaway/11 I Can Feel the Ice Melting/12 Naples/13 Deeper Into Movies/14 Somebody's in Love

YO LA TENGO/BARDO POND-PARALLELOGRAM-01 Bardo Pond-Screens For a Catch (Full Bearing Eyes)/02 Yo La Tengo-Electric Eye


Thanks to John N, this should fill out everyone's Yo La Tengo combined with the earlier stuff I posted.....if there are links from that one that are broken, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

A guest submits MORE Yo La Tengo!

The whole Yo La Tengo thing went over pretty well, I hope that a lot of you got familiar with them if you previously were unaware, and I hope that if you WERE already a fan, you got some new stuff to enjoy.......

Long ago I had a great contributor named "sean"......don't know if this is the same "sean" or not, but, not matter, whichever "sean" this is provides us with a pair of links for some awesome You La Tengo rarities ........here they are, RARE as can be and let's thank "Sean" (whichever one) for these unbelievable links!

First we have

http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/120528556662/yo-la-tengo-fakebook-live-very-cool-news-this

and next up Sean gives us
http://www.nyctaper.com/2015/05/condo-fucks-may-22-2015-cake-shop-flacmp3streaming/
Two issues that I was was unaaware of, the second being an show by the Condo Fucks, a garage-band latter-day alter-ego of the great Yo La Tengo........

If you enjoy these, plesae thank Sean (the "original" Sean or the "new" one, no idea), cause these are
some rare links... hope it's all great for you, the  Yo La Tengo thing has been great for ME.... I guess we are about done with it, BUT, if ANY OF YOU minions have any more Yo La Tengo rarities/unknowns, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE share them with us, it WILL be seriously appreciated!

Super Mega Yo La tengo Part 6 and OUT!

Told you this one was gonna big a mammoth, is there any stuff out there that I couldn't get my hand

on, now would be the time.......I have tonight three albums, I think, in which they work in collaboration with others. By the way, thanks for the responses to the WOXY/KEXP inquiry.....I WILL continue the series on a semi-regular basis, the whole thing is catalogued on the site now, so maybe I'll do five discs a week or something, and if you request one, there's a good chance it'll be one of them. I just think it's a unique feature that might take a while to heat up, as did Greek Punk and some others....... OK, first up is "Strange But True With Jad Fair".......Jad Fair being a member of Half Japanese, Yo La Tengo is basically relegated to back-up band as Fair contributes his nasaly, semi-spoken vocals......take it or leave it, it's interesting I guess, not one for heavy rotation and I am SURE hoping I can find somewhere to copy/paste those song titles from rather than have to type them out (you'll see why") Better, I think is a live 2001 set with Jon Spencer, a good, bluesy romp through the "usual" Yo La Tengo stew of oddball covers, this time featuring the work of Dylan, X, Pussy Galore, and Sham 69, amongst others....recommended. And finally, also from the stage, is a 2001 set with the great Ronnie Spector and David Grubbs......this one splits the difference, plenty of covers but also lots of original Yo La Tengo material, give this one a solid shot as well. Well, the 1990's were a great decade for music, really, but could Yo La Tengo, who outlived that decade by a LONG margin, have been one of the more underrated acts of that era.......i think so, always entertaining, always taking a chance, and always sounding great.........like to hear reactions on this whole series, as well as any stuff I don't have that you might like to sahre to round out the set. Till next time, be good to yourselves and your families. STRANGE BUT TRUE WITH JAD FAIR- 1. Helpful Monkey Wallpapers Entire Home 2. Texas Man Abducted By Aliens For Outer Space Joy Ride 3. National Sports Association Hires Retired English Professor To Name New Wrestling Holds 4. Dedicated Thespian Has Teeth Pulled To Play Newborn Baby In High School Play 5. Three-Year-Old Genius Graduates High School At Top Of Her Class 6. Embarassed Teen Accidentally Uses Valuable Rare Postage Stamp 7. Principal Punishes Students With Bad Impressions And Tired Jokes 8. Retired Grocer Constructs Tiny Mount Rushmore Entirely Of Cheese 9. X-Ray Reveals Doctor Left Wristwatch Inside Patient 10. Clumsy Grandmother Serves Delicious Dessert By Mistake #2 11. Retired Woman Starts New Career In Monkey Fashions 12. Circus Strongman Runs For PTA President 13. High School Shop Class Constructs Bicycle Built For 26 14. Clumsy Grandmother Serves Delicious Dessert By Mistake #1 15. Ohio Town Saved From Killer Bees By Hungry Vampire Bats 16. Nevada Man Invents Piano With 21 Extra Keys 17. Clever Chemist Makes Chewing Gum From Soap 18. Minnesota Man Claims Monkey Bowled Perfect Game 19. Ingenius Scientist Invents Car Of The Future 20. Car Gears Stick In Reverse, Daring Driver Crosses Town Backwards 21. Shocking Fashion Statement Terrorizes Town 22. Feisty Millionaire Fills Potholes With Hundred-Dollar Bills (See why I wanted to copy/paste?) WITH JON SPENCER-(note: About half of this is missing, I was going to skip it, but there are some great covers here that should be heard.....anyone have the (several) missing tracks...01 Artificial Heart/02 Borstal Breakout/03 Can't Seem To Make You Mine/04 Emulsified/05 Guess I'm Falling In Love/06 Like a Rolling Stone/07 Love Power/08 Mighty Idy/09 Rip This Joint/10 The last Time/11 The Once Over Twice/12 The Story of Jazz/13 You Look Like a Jew WITH RONNIE SPECTOR AND DAVID GRUBBS-01 Do It Again/02 Big Day Coming./03 Let's Save Tony Orlando's House/04 Tiny Birds/05 Sugarcube/06 A Little Bit of Rain/07 I'm Going In a Field/08 Chords of Fame/09 Dink's Song/10 Barnaby Hardly Working/11 Today Is the Day/12 Tom Courtenay/13 I Hear You Looking/14 Tears Are In Your Eyes/15 Encore Intro/16 Sheena Is a Punk Rocker/17 Baby I Love You/18 Here Today Gone Tomorrrow

