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| From | "Stewart Mason" <craigtorso@verizon.net> |
| Subject | Re: Yo La Tengo |
| Date | Fri, 19 Nov 2004 00:19:38 -0500 |
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Durben, Steven" <Steven.Durben@cignabehavioral.com>
> I have only one disc by them and that is "Fakebook". My
> understanding is
> that it is unlike most or all of their other discs. It's mostly
> covers and
> is much quieter and more straight songs through out. I think it's a
> very
> nice disc but I have not listened to it in a long time. Covers of
> "You Tore
> Me Down", "Here Comes My Baby", "Speeding Motorcycle" (I don't know
> the
> original but a cool song), "Andulacia" and more. So, I'm not one to
> give a
> recommendation other then this is a fine one.
"Speeding Motorcycle" is by Daniel Johnston, one of those artists I
have an uneasy relationship with. Johnston's mental health is
persistently fragile, and most of his songs have a bizarre childlike
"outsider" quality to them; as a result, during his first period of
notoriety in his hometown of Austin in the '80s, there was a large
subset of his audience who was quite openly laughing at the retard and
his goofy little songs. The thing is, many of his songs ("Speeding
Motorcycle" being one of the best) are really quite good, albeit
bizarre and primitive, pop songs; like Syd Barrett or Roky Erickson,
Daniel Johnston has actual musical abilities that he would still have
even if he wasn't mentally ill, but unfortunately, he also (like
Barrett and Erickson) has "fans" who are more interested in the creepy
crazy guy than the musician. (When you get down to it, most of
Johnston's music isn't that much weirder than that of demonstrably
sane people like Robyn Hitchcock or R. Stevie Moore.)
As it happens, the compilation GENIUS + LOVE = YO LA TENGO has an
early '90s radio session with Johnston where they play "Speeding
Motorcycle" live in the studio while he sings the vocals down the
telephone from his house in Texas, which actually works better than
you might expect.
>
> Mainly, I'm curious what you think of it Stewart?
You know, although I'm a huge YLT fan and I've certainly heard
FAKEBOOK several times, I don't actually own a copy! I do like it
just fine, but I much prefer their own albums. They've always had
excellent taste in covers: others include the Bonzo Dog Band's
"Readymades" (!!!!), Love's "A House Is Not A Motel," Antietam's "The
Evil That Men Do" (which they released in three different versions
over two albums!), George McCrae's early disco classic "You Can Have
It All," which they turn into something kind of like Air with guest
vocals by the Cocteau Twins' Liz Fraser, the Beach Boys' "Little
Honda" and Anita Bryant's "My Little Corner of the World," YLT's
version of which we played at our wedding.
> (the female singers voice in YLT is that of a sweet goddess)
One of the things that's happened since PAINFUL is that Georgia's
voice has been getting increasingly soft and wispy. She's practically
in Astrud Gilberto territory at this point.
S
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