And though I, personally, have been a fan of Yo La Tengo’s music for the last eight years, my own personal collection is a bit small. It’s also interesting to compare the band’s early work to their more recent material. It’s great to revisit highlights from classic albums like Electr-O-Pura, I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One and And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out. But on Prisoners of Love, the band’s 20 year retrospective, the music more than speaks for itself. And all of this says a lot about the band, which is refreshing in a haze of rock `n’ roll pretense. They play Hannukah shows, have participated in political events, got a bunch of kids to say “motherfucker” on a Sun Ra cover and have kept the same lineup for the majority of their career.
But you see, what makes Yo La Tengo unique, aside from their undeniably great music, is how likeable they seem as people. It’s just a year or so shy of Sonic Youth and possibly even a year or so longer than Guided by Voices. Take into account that I’ve probably only been aware of them for half the time that they’ve been around, and it’s more understandable, but even if I had been listening all this time (which means I would have had to start listening when I was…uh…four?), that’s a pretty damn good run. It seems quite remarkable that Yo La Tengo has been a band for 20 years.
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