growing bored for a living super mega yo la tengo part 5

Well, here we have a variety of live material from our heroes, I have never caught them live, but obviously (like the Dickies and Husker Du) in concert they pile on the cover material..... it can be most amusing, on record, but I will say this: There is SO MUCH of it here that you may or may not wish to delve into large doses of it..... I'll give you a few sample titles on each of the cover sets so you can see the outrageous diversity, it'll work for you, most likely, unless you OD on it. At the end of all these I have a super-ultra rare available nowhere else set from my WOXY Lounge Acts collection (more on that series later, I am disappointed in the numbers, but we'll talk).....so here is Yo La Tengo Live, in all thier glory, hope you've been enjoying THIS series, it's been a good bit of work but they really are badass!

First up we have "Live at Bell House" from 2011... NOT all covers (though thye are there), this includes versions of classics like "Autumn Sweater" and "86 Second Blowout"......if you want a straight-up live representation of one of thier shows, I'm guessing this to be it.

Now, WFMU Hoboken 3/5/10 is LOADED with covers, best, as I said, perhaps taken in small doses....just as a sampling: "Smokin In the Boys Room", "To Sir With Love", "Marquee Moon"... ANYTHING goes as cover material with these guys, you'll get the idea soon.

Next, we have the aptly titled "Live Covers", which includes NO (I don't think) overlap with the previous set......how about, for example, "Mr Soul", "Werewolves of London",  "No Sleep Til Brooklyn", "Tangled Up In Blue".......and TONS more, go at your own pace, while humorous, still overwhelming.

We have another WFMU set, this one from 2001, heavy on the covers as well, here's a few h'ors
d'ouvres for this one..... "Billy Don't Be a Hero", "Jet", "I Wanna Be Sedated", "Draggin the Line"...... they aren't shy about what they take on, no question.

Believe it or not, we have our THIRD WFMU set, as well as our FOURTH mostly covers set, this one titled "WFMU Covers Set"....... samples? "Pleasant Valley Sunday", "Meet the Mets Jingle", "Jailbreak", "Dancing Barefoot"....... gotta say, if you listen to all of these, I can't imagine you lacking in a Yo La Tengo cover version of ANYTHING...... all good fun, just take your time uncovering these.

My final offering is the WOXY Lounge Acts session, a single, 20-minute unsplit track, with lovely versions of "The Weakest Part", "Big Day Coming", "I Should Have Known Better", and some promo/interview stuff, really good music but better for the rarity factor as I know noone else who would possibly have a copy, spread it at will, make sure any fans of the band hear it.



