Yo La Tengo "Prisoners of Love" (Matador)
By Caroline Bermudez
Monday. Jun 13, 2:05 AM
The best and the rarest from indie dependables.

As far as compilations go, Prisoners of Love isn’t particularly revelatory even with a third disc of outtakes, demos, and rarities. But then again, exceedingly rare is the retrospective collection that actually does shed new light on a band’s or musician’s work. All griping aside about the lack of chronological order, Prisoners of Love is a good primer for fans who are new to Yo La Tengo or who are casual listeners. The compilation, like the band, is consistent and filled with noisy, well-crafted pop/rock nuggets. Culling material from all their albums except for their first release, 1986’s Ride the Tiger, the set includes the usual crowd pleasers (“Big Day Coming,” “Sugarcube,” “Autumn Sweater,” and “You Can Have it All”); displays of guitarist Ira Kaplan’s trademark feedback-drenched soloing (“From a Motel 6,” “Swing For Life”); somnolent, dreamy pop featuring the gentle crooning of Kaplan and wife/drummer Georgia Hubley (“Little Eyes,” ‘Our Way to Fall,” “Pablo and Andrea,” “Tears Are in Your Eyes,” and “By the Time it Gets Dark”); instrumentals and jams (“I Heard You Looking,” “Blue Line Swinger,” “Stay Away From Heaven,” and “Blue-Green Arrow); and folky acoustic numbers (“Did I Tell You,” “The River of Water,” “The Summer,” “Decora,” and “Magnet”). The last part of disc two drags a bit with the too long “Blue Line Swinger” and the extended, jazz-inflected protest song “Nuclear War (Version 1),” but this is a minor complaint amidst the high quality of music largely present on Prisoners of Love. Again, the third disc doesn’t offer much in the way of surprises, but worth checking out is a remix of “Autumn Sweater” by My Bloody Valentine mastermind Kevin Shields. It’s the closest thing Yo La Tengo have to a club-worthy song with its electronic drum effects.

Quieter than thrash rock bands and louder than most pop acts, Yo La Tengo have achieved a happy medium in its 20 years of existence. You are well-advised to pick up a copy of one of their best albums Painful or I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One, but Prisoners of Love is certainly not a bad place to start.
www.yolatengo.com
www.matadorrecords.com

Caroline Bermudez

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