" You remind me where I don't want to be" -- the ELECTR-O-PURA by Yo La Tengo poll

"Tom C" is p much my fave YLT song

tom c is a good song but

TS: Yo La Tengo's "I Heard You Looking" vs Yo La Tengo's "Blue Line Swinger"

"Blue Line Swinger." There's a shorter acoustic version on a different record, "(Thin) Blue Line Swinger," and that's great too.

Blue Line Swinger
Robert Rauschenberg, 1991
http://www.geminigel.com/images/img_enlarge/00656006.jpg

Pablo and Andrea
Robert Frank, 1959
http://www.christies.com/lotfinderimages/d46567/d4656774r.jpg

Prince's Hot Chicken Shack
123 Ewing Dr.
Nashville, TN 37207
(615) 226-9442
est. circa 1930
http://www.southernfoodways.org/assets/Nashville-Eats_Princes-Hot-Chicken_Andre-Jeffries.jpg
http://theeatenpath.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/princes-hot-chicken-half-chicken-medium-nashville-tn_02.jpg

Billy Liar
1963 dir. John Schlesinger
Starring Tom Courtenay & Julie Christie
http://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/release_boxshots/716-eccee8684709a9f0cbb0c6ae0d7c7f37/121_box_348x490_original.jpg

Red Buckets
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y2PHt7KqOCs/UNvU6lxoriI/AAAAAAAAA40/gtTSINDWI44/s640/RB_1st.jpg
(1982-1985, Philadephia PA)
http://tapewrecks.blogspot.com/2013/01/red-buckets-cover-your-eyes.html

Blue Line Swinger is my favorite song of all time

"(Straight Down To The) Bitter End" is both a lyric from song #8 "False Alarm" and the title of song #11 whose chorus borrows heavily from Eno's "St. Elmo's Fire", which happens to be a song that Georgia and Ira performed backing vocals on Mac McCaughan's cover of it earlier in 1995.

Haha my post itt mirrors my post in the thread mookie linked to exactly xp

Blue Line Swinger is a favorite for the YLT poll in a few months and my favorite EOP track, my second favorite would be Pablo and Andrea.

^that, exactly

Blue Line Swinger, but I don't care much for this album. Always been my least favorite of their 90s records.

Blue Line Swinger is undeniable but I just don't want to listen to it all that often.
I always want to listen to Tom Courtney. Probably my all time favourite YLT track, definitely my fav where they rock (it's got buh buh buh's and a guitar solo!). Great video as well.

Blue Line Swinger, but I don't care much for this album. Always been my least favorite of their 90s records.

― EZ Snappin

I don't dislike the album but I've certainly played it most because so many people I know love it. ("Straight Down to the) Bitter End" my pick.

blue line swinger, no question

this album is one of my favorites. even it's flaws are flawless. would probably vote pablo and andrea, but there are so many good ones.

My favorite YLT, and one of my all-time favorites by anyone. That said, their best studio work paled in comparison to their early/mid-90s live shows, which were absolutely scorching. And it's not that their records were lacking in any way; it's that their shows were that good.

Voted "False Alarm."

"I want to send this out to Richie Van..."

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RICHIE-VAN-LP-MY-LITTLE-CORNER-OF-THE-WORLD-/201111315025

"Turned out to be a fake live album--electric guitar, vocal and drum machine recorded in a studio, each song greeted by mismatched applause--allegedly from a (nonexistent?) Florida nightspot, the Deep Jigger Lounge."

"...a weird fake lounge record with real applause after studio recordings, performed with a drum machine. He does 'Joy To The World' which is way off timing wise. It's a very odd record in that try-to-read-the-mind-of-the-musician way."

"Short drive to Dallas. Lizard Lounge has a very small stage, too small for tonight's three-band bill. My head hurts. Too-quiet afternoon walk through deserted, urine-scented Deep Ellum. We do a good soundcheck. Local favorites Trish & Darren are on first, and the audience goes WILD for them!!! Like no exaggerating, legit-type wild. Crowd is pumped!!! We are on next. People really, really do not like us. At all. We bring the room way down, very fast. Most of the people who were up front sat down on the floor. Several of them voiced their opinions of our band. At one particularly quiet moment, one gentleman informed us, "Hey man, y'all suck." Overall it was a blast, I thought we played great. We stood by the t-shirt area while the Juliana Hatfield 3 were on and met several people who claimed to have liked our set. Fight the power. Went somewhere to eat after, Terry was mad, I don't remember why. Great sandwich, though. The woman who checked us into our hotel rooms was at least 6'6", maybe 250 lbs, not an ounce of fat, beautiful long blonde hair. She was the biggest woman I had ever seen in my life."