LIVE AT BELL HOUSE-01 Game Show Intro/02 Artificial Heartbreak/03 Autumn Sweater/04 If It's True/05 I'm On My Way/06 (banter)/07 Alyda/08 86 Second Blowout/09 Outsmartener/10 I Heard You Looking/11 It's Alright (The Way That You Live)/12 Walking Away/13 More Stars Than There Are In Heaven/14 False Alarm/15 (banter)/16 The Weakest Part/17 (banter)/18 Mr. Tough/19 Big Day Coming/20 Tom Courtenay/21 Little Honda/22 (encore break)/23 Whatcha Gonna Do/24 Come On Baby/25 Dog Meat/26 Detouring America With Horns

WFMU 3/5/10-01 Old Time Rock N Roll/02 Rain/03 For Shame of Doing Wrong (I Wish I Was a Fool For You)/04 Secret Blood/05 Ripple/06 Neanderthal Man/07 Second hand News/Indian Giver/08 Drug Test/09 Smokin In the Boys Room/10 TV Eye/11 Add It Up/12 To Sir With Love/13 When My baby's Beside Me/14 Sex Drive/15 Can't Forget/16 Be My Baby/17 Caravan/18 Not Fade Away/19 Marquee Moon/20 Roadrunner/21 Midnight Confessions/22 96 Tears/23 Love is the Drug/24 Wooly Bully/25 A Man's Coconut/26 Blue Line Swinger/27 Moulty/28 Cinnamon Girl/29 Le Freak/30 I Think We're Alone Now/31 Summer Breeze/32 White Light White Heat/33 Ring Of Fire/34 That's When I Reach For My Revolver/35 Sex Bomb (medley)


LIVE COVERS-01 Favorite Thing/02 All Tomorrow's Parties/03 Scissors/04 Happiness Is A Warm
Gun/05 Werewolves of London/06 Across the Universe/07 Moving In Your Sleep/08 Can't Get Enough Of Your Love/09 Sympathy For the Devil/10 Baby's On Fire/11 Mr Soul/12 Hold Your Head Up/13 Hey War Pig/14 Charmed Life/15 Little Willy/16 Count Me In/17 Truckin'/18 Don't Worry Kyoko/19 Uncontrollaable Urge/20 What's So Funny Bout/21 Sea of Love/22 Suffragette City/23 I've Got Levitation/24 No Sleep Til Brooklyn/25 Ice Cream Man/26 I Want To Be With You/27 Tangled Up In Blue/28 Nuclear War Medley

LIVE ON WFMU 2001-01 DJ1/02 Agitated/03 Time Fades Away/04 Outsmartener/05 Jet/06 DJ2/07 Cherry Chapstick/08 Transfussion/09 No Matter What/10 Route 66/11 DJ3/12 Red Rubber Ball/13 Red Rubber Ball/14 bang A Gong/15 The Door Into Summer/16 Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head/17 DJ4/18 Solitary Man/19 The Edge of Reality/20 Mary Ann With the Shaky Hands/21 Gods Children/22 I Wanna Destroy You/23 DJ5/24 Billy Don't Be a Hero/25 Hot Skillet Mama/26 Getting Older/27 Dj6/28 Superman/29 Me and Julio Down By the School Yard/30 Here Comes My Baby/31 Draggin the Line/32 DJ7/33 See No Evil/34 Medley/35 Do Ya/36 DJ8

WFMU COVERS SET-01 Johnny Thunders/02 You're No Good/03 Dancing Barefoot/04 Raised Eyebrows/05 Know It's Alright/06 Rockaway Beach/07 Twentieth Century Boy/08 Pleasant Valley Sunday/09 Do Ya Think Im Sexy/10 Mama Told Me Not To Come/11 Search and Destroy/12 Meet the Mets Jingle/13 Cheese and Onions/14 Starry Eyes/15 Thing With a Hook/16 I Think We're Alone Now/17 I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You/18 jailbreak/19 September Gurls/20 When Doves Cry/21 Build Me Up Buttercup/22 You Ain't Seen Nothin Yet/23 I Want You To Want Me/24 Medley/25 Sudden Organ

WOXY LOUNG SESSION-01 (unsplit track)

Super Mega Yo La Tengo Part 4

Well, I guess we will allow this section to concentrate on the many EP's that YLT has released over the years.....never realized there were so many until, well, now.......gonna be a lot of overlap, feel free to reprogram if it suits ya! (No particular order)

DANELECTRO (2000)- Take three quirky Yo La Tengo instrumentals, all with interwining themes, and then have them remixed by Q-Unique, Kit Clayton, and Nobukazu Takemura....and the result is a totally original effort, what more can we expect from Yo La Tengo.......for fans of the band, but, by now, shouldn't we all be?  01 Danelectro 3/02 Danelectro 2/03 Danelectro 1 (Q-Unique Remix)/04 Danelectro 3 (Kit Clayton Remix)/05 Danelectro 1/06 Danelectro 2 Nobukaza (Takemura Remix)

