Favorite (not Best) Yo La Tengo Album

when i was in college and picked up ylt i never developed much interest in the records before 'painful', and a while after that even put aside the ones after 'nothing' (iirc because 'summer sun' just turned me off so badly). but for some reason i came to listen to 'heart' and 'electropura' regularly ever since, and kind of stopped with 'painful'. i don't know why.

the only albums of theirs I care about anymore are heart, electropura, and painful.

i wouldn't say i don't care about the rest, but yeah those three are on a different level

their best record is IANAOYAIWBYA

their entire 90s run is golden for me. everything else is silver.

The run of MISWM - Shaker - Painful - Electr-O-Pura is unfuckwithable, but those records barely hint at how overwhelming their mid-90s live shows were. I still remember my first YLT show (early 1994) like it was yesterday. It felt like what I imagine seeing the Who in late '68 must have been like: they had nothing to lose, everything to gain, and every possible risk was taken.

Painful

PAinful is the most thoughtfully written, most consistent, and best sequenced record YLT ever made or probably will ever make. I just love the record to pieces.

it is and will always be Ride the Tiger for me. first heard of them that year (guh, 37 years ago!) via the old legal-sized, stapled CMJs, (whom i’d fooled repeatedly into sending me copies for free) and somehow stumbled on a cut-out copy. i have *very* fond memories of falling asleep while it spun on my crappy panasonic all-in-one stereo — “alrock’s bells” and “living in the country” were especially peaceful as teenage me drifted off to sleep. sophomore year of college i got ira and georgia to sign that copy. ira was like “look at what this guy has!” as he passed it over to georgia. i keep meaning to track down dave schramm to send the cover to him for a signature. love it so much.

i still have a painful! bookmark. i only use it on the best books