James McNew tour diary, 2/2/94

Blue Line Swinger!! I had a genuinely transcendent experience when I heard it live. Bitter End close second. Love this album so much!!!

voted "Don't Say a Word", kinda to spread the wealth from TC & BLS, and kinda b/c it's their best vocals. & the organ solo!

so many good songs on this album. Hard to pick considering Tom Courtenay & Blue Line Swinger are on this, but I'm going for Decora. What a great way to start things off.

My favorite YLT, and one of my all-time favorites by anyone. That said, their best studio work paled in comparison to their early/mid-90s live shows, which were absolutely scorching. And it's not that their records were lacking in any way; it's that their shows were that good.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, August 9, 2014 9:00 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Can you recommend good quality bootlegs of some of these shows? Thanks!

There was a pretty good 1993 Paris show on bigozine2.com not too long ago, but it was an abbreviated performance (mainly done for radio broadcast), and didn't really allow them to stretch out.

But for the most part, I haven't really looked for boots, mainly because my memories of YLT shows are so vivid that I wouldn't want them to be sullied.

i agree that the electropura era live shows were fucking stunning -- there was a focus and intensity that has been lacking ever since (not that I haven't seen great shows by them since). just remember being blasted back by things like flying lesson, barnaby hardly working and blue line swinger in 95.
i've listened to plenty of ylt bootlegs but i've yet to find the one from that period that really captures how good it was. it may exist, though!

When I first saw them, in early 1994, I had no idea how good they were live, or even what their live shows were like. The sequence from "Out the Window" to that song's breakdown -- a beautifully tangled skronky mass of feedback and loops -- to "Sudden Organ," rising like a phoenix from the wreckage, is forever burned in my memory. It was like standing in front of a loud sunrise.

I used to get frustrated when I'd run into someone who saw the Who in '68 or so; they'd always say something like, "If I told you how good it was, you wouldn't believe me." But after that YLT show, I knew what they meant.

first and still favorite yo la tengo album, voting blue line swinger but love so many of these tracks

i actually hadn't heard a note of theirs when i got it, just read a lot of buzz. totally blew me away.

There was a pretty good 1993 Paris show on bigozine2.com not too long ago, but it was an abbreviated performance (mainly done for radio broadcast), and didn't really allow them to stretch out.

But for the most part, I haven't really looked for boots, mainly because my memories of YLT shows are so vivid that I wouldn't want them to be sullied.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, August 9, 2014 1:42 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Thank you very much!

This record blew my mind when it came out. Flying Lesson.

i have to vote "Tom Courtenay" because...even if it's not my favorite, i can listen to the whole thing in my head and still smile.

where is the Help! clip of Eleanor Bron saying "I can say no more"?

in a room with the curtains drawn
doot doot doot
doo doo
doo doo doo doo

Pablo and Andrea by miles

Tom C.

Second favorite is likely Pablo and Andrea which sounds to me like an homage to my favorite Love song, Message to Pretty

I lent this album to Dan Channel 6* about 15 years ago and never ever got it back. :-/

*now that is a name that hasn't been mentioned on ILX in a long, long time.

Yeah, xposty, there were some early '90s shows I saw that were just great. Most of the recent YLT sets I've seen - and I've somehow managed to see a few in more recent years without seeking them out - seem to be oddly ... joyless? Ira is a prickly dude anyway, so it's hard to tell.

One of the best shows I ever saw was Eleventh Dream Day at Lounge Ax in maybe 1994, with Ira as second guitarist.

Wow, I'm not sure I had ever heard of the Red Buckets. Did they ever record anything? Sounds great.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Blue Line Swinger for me. One of my all time favourite Yo La Tengo jams. An amazing experience to witness live.

Blue Line Swinger without hesitation

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

patterns of sound are our bag right now

Red Buckets should have more votes; otherwise I agree completely w these results

Voted "False Alarm."