CAMP YO LA TENGO (!995)-01 (Thin) Blue Line Swinger/02 Can't Seem To Make You Mine/03
Mr Ameche Plays the Stranger/04 Tom Courtenay (Acoustic)

TODAY IS THE DAY (2003)-01 Today Is the Day/02 Styles of the Times/03 Outsmartener/04 Needle of Death.05 Dr Crash/06 Cherry Chapstick

FROM A MOTEL 6 EP-01 Ashes on the Ground/02 From a Motel 6/03 Shaker/04 For Shame of Doing Wrong (Slide Version)/05 Nutrica/06 What She Wants

HERE COMES MY BABY EP-01 Here Comes My Baby/02 The Story of Jazz/03 Barstool Blues/04 Compromise/05 At the River's Edge/06 Ecstacy Blues/07 Speeding Motorcycle

LITTLE HONDA EP-01 Little Honda/02 Be Thankful For What You Got/03 No Return /04 Black
Hole/05 How Much I've Lied/06 By the Time it Gets Dark/07 Little Honda (Live)/08 We're the Champions (Live)

MERRY CHRISTMAS-01 Rock N Roll Santa/02 It's Christmas Time/03 Santa Claus Goes Modern

NUCLEAR WAR EP-01 Nuclear War, Version 1/02
Nuclear War, Version 2/03 Nuclear War, Version 3/04 Nuclear War Version 4

UPSIDE DOWN EP-01 Upside Down /02 (the) Farmers Daughter/03 Out of Control/04 Upside Down (One More Time)/05 Sunsquashed

Some fantastic stuff on these EP's don't neglect
them........ya think I'm done? HELL no, tomorrow, live stuff, and maybe even a few collaborative efforts.... anyway these are going like hotcakes, but with very little commentary, come on, you know I like to hear from you guys!

Super Mega Yo La Tengo Part 3

Well, I think we have all the "regular" issue LP/CD's posted......now's to the fun stuff, the more rare and essoteric releases, and, sister Christian, there are a LOT of them.

I think this portion will feature the compilation albums which feature rarities, and this and that......fans of a band such as this will swoon for such stuff, and there is some wonderful material here.Why not begin with the three disc "Prisoners of Love (A Smattering of Scintillating Senescent Songs, 1985-2003)".....what these discs feature are TONS of rare tracks from our heroes, I'm not gonna list em all here (that is what the track list is for), check these out, there is some overlap, but it is outweighed by the unearthed gems you will locate here.....feel free to preprogram if you wish,

Next up is the classic "Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics", the title says it all.... Oh, my God.... a sampling: "The Night Chicago Died"... "The Hokey Pokey".... "Oh! Sweet Nuthin!"... "Roundabout"... "Raw Power"... "Murdering" is the correct terminology, and this essential album should be on your shelf yesterday. hilarious and listenable at once, this one is a MUST. Seriously, one of the most hilarious albums ever created, many have TRIED, but NONE have pulled it off to this point of perfection.

"They Shoot We Score" is an album of soundtrack work the band has done, I REALLY enjoy this one for some reason, the existing versions of the old standards are MUCH different, and there is music they contributed to four different films.......this is a fine album, don't miss it, the short version of "Spec Bebop" is almost worth the price of admission.

"Genius + Love= Yo La Tengo" is a wonderful two disc set or rarities, alternates, outtakes, and is a must have for fans of this band........WONDERFUL stuff here ("The Blitzkreig Bop"? "Surfing With the Shah?")......another winner, by now you know whether this band is "for you" or not (obviously, they are for ME), but if they are for you, this rarities double disc is no question  essential to your collection as well.

OK, I am trying to work quickly, if I forget something I'll stick it on the end or something...... these are great comps that ANY self-respecting Yo La Tengo fan MUST have, tomorrow, I will get to some live stuff, and a bunch of EP's also......this is one of America's great underappreciated indie bands, they are great and let us PLEASE recognize them as such!

