Yo La Tengo – Is Murdering The Classics

Still available directly from the band's own website for $13 (US shipping included)

I had to put these words, this information, somewhere ...

I’ve got to lay down this review for Yo La Tengo … primarily for the fact that the band has legs, they’ve got enough longevity that one must at this point in their career consider them to be elder statesmen of some sort, though I for one, know not of what. They’re like The Grateful Dead at this stage, with a hard core following who treasure every word, who delight in every show, and are enchanted at the sheer cuteness [a word that I despise, though there is no other that works here] of the husband and wife team of Kaplan and Georgia Hubley, whom actually do seem to be elementally connected on some astral plan of existence, that has kept them moving forward all of these years.

Essentially known for their repertoire of cover songs, songs which they magically immerse themselves into and deliver nearly flawlessly, and is an aspect that I for one hold dear. Yo La Tengo’s original material is certainly created with consideration, although it lacks a consistency for my ears, yet it’s that attitude of ‘pins all over the map’ being a quality that others find enchanting. That being said, YLT is and always will be renowned as a quintessential critic’s band, made up of late middle aged white men wearing Big Star tee shirts who’ve perhaps taken a plunge at marriage [mostly not], spending their weekends in dingy used record stores searching out first editions of Frank Zappa records, while living in their mother’s basement … only because their vinyl collection was warping the floors, and the concrete of the basement offered the support required, nevertheless, living ‘with’ their passion is the essence of their lives. There’s not a public or college radio station who would refuse giving YLT an interview if they knocked on the door unannounced.

An therein lies my dilemma with Yo La Tengo, I love hearing them on those interview shows, their stories are enchanting, the material that they play on these shows is designed to reach out and draw the listener in, enticing listeners like me to feel that there is something about me that just doesn’t get them for the most part, and perhaps if I purchase one more album, go to one more show, that the clouds will part, the sun will shine warmly down on me, with the alkaloids and praise bestowed on them by others will manifest itself within my soul, and I will become one of those who’s seen the light, and will spend the rest of my life bestowing their virtues and adulation.

But the thing of it is, I don’t get Yo La Tengo, I don’t find their shows to be fun, they leave me with nothing to hang onto, the music doesn’t inspire my hand to move across my collection [and no, I do not live in my mother’s basement] to select their album. I have to remind myself that it’s been a very long time since I listened to YLT, in order for me to play their music … and even then it’s not a full album, or even one of their compilations, it’s a compilation that I’ve created, one that rides well with me, and even then, if it went missing, I’m not sure that I would actually miss it.

I sometimes feel badly that over some thirty years I’ve only managed to keep twenty songs, that’s less than a song a year that work for me from this band’s career. With that in mind, if you’re like me, and you want the creme de la creme, then consider this collection of songs that span the career of Yo La Tengo: Disc 1 - “Periodically Double Or Triple,” “Can’t Forget,” “Evil That Men Do,” “Alyda,” “Did I Tell You,” “3 Blocks From Groove Street,” “Here Comes My Baby,” “Barnaby, Hardly Working,” “Tired So Hard,” “Always Something,” “All Your Secrets,” Disc 2 - “Little Honda,” “One PM Again,” “The Lie and How We Told It,” “Little Eyes,” “You Can Have It All,” “I’ll Be Around,” “Cornelia and Jane,” “The Point of It,” and “The Race Is On Again.”

I’ve spent time considering these songs and their placement within this compilation, one that will allow the music to ebb and flow with grace and a sense of well being, without all of the songs that just manage not to sit right in my head. With that I’ll say, ”Go have fun, and before you leave, will you toss me my Big Star tee shirt.”

OH GOD tell me you don’t get the joke …

Listen, you don’t have to like this album, and if you’re serious about not liking it, you don’t get the joke, meaning you’re nothing but a doofus standing in the rain on a street corner getting repeatedly soaked by passing Checkered Cabs, not getting picked up and with all sincerity, wondering why.

Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics was created live on the air in support for the fundraising efforts of one of the last independent radio channels, WFMU. All of those in attendance, the listening audience that is, who pledged their hard earned dollars during the band’s appearance were given the opportunity to request on the spot with no rehearsals, their fav classic rock song for Yo La Tengo to play, hence each song is remarkably short and funny as hell. The album is compiled from WFMU highlights broadcast between 1996 and 2003.

It’s not an album you’re really supposed to purchase, ‘less of course you wanna brag to your friends that you were the one responsible for requesting the shattering of the Velvet Underground’s brilliant “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” or Mr. Richmond’s “Roadrunner.” I highly suggest that you don’t purchase the album, but rather save your money for a donation to WFMU, where at pledge time, with Yo La Tengo in the studio, you can request that the flyswatter come down on one of your golden oldies. And if that’s not enough for you, the station often offers up vintage scratchy vinyl with nearly destroyed covers for the right amount of green, all garnished the the radio station’s call sign sprawled in thick black magic marker.

*** The Fun Facts: The album’s cover art was created by pop cartoonist Adrian Tomine, best known for his ever ongoing comic book series “Optic Nerve,” along with his illustrations for The New Yorker magazine.

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.

Review by Jenell Kesler