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, August 9, 2014 6:01 AM (3 weeks ago)

same

Aww now I wish I voted for my hearts reflection just to save it from the goose egg

I might like Heart's Reflection more than the rest of the no-vote getters, but I still don't really like it

42 votes for this bodes well for upcoming YLT mega poll. Vegas has installed Blue Line Swinger as the early favorite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eJ4XKVgLMU

The woman who checked us into our hotel rooms was at least 6'6", maybe 250 lbs, not an ounce of fat, beautiful long blonde hair. She was the biggest woman I had ever seen in my life

nice

Thought this revive was due to an anniversary, but that would be PAINFUL which turned 25 y/o today.

will poll immediately

25 years today.

Was the background music to many big decisions I made around then.

Say what you want about YLT, but they were very early on the Nashville hot chicken trend.

Very sentimental album for me. Blue Line Swinger still takes me to another place when I hear it. Happy birthday! 🎉🎈

Nobody wants to have a strict definition of "this is what the band does and this is what the band doesn’t do." Everyone changes as people and we want the group to reflect the changes in our own lives...It doesn’t necessarily change it for the better or change it for the worse, but it certainly changes it and similarly, as one gets older all sorts of things happen to change the role music has in your life and the way you hear it.

I think there was one big watershed moment. As I said, we get together and just play and see what happens... But one of our favorite artists, Jad Fair, from the band Half Japanese, asked us to be his band for a recording and we agreed and then he said, "Do you want to rehearse or do you want to just start recording and see what happens?" We said, "We’ll do what you would you do normally." He said, "I’d just get together and play and see what happens." So we decided to do that and we had a great time doing it. We were really excited by the results and could hear that it was different from things we had done before and I think inspired by that session. That really kind of motivated us to write our own songs that way, too, and just kind of sort of try to pluck the kernel of the song out of the air and then work on it later. The first record we made primarily that way was “Electr-O-Pura” in 1995.

-Ira Kaplan, int. w/ Rolling Stone, 2006

must be that 'strange but true' collab ablum that came out a few years later? Wow, wild to think that played such a big role in their development.

still remember the day i swiped this from my college radio station new bin like it was yesterday

from the liners:

A6* & A8** are based on improvised backing tracks for Jad Fair that were recorded with Fred Brockman at Snack Time North (RIP).

*Pablo & Andrea
**False Alarm

I came a bit late to the YLT party (ca.2001) and loved Painful and I Can Hear the Heart, but this album for some reason never sank in. I think I didn't quite hear the kernels in the songs. I should try again.

Matador has some stuff up for the anniversary reish: https://features.matadorrecords.com/revisionisthistory/lucysessay/

TC vid remastered:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG3VUXBcyt0

Director's commentary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmPhJ1vQ3co

Great homemade video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYRuZvKHSDU

just posted a very sweet two-song half-hour YLT set from 1995 here:
https://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/638947458054062081/yo-la-tengo-shepherds-bush-empire-london

where is the Help! clip of Eleanor Bron saying "I can say no more"?

― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Sunday, August 10, 2014 7:20 AM (six years ago)

https://64.media.tumblr.com/ba2cdee5a2813502f3e9ba1a5b2056e9/tumblr_pdcmzjkDzf1x363moo2_500.gifv

This might be the best thread I ever started to be honest. It's like a 33 1/3 written by a person who only has like 12.75 minutes of free time a day.

(wish the img links hadn't expired... alas)

also nothing against tylerw but this is a way more on-topic live set to post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLMW57_xzzU

why's it more on topic?

The set I posted consists of >50% of Electr-O-Pura songs.

Obviously, I win this round going away: Tyler's YouTube is exactly 50% Electr-O-Pura, yours is >50%, mine is an astounding 100%.

everybody wins

and hey that same youtuber has the YLT middle east gig from the same day ... 1995 YLT is awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cu2-G87MpM

I know I'm in the minority, but this was the first Yo La Tengo album that didn't grab me. I mean, of course it still has a few of my (and everyone's) favorite Yo La Tengo songs on it, but maybe because I loved its three most immediate predecessors so much the stuff on here I didn't love as much stuck out more. Fwiw "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out " is the only post-"Painful" Yo La Tengo album I love in its entirety, though I thought "I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One" covered the shambling, shuffly vibe of "Electr-O-Pura" better than "Electr-O-Pura" did.

painful was my first YLT album, and when Electr o Pura came out it was definitely a "this is my favorite band" moment. and they're still my favorite band!

It's my least favorite of that era -- I have trouble looking at titles and remembering how the songs go -- but, damn what an era.

xpost