PRISONERS OF LOVE DISC 1-01 Shaker/02 Sugarcube/03 barnaby, Hardly Working,/04 Little
Eyes/05 Stockholm Syndrome/06 Our Way to Fall/07 From a Motel Six/08 Swing For Life/09 Tom Courtaney/10 Lewis/11 I heard You Looking/12 You Can Have It All/13 Did I Tell You

PRISONERS OF LOVE DISC 2-01 The River of Water/02 Autumn Sweater/03 Big Day Coming/04 Pablo and Andrea/05 Drug Test/06 Season of the Shark/07 Upside Down/08 The Summer/09 Tears Are In Your Eyes/10 Blue Line Swinger/11 The Story of Jazz/12 Nuclear War/13 By the Time It Gets Dark

PRISONERS OF LOVE DISC 3-01 Stay Away From Heaven/02 Pencil Test/03 Almost True/04 Tom Courtenay/05 Big Day Coming (demo)/06 Dreaming/07 Bad Politics/08 Blue Green Arrow/09 Decora (Acoustic)/10 Out the Window/11 Weather Shy/12 Dreams/13 Autumn Sweater (remix).14 Ashes on the Ground/15 Mr. Ameche Plays the Stranger/16 Magnet

YO LA TENGO IS MURDERING THE CLASSICS-01 Tighten Up/02 The Night Chicago Died/03 Raw Power/04 Sea Cruise/05 Favorite Thing/06 Baseball Altamont/07 Meet the Mets/08 Oh Bondage Up Yours!/09 Ding Dang Interplanetary Music/10 Captain Lou/11 Oh! Sweet Nuthin!/12 Route 66/13 Roadrunner/14 Tijuana Taxi/15 Mendocino/Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head/16 Sweet Dreams (Are made of These)/17 Baby's On Fire/18 Mary Ann With the Shaky Hand/19 The Hokey Pokey/20 You May Be Right/21 Mama Told Me Not To Come/22 Roundabout/23 You Ain't Seen Nothin Yet/24 Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For Her hand In the Snow)/25 Downtown/26 Let the Good Times Roll/27 Never on Sunday/28 20th Century Boy/29 Rock The Boat/30 Shotgun+Me

THEY SHOOT WE SCORE-01 Leaving Home/02 Getting Lost/03 Path to Springs/04 Driving
Home/05 Leaving Home (alternate Version)/06 Old Joy End Credits/07 Ashley/08 Meerkat/09 Madaeline/10 A Roomfull of Ladies (Outtake)/11 David Wark/12 Aftermat (Outtake)/13 George/14 This Could Be It/15 The Phantom Who haunts Broadway/16 Game Time/17 Pharoah Blues/18 zoo Chant/19 Love Chant/20 Asbestos/21 Return of the Pharoah/22 Spec bebop/23 Buckner's Bone/24 Isolation Tank/25 Panic In Central Park (outtake)/26 Panic In Central/27 Wizard's Sleeve

GENIUS + LOVE= YO LA TENGO (DISC 1)-01 Evanescent Psychic Pez Drop/02 Demons/03 Fog Over Frisco/04 Too Late/05 Hanky Panky nowhow/06 Something To Do/07 Ultra-powerful Shortwave Radio picks up//08 Up To You/09 Somebody's baby/10 Walking Away From You/11 Artificial Heart/12 Cast a Shadow/13 I'm Set Free/14 Barnaby, Hardly Working/15 Some Kinda Fatigue/16 Speeding Motorcycle

GENIUS + LOVE=YO LA TENGO (DISC 2)-01 Nutricia/02  Her Grandmother's Gift/03 From a Motel 6/04 Gooseneck Problem/05 Surfin With the Shah/06 Ecstacy Blues/07 Too Much Part one/08 Blitzkreig Bop/09 One Self; Fish Girl/10 Enough/11 Drum Solo/12 From a Motel 6/13 Too Much Part II/14 Sunsquashed

Super Mega Yo La Tengo Part 2

OK, that first part was pretty breezy, nine pretty great studio releases from one of the greatest of all the indie bands of the 80's-90's-00's..... and we are FAR from finished.... hopefully I can finish up the regular studio releases here, and on we'll go into the rest of the plethora of material I have from this kick-ass band.

I think we left off with the oddball underwater soundtrack "The Sounds of the Sounds of Science" (2001), so next on the agenda I guess we have 2003's "Summer Sun".....I consider it their weakest effort thus far, although far from worthless......Georgia Hubley's mother had just passed away, and you can feel the pain and loss on the album, completely like any other Yo La Tengo disc.....it does have its moments, of course, but I'd give it two stars, a DAMN low rating for this band. understandable as death certainly does things like this to all of us, but not a favorite of mine.

