CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

.

And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out

by: Yo La Tengo

Release Date February 21, 2000
Somehow I bought this after 'Summer Sun' and 'I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One' but this easily feels the most complete and enjoyable of the three.

At times YLT have let enthusiasm and sheer inventiveness come a bit before quality but not on this album. It has a gloriously integrated feel. The dreamy voices have a melancholy end-of-summer feel, musically it shifts tone with a variety of instrumentation which is more electronic than on some other albums. 'Cherry Capstick' is indeed a crunching rock-out but it does not seem out of place as it relieves the tension and sets up the final stretch. The 17 minute closing track is YLT at their absolute best, a gorgeous strummed acoustic melody that gently ebbs into the night on a wave of ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

.

I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One

by: Yo La Tengo

Release Date April 21, 1997
This issues that I have with this album are much the same as the issues I have with the UK comedy series Spaced and any Kevin Smith movie I have seen: it is so utterly bogged down in referencing other, better artists' work that it can barely justify its own existence. Fans of The Velvet Underground, Burt Bacharach, Simon and Garfunkel, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Galaxie 500, My Bloody Valentine, etc. might well enjoy Yo La Tengo's lively pastiches of their work. However, despite Yo La Tengo's competency and attention to detail, the band simply don't have enough individuality to allow me to take this album seriously as anything other than a collection of affectionate send-ups. So not a bad album per sé, just an unfocused and overlong one.

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

.

Prisoners of Love: a Smattering of Scintillating Senescent Songs 1984-2003

by: Yo La Tengo

Release Date March 21, 2005
Yo La Tengo are a national treasure to the United States of America. Their quality of output would be comparable to our very own (well Scotland's) Belle and Sebastian, although their styles aren't really the same, other than maybe Season of the Shark.

A brilliant, underground, lo fi, indie rock three piece that have provided us with some of the best albums ever especially since 1993.

This album contains a good cross section of their music from 1986 to their Summer Sun album. Although if you love this you will still have a treasure trove of studio albums to examine also. Their live performances are not to be missed either. They have an excellent sense of humour, including (taking the rip) synchronised dance routines to at least one ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

.

I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass

by: Yo La Tengo

Release Date September 11, 2006
I'm a yo la tengo fan - i like most of their previous albums - and they have always offered a lot in their albums. Diverse styles, long songs, short songs, noisy songs, soft songs (apart from 'summer sun' which is mostly soft)....and here it all is again.

However, i agree with another reviewer in that it all just sounds very mediocre. Its not 'bad music' i just dont like it as much as their other albums.

I'm not slating them saying they are crap - I just dont like this album as much as others. It really hasnt engaged me in it - it lacks the signature parts of exciting feedback, humming resonant bass lines and exchanges them for a horn section, jazzy instrumentals and funky style to their percussion.

If you too are a fan ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

.

Summer Sun

by: Yo La Tengo

Release Date April 07, 2003
Yo La Tengo - they've been around longer than the Flaming Lips, right? Yet like the Lips, they're producing some of the best music of their career, but thanks to much subtler use of electronica and acres and acres of keyboards.

Beach Party Tonight is a gorgeous, wispy opener that never really starts, leading into Little Eyes. Little Eyes, a lush tune, much like Season of the Shark, both carry a passing nod to Grandaddy, but with gentle, soothing vocals and calming keyboards. The songs themselves are deep and very mature (as you'd expect from these oldies), and these two are probably the most mainstream on the album.

Today Is The Day is a beautiful, seize the day moment in typical Yo La Tengo laidback tones - the guitar lines are lazy and suggest a ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

.

Electr-O-Pura

by: Yo La Tengo

Release Date May 02, 1995
I find this album frustrating as it has some of yo la tengo's best work but as an album i feel it doesnt play as well as 'i can hear the haert beating as one'.

Basically if you are into the 'tengo' - buy this for 'Tom Courtney' and 'Blue Line Swinger.

Tom C is an abosolute pop gem - very beatles esque - with some great sketchy guitar work too - this is such a joyous catchy song i dont know how people cannot sing a long to the
'bop-da-da.. bop-bop.. ba da-da da-da' of the chorus.

and 'blue line swinger' is a 10 min jam that nicely builds up from a keyboard drone and occasional drumbeat into a full on tune drench in humming bass, seering feedback from the guitar and water tight drumming.

i love the way the drum beat keeps ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

.

Painful

by: Yo La Tengo

Release Date
I can't believe that this album has not been reviewed yet.

This I have to say is one of my favourite Yo La Tengo albums, it is also one of their most consistent in style too. Whilst other albums like "Heart Beating As One" and "I am not afraid of You" are all over the shop with their diverse styles and I love them for that, this one retains a closer balance of style.

On this album I think it is where Yo La Tengo, finally got their raw electric sound just right. On previous albums, they'd released great tracks like Barnaby Hardly Working and Upside Down, but other electric tracks were messy and Ira's angry singing didn't complement them well. On their 1990 acoustic album Fakebook, I'd say that they'd learned to sing. So on this album it all comes together ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

.

President La Tengo/New Wave Hot Dogs [Us Import]

by: Yo La Tengo

Release Date December 23, 1999
This release puts their second and third album on one CD; confusingly so in reverse order, but then "Barnaby, Hardly Working" is truly a better opening track than "Clunk".

If you're a fan of late YLT, you may either appreciate or dislike this record's rawness; just be warned that there are a number of people who would easily call this their favourite (I wouldn't, that verdict goes to "Painful", but I daresay you won't be disappointed).

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

.

Prisoners of Love: a Smattering of Scintillating Senescent Songs 1984-2003/Limited Edition

by: Yo La Tengo

Release Date March 21, 2005
Yo La Tengo are one of those fashionable, classic American bands who never smashed the charts wide open but always remained a cult hit for those in the know. If, like me, you've never discovered the joys of their distinctive fuzz-pop, this is an absolutely perfect place to start. At a price usually reserved for a single disc, you get two CDs of all the 'hits', plus a bonus one with much sought-after rarities (so this is essential for collectors too). The music itself is sublime, ranging from early lo-fi ditties with a heart and a tune buried under the feedback ('Sugarcube', 'Barnaby, Hardly Working') to beautiful, almost sedated later songs ('Our Way To Fall', 'Little Eyes') via a number of covers (their excellent version of Sun Ra's 'Nuclear War'). Yo La Tengo are an essential, fine ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

.

May I Sing With Me

by: Yo La Tengo

Release Date November 17, 2008
This album has some very good tracks on, but it's not the unequivical genius that would follow, starting with the 1993 album Painful and pretty much onward throughout the rest of their career.

It contains the brilliant indie guitar pop track Upside Down, which is well catchy. Satellite is a mellow little delight a sound which they would pursue on tracks on subsequent albums.

De touring America With Horns is another great track building on the same chord sequence as an earlier YLT track called Alyda.

Where they fail (I believe, although I've heard some Yo La Tengo fans says they love these tracks) is on tracks like Mushroom Cloud of Hiss and Some Kinda Fatigue, where Ira's voice is just angry and shouty and lacks melody. The guitar work is pretty rocking ... Read More: