----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Bennett" <mrhonorama@ameritech.net>
> This release has made me realize that I need to get me
> a Yo La Tengo record -- any recommendations (and
> please explain why)?

Generally, PAINFUL and ELECTROPURA are considered the pinnacle.  YLT 
grew up in public for a much longer period than most bands (their 1986 
album RIDE THE TIGER barely even sounds like the band they became, and 
Ira Kaplan is shamelessly pillaging Lou Reed's solo records for his 
vocal style) and while their early records -- which is everything 
through 1992's MAY I SING WITH ME, the first album by the stable trio 
incarnation of Ira, Georgia and James -- have much to offer once 
you're familiar with the band, I don't recommend starting with them. 
PAINFUL and ELECTROPURA are the albums on which they finally perfected 
their sound, and really, every subsequent album has been a kind of 
refining process.

If you're looking for one over the other...man, that's a tough call. 
PAINFUL is a more consistently great album, and it has two landmark 
YLT recordings, "From A Motel 6" and the closing instrumental "I Heard 
You Looking."  ELECTROPURA is a little more experimental and has one 
or two songs that are more interesting sonic experiments than 
satisfying songs, BUT it also has both "Tom Courtenay," which may well 
be their best straightahead pop song ever, and "Blue Line Swinger," 
which to my mind is all of the wonderful things about Yo La Tengo 
condensed into nine minutes.  (Recipients of my first SOTT mix some 
years ago might recall "(Thin) Blue Line Swinger," a re-recording 
which turns the gentle little pop song that's at the heart of the 
album version into a stand-alone unit; that's from the now OOP EP 
called CAMP YO LA TENGO.)

Either PAINFUL or ELECTROPURA is worth your time and money.  If you're 
only getting one...I'd say get ELECTROPURA, both because it has the 
two career high points and its somewhat sprawling structure will let 
you gauge just how much further into the oeuvre you want to go.  After 
that, work both forwards (I believe I CAN HEAR THE HEART BEATING AS 
ONE would be next) and backwards (MAY I SING WITH ME and before) until 
you get bored.

S