They most certainly had a comeback in them however. 2006's "I am Not Afraid of You And I Will Beat Your Ass" is one of my faves, one of the best albums of that years, and contains perhaps my very favorite Yo La Tengo track, "Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind", a marvelous long freakish guitar workout..... (it also contains "The Story of Yo La Tango" (yes tAngo!), another long slammer jammer.... there is more great shit like "Mr Tough" and  "Dapnia", a wonderful comeback LP and one NOT to be missed. Great album.

Their next "proper" release was "Popular Songs", 2009.......while hardly up to the standard of "I Am Not Afraid of You....", there are some good tracks here, this is a band with a seemingly inexhaistible supply of material......."Avalon or Someone Very Similar", "The Fireside", and "And the Glitter is Gone" all remind of classic YLT........it's a decent album........if it were MY rock n roll Hall of Fame they'd walk in tomorrow, they have given us three times the great rock n roll that many bands in there have (hi Rush).

I think that 2013's "Fade" is their latest regular release...... once again, not the greatest, but certainly not something that Kansas would kick out of bed.... this album comes in several different editions, with lost of different gimmicks included, the one I have here is but the standard release, sorry... the coupling of "ohm" and "Is That Enough" are the highlights from here, myself I was just glad we were still getting fresh material from Yo La Tengo in 2013.

As far as I can tell I got all the studio "regular" releases.......there is a LOT more stuff to go, take me at my word.......the next post we will start on some comps and stuff, and this is MORE great stuff, trust me (MIGHT even have a WOXY lounge act, have to check).... anyway, LOTS more to come, LOTS, so stay tuned.

SUMMER SUN-01 Beach Party Tonight/02 Little Eyes/03 Nothing But You and Me/04 Season of the Shark/05 Today Is the Day/06 Tiny Birds/07 How To Make a baby Elephant Float/08 Georgia vs. Yo La Tengo/09 Don't Have to Be So Sad/10 Winter A Go-Go/11 Moonrock Mambo/12 Let's be Still/13 Take Care

I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU AND I WILL BEAT YOUR ASS-01 Pass Me the Hatchet, I THink I'm Goodkind/02 Beanbag Chair/03 I Feel Like Going Home/04 Mr Tough/05 Black Flowers/06 The Race Is On Again/07 The Room Got Heavy/08 Sometimes I Don't Get You/09 Daphnia/10 I Should Have Known Better/11 Watch Out For Me Ronnie/12 The Weakest Part/13 Song For Mahalia/14 Point and Shoot/15 The Story of Yo La Tango

POPULAR SONGS-01 Here To Fail/02 Avalon or Someone Very Similar/03 By Two's/04 Nothing To Hide/05 Periodically Double or TRiple/06 If It's True/07 I'm On My Way/08 When It's Dark/09 All Your Secrets/10 More Stars Than There Are In Heaven/11 The Fireside/12 And the Glitter is Gone

FADE-01 Ohm/02 Is That Enough/03 Well You Better/04 Paddle Forward/05 Stupid THings/06 I'll Be Around/07 Cornelia and Jane/08 Two Trains/09 The Point of It/10 Before We Run

Dont think this is close to finished though.......there is so much more material here it will make your head spin!

Super-Mega Yo La Tengo Part 1

Now, THIS one is going to be comprehensive, I have no idea how many posts this is going to take but I have a LOT of Yo La Tengo on my shelves........if you are a fan of them, I will bet ya that there is stuff here that is new to you, one of my long time fave indie bands we'll try to do this in somewhat chronological order, with as little over lap as possible......this will take me at LEAST a week of working steadily, and of course I will still interrupt it for guest material from Andie, or Cliff, or Dave Sez, or Brian, or Apantabapanta,  or anyone else, guest material will take priority as guests are the lifeblood of this blog.

If you HATE Yo La Tengo, you may want to avoid this site for a little while......I've been thinking of doing some more ultra posts such as this, as much work as they are, the results are usually favorable.....The Stranglers, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Roxy Music, Queens of the Stone Age  and others are among the bands that I have TONS of stuff from and have not profiled.......we will see, but I've been promising this Yo La Tengo for a while.......if you have any boots of YLT by any chance, send em along, If I don't already have em, you bet they'll be included!

Shall we begin? Formed in the mid 1980's in Hoboken New Jersey, the band shuffled through a fw lineup changes before settling in 1992 on Ira Kaplan on vocals, guitar, and piano; Georgia Hubley on drums, piano, and vocal, and bassist/vocalist James Mc New.

