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New Jersey indie three-piece Yo La Tengo take a pause from making extraordinary new records to release a collection of some of the best music they’ve released in the past.

Prisoners Of Love: A Smattering Of Scintillating Senescent, by Yo La Tengo

"One of rock’s last true visionary bands." - USA Today.

New Jersey based indie rockers Yo La Tengo (Spanish for "I've got it!"): husband and wife creative team Ira Kaplan (guitar and singing, occasional drums) and Georgia Hubley (drums, singing, occasional guitar), together with multi-instrumentalist James McNew, have been responsible for some of the most innovative recordings of the last two decades. Now – as if their substantial back catalogue, vast reputation and amazing live shows weren’t proof enough – they’ve gone and released arguably the first absolutely essential compilation of the 21st Century.

Combining lyrical wit and musical experimentation reminiscent of The Kinks, the band’s instrument swapping on stage, eclectic cover versions and astonishing original material are a constant reminder of the sheer quality to be found in contemporary music. Now Matador Records have released this monumental collection of the best of those recordings – so if you’ve missed them the first time round, now’s the time to catch up!

The last few years have seen the band performing a co-headlining show with Calexico, at London's Somerset House and a stint showing the latest generation of bands how it really is done on the New Stage at this year’s Glastonbury Festival. As if that wasn’t endorsement enough from the musical establishment, Ira, Georgia and James could also be seen peering out from the cover of The Wire magazine – as well as playing a blistering four date headlining tour of the UK, with Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci.

A Little History Lesson

Since the bands’ founding in 1984, Yo La Tengo has released over a dozen sprawling albums, a myriad of EP's and singles comprising of audacious guitar rock, combining lyrical wit and musical experimentation in a way uniquely their own.

Some standouts in the bands’ long list of releases – including many featured on this new collection – are: 1987's New Wave Hot Dogs, 1989's President Yo La Tengo, 1990's Fakebook, 1992's EP That Is Yo La Tengo 1996's brilliant Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo and the excellent I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One in 1997.

Velvet Underground

In 1984 the band started out, with Ira and Georgia and various other musicians, until James McNew – who occasionally records under the name Dump - joined their ranks to offer a bit more singing – and a lot more bass playing – to the mix.

By January 2000 the groups’ tenth album And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out was unleashed to the world. The world heard it, loved it and fell in love with the band that had made it.

In 2001, the band gave us And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out; a sprawling, drone pop symphony that picked exactly where I Can Hear The Heart Beating As Oneleft off. Yo La Tengo always seems to be a step ahead of the game. Then again, this is the band that has been compared so frequently to the Velvet Underground - for their eclecticism, their adventurous sounds – and (a bit lazily) for their Moe Tucker-ish drummer - that they played the legendary group in the 1996 film I Shot Andy Warhol.

By this time Yo La Tengo had been making records that had dipped in and out of different styles making their back catalogue some of the most exciting and varied works ever to be recorded. Their music darts between blindingly exquisite pop songs, blisteringly intense wall-of-noise feed-back and good old fashioned punk rock. Live you see the band swap around their instruments, with Ira sometimes shedding the guitar to slam the organ, or Georgia leaving the drums and fiddling with a drum machine, or James putting down his bass and taking up extra percussion.

Melodic

With the release of Summer Sun (2003) the band continued the melodic directions that defined much of their previous album. The record was more homogenous in sound, relying on sixties pop tunes, Hawaiian guitars and swooping, textured melodies to create an upbeat and beautiful collage. The out-and-out experimentation of the bands’ later releases - such as the Sun Ra Nuclear War 12” (one track from which is featured here) and mail order projection soundtrack The Sounds of The Sounds of Science - are virtually abandoned on Summer Sun and only appear occasionally in song finales.

"A Beautiful, Fragile Record"

When the groups’ 2003 long-player Summer Sun came out Mojo magazine called it: "A beautiful, fragile record that demands your full attention, then pays back dividends." Even The Guardian got excited enough to say: "decades from now, kids will still be hunting down the Yo La Tengo back catalogue and trying to imagine how great they must have been live." That statement could apply just as easily to the new collection – so varied is the quality of album tracks long-term fans have come to expect from the band. Incidentally, there’s a look at the foot of this page at the back catalogue that The Guardians’ ‘kids’ will be out searching for.

The collection features too many stand out tracks to mention here (just take a look at the track listing below to see what we mean). Aside from the ‘rarities’ third disc, there’s the delights of a cover of the Sandy Denny British folk classic By The Time It Gets Dark (originally from the Little Honda EP), the romance and simplicity of former single Autumn Sweater and – the albums killer -: Sugarcube. Originally from the I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One – as a version that sweeps majestically out of, then back into the tracks on either side on the album, this song is one that most bands would pay dearly to have at their disposal. Romance, guitars, a monster tune, this track has it all. Marvellous stuff.

The full track listing for the monster three-disc version of Prisoners Of Love: A Smattering of Scintillating Senescent, looks like this:

Disc 1

1. Shaker
2. Sugarcube
3. Barnaby, Hardly Working
4. Little Eyes
5. Stockholm Syndrome
6. Our Way To Fall
7. From A Motel 6
8. Swing For Life
9. Tom Courtenay
10. Lewis
11. I Heard You Looking
12. You Can Have It All
13. Did I Tell You

Disc 2

1. The River of Water
2. Autumn Sweater
3. Big Day Coming
4. Pablo And Andrea
5. Drug Test
6. Season of The Shark
7. Upside Down
8. The Summer
9. Tears Are In Your Eyes
10. Blue Line Swinger
11. The Story of Jazz
12. Nuclear War
13. By The Time It Gets Dark

Disc 3 (only included in limited edition slip-case version)

1. Stay Away From Heaven
2. Pencil Test
3. Almost True
4. Tom Courtenay (Acoustic version)
5. Big Day Coming (Demo version)
6. Dreaming
7. Bad Politics
8. Blue Green Arrow
9. Decora (Acoustic version)
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 – a selected discography

Mish Moshi Moshi
Ride The Tiger (Coyote/City Slang) 1986 & (Matador) 1997
New Wave Hot Dogs (Coyote/City Slang) 1987 & (Matador) 1997
President Yo La Tengo (Coyote/City Slang) 1989
Fakebook (Bar None) 1990
May I Sing With Me (Alias) 1992
Painful (Matador) 1993
Electr-O-Pura (Matador) 1995
Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo. Ace compilation of rarities - double LP and CD (Matador) 1996
I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One double LP/ CD (Matador) 1997
And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (Matador) 2000
The Sounds Of The Sounds Of Science (mail order only)
Merry Christmas from Yo La Tengo (mail order only)
Summer Sun LP/CD (Matador)
Today Is The Day: The Music of Yo La Tengo (EP)
Prisoners Of Love: A Smattering Of Scintillating Senescent CD only (Matador) 2005
I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass (2006)

See also on Lifestyle:

Is Today Their Day? - Heaven may just be a six-track EP that serves as both an epilogue - and intro to - one of 2003’s most ambitious albums...

A Happening Beat - Olympia Washington’s Beat Happening come crashing through with a mammoth 7-CD box set retrospective: Crashing Through.

For more information on Yo La Tengo, visit the band's official website: www.yolatengo.com

Prisoners of Love: A Smattering Of Scintillating Senescent is available now as a two and three disc package, from Matador records. Summer Sun and the Today Is The Day: The Music of Yo La Tengo EP are also still available, as is the majority of the bands’ back catalogue.

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