1986-2002 Prisoners Of Love [Best of]

Yo La Tengo is my favorite band. I own their first LP, Ride the Tiger, on vinyl (the rest of my collection is on CD). I've also seen them live about six times, and each show is different from the other (one show, in fact, was of them playing improvisational background music for a psychedelic light show). In fact, with Yo La Tengo, while some things - like the overall quality of their music, well demonstrated on Prisoners of Love, stays constant, other things - particularly their pioneering and experimentation-prone spirit - show constant growth and dynamism. Great musicians - be they the Who, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Miles Davis, the Kinks, and Elvis Costello - all showed this dualistic quality. Just like Yo La Tengo.

What to say about this compilation? Essentially, it represents all the different phases of the band's career, from their start in the mid 80s as a slightly folky, sort of bouncy and quirky post new-wave rock act (along the lines of such bands as the Feelies, Bongoes, and DBs), to the bliss of their early 90s shoegazer phase (somewhat reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine and others), to various later melodic/sound experiments. What's also cool is that the songs are in no particular stylistic or chronological order. They're just there, and if the listener doesn't necessarily like the order, s/he can rearrange it (for me, though, it works just fine). Anyway, listening to these tracks, one hears various songs (Sugarcube, Big Day Coming, Lewis) in which the band rocks out. Others (Did I Tell You, Our Way to Fall, Autumn Sweater, etc.) are softer and quieter, and nicely balance things out.

As far as the Title - Prisoners of Love - I've thought about what it means, and I think that it is quite apt. It shows the kind of quirky, ironic humor the band is known for (their very name - associated with the haplessness and miscommunication of the 1962 NY Mets - is another example of this). However, there is also something more serious. Yo La Tengo is very much about love - for one another, for music, and for life. They must then see themselves as "prisoners" to this love, i.e., simply accepting it, warts and all, and going with it, allowing themselves to see where it takes them.

One last comment; The outtakes and rarities disk is really worth having. Much of it is of alternate takes on various songs they've recorded and released elsewhere, and in listening to these, one gets an even further sense of the pioneering and experimental spirit of a truly dynamic band. It also shows their willingness to cover everything from well known rock icons (like Stevie Nicks) to bands much more obscure than themselves (the Dead C anyone?) and to give their coverage that unique Yo La Tengo touch.

May they keep leading a path for indie rock for 20 more years!

For a newbie to YLT (myself included), this Collection is a great sampler (at a Great Price!) of the Band's Indie-Rock genius. However, given Ira's well documented Music Critic/Record Geek credentials, how come there's no notes in the accompanying booklet as to which tracks belong to which Lp's? Surely the folks at MATADOR could've kidnapped some slovenly Intern from Sub-Pop or Drag City to help out with some more Fleshed-Out Background Info for us, the uninitiated.

Worth it for the bonus disk alone! The third disk of rarities plays as good as any of Yo La Tengo's best albums (do we still call them albums anymore?). It flows from one song to the next, each song a standout on their own, the sum of it's parts (tunes, instrumentation, slow songs, fast songs, and a large dose of guitar blasts) works so well. My only complaint is the cardboard slipcase enclosing the three disks is so tight I could barely get the CD cases out, even more difficult to get the CD's back in the darned thing! The two CD best of plays just as well - this could be as much a contender for Desert Island Disk as Hear The Sound of Two Hearts Beating.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 14 reviews  4.4 out of 5 stars