The origin of their name is quite humorous as a sports fan, so I think I will copy the Wikipedia paragraph about it in its entirety:

Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley formed the band as a husband/wife duo in 1984. They chose the name "Yo La Tengo" (Spanish for "I have it"; or referring to a female-gender object or person, also "I've Got Her") in an effort to avoid any connotations in English. The name came from a baseball anecdote. During the 1962 season, New York Mets center fielder Richie Ashburn and Venezuelan shortstop Elio Chacón found themselves colliding in the outfield. When Ashburn went for a catch, he would scream, "I got it! I got it!" only to run into Chacón, who spoke only Spanish. Ashburn learned to yell, "¡Yo la tengo! ¡Yo la tengo!" instead. In a later game, Ashburn happily saw Chacón backing off. He relaxed, positioned himself to catch the ball, and was instead run over by left fielder Frank Thomas, who understood no Spanish and had missed a team meeting that proposed using the words "¡Yo la tengo!" as a way to avoid outfield collisions.^[2] After getting up, Thomas asked Ashburn, "What the hell is a Yellow Tango?

OK, so anyway, after a series of singles (including a B-side of Love's "A House is Not a Motel", which appears on the first album "Ride the Tiger" (1986) (on the extended CD bonus version, as presented here).....it also includes a Kinks cover, and some unexpectedly quirky trombone/saxaphone playing.......it sold me when I first heard it way back then, this is a good debut, tuneful, funny, quirky, and unusual.......one of the more underappreciated albums of the 1980's.

The seconed album was even better, "New Wave Hot Dogs" (rereleased with "President Yo La Tengo" making a fine super-CD. There is a fine Lou Reed cover ("It's Alright"), as well as spectacular originals, "Clunk", "House Fell Down", and more, and the addition of "President Yo La Tengo" gives us more gems such as the long "The Evil That Men Do" (there are TWO versions of this song here, as you may recall it also apeared on "Ride the Tiger".....very typical moves from YLT) and the weird addition of "The Asparagus Song" ......essential for my money.

Next up came "Fakebook", which is mostly a covers set (but, as before, they "Cover" their own "Barnaby, Hardly Working")......and the cover material, from sources as esoteric as Cat Stevens, The Flamin Groovies, Gene Clark and John Cale, THIS is how you make a cover album (you know I LOATHE slavish cover versions, these versions belong totally to Yo La Tengo.

James McNew took over as permanent basis on "May I Sing With Me", 1992, and the lineup has remained intact ever since. Thier sound continued to develop, becoming noiser, more absrtact, but still VERY identifiable......they were always at thier best on the long, noisy numbers, and there are a pair of them here, "Sleeping Pill" and "Mushroom Cloud of Hiss".

Along came 1993, and yet another Yo La Tengo album ("Painful")......very different from any of thier previous works, this is much more shoe-gaze, trippy stuff, I almost want to compare to Mazzy Star but that sounds a little silly.......they are still an ORIGINAL. There are two very different versions of "Big Day Coming", as well as my favorite, "From a Motel Six"...........underrated album as well.

This is the life of a cult band.......try this, try that, try anything, those who LOVE YOU will groove on anything you do, while 99% of music fans will get your name wrong ("Yo La TENGO not TANGO (They even make fun of THAT a bit later on))......and if ever modern times gave us a great cult band it was Yo La Tengo.

"Electro Pura" appeared in 1995 and was another critic's fave, and deservedly so......they continued to grow, to change, but NEVER to lose their unique identity......I wouldn't agree, but I know some who rank this as their favorite Yo La Tengo album.......plenty of good stuff here tough, "Bitter End" and  "Blue Line Swinger" are a couple of the more memorable for myself.

It gets stale just telling you how great each subsequent release is, but what am I to do........"I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One", is a great one as well, this album was and remains today a HUGE critical favorite, and it's way easy to see why........because it's great.........perhaps the trippy "Damage" is for you.....if not, maybe the beautiful "Autumn Sweater".......the obligatory "long" one here is "Spec BeBop",  ten minutes of electro-psych.......and let us not forget their goofball cover of  "Little Honda"......five star album from THIS "critic", no doubt about it.

Next album "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out" experimented with a lot of simple, quieter songs, some of which work ("Everyday" for example, is a nice one), but not forgetting that they ARE You La Tengo, there is plenty of noisy killer rock here, notably the 17 minute closer "Night Falls on Hoboken"........while it doesn't quite measure up to its predecessor, this is a great album as well in it's own right, one that I think is ignored a bit.

We'll do one more album and that will give you the first ten of their career, and should give you a picture of what we are talking about......we have only scratched the surface, there are more studio LP's to come (good ones too), plus singles, EP's, comps, rarities boots..........this will take a while so please leave a comment......maybe you don't like em as much as I do, but sure would like to hear some newbie opinions.

Album number ten, then, is "The Sounds of the Sounds of Science", an instrumental album to accompany a series of underwater documentary films shot underrwater by filmmaker Jean Painleve.....for what it is, it is beautiful, NOT one I pull out very often, but what band EVER has taken as many chances as Yo La Tengo? slip this one on as beautiful background music for some stoned lovemaking, or just for napping, again, it's a triumph.

I will try to work on this some more tonight because this is going to be a rough one. Hope, really hope, you guys enjoy this one.

RIDE THE TIGER-01 The Code of Silence/02 Big Sky/03 The Evil That Men Do/04 The Forest Green/05 The pain of Pain/06 The Way Some People Die/07 The Empty Pool/08 Alrock's Bells/09 Five Years/10 Screaming Dead Balloons/11 Living In the Country

PRESIDENT YO LA TENGO/NEW WAVE HOT DOGS-01 Barnaby, Hardly Working/02 Drug Test/03 The Evil That Men Do/04 Orange Song/05 Alyda/06 The Evil That Men Do/07 I Threw It All Away/08 Clunk/09 Did I Tell You/10 House Fall Down/11 Lewis/12 Lost In Bessemer/13 It's Alright (The Way You Live)/14 3 Blocks From Groove Street/15 Let's Compromise/16 Serpentine/17 A Shy Dog/18 No Water/19 The Story of Jazz/20 The Asparagus Song

FAKEBOOK-01 Can't Forget/02 Griselda/03 Here Comes My Baby/04 Barnaby, Hardly Workig/05 Yellow Sarong/06 You Tore Me Down/07 Emulsified/08 Speeding Motorcycle/09 Tried So hard/10 The Summer/11 Oklahoma USA/12 What Comes Next/13 The One To Cry/14 Andalucia/15 Did I Tell You/16 What Can I Say

MAY I SING WITH ME-01 Detouring America With Horns/02 Upside-Down/03 Mushroom Cloud
of Hiss/04 Swing For Life/05 Five-Cornered Drone/06 Some Kinda Fatigue/07 Always Something/08 86-Seconde Blowout/09 Out the Window/10 Sleeping Pill/11 Satellite


PAINFUL-01 Big Day Coming/02 From a Motel 6/03 Double Dare/04 Superstar-Watcher/05 Nowhere Near/06 Sudden Organ/07 A Worrying THing/08 I Was the Fool Beside You For Too Long/09 The Whole of the Law/10 Big Day Coming/11 I Heard You Looking

ELECTR-O-PURA-01 Decora/02 Flying Lesson (Hot Chicken #1)/03 The Hour Grows Late/04 Tom

Courtenay/05 False Ending/06 Pablo and Andrea/07 Paul Is Dead/08 False Alarm/09 The Ballad of Red Buckets/10 Don't Say a Word (Hot Chicken #2)/11 (Straight Down to the) Bitter End/12 My Heart's Reflection/13 Attack On Love/14 Blue Line Swinger

I CAN HEAR THE HEART BEATING AS ONE-01 Return To Hot Chicken/02 Moby Octopad/03 Sugarcube/04 Damage/05 Deeper Into Movies/06 Shadows/07 Stockholm Syndrome/08 Autumn Sweater/09 Little Honda/10 Green Arrow/11 One PM Again/12 The Lie and How We Told It/13 Center of Gravity/14 Spec Bebop/15 We're An American Banad/16 My Little Corner of the World

AND THEN NOTHING TURNED ITSELF INSIDE OUT-01 Everyday/02 Our Wa to Fall/03 Saturday/04 Let's Save Tony Orlando's House/05 Last Days of Disco/06 The Crying of Lot G/07 You Can have It All/08 Tears Are In Your Eyes/09 Cherry Chapstick/10 From Black to Blue/11 Madeline/12 Tired Hippo/13 Night Falls On Hoboken

THE SOUNDS OF THE SOUNDS OF SCIENCE-01 Sea Urchins/02 Hyas and Stenorhynchus/03 Shrimp Stories/04 How Some Jellyfish Are Born/05 Liquid Crystals/06 The Love Life of the Octopus/07 Acrea or the Witches Dance/08 The Sea Horse