Yo La Tengo – Prisoners of Love: A Smattering of Scintillating Senescent Songs 1985-2003

Yo La Tengo
Prisoners of Love: A Smattering of Scintillating Senescent Songs 1985-2003

There likely has never been and never will be a band like Yo La Tengo. Over 20 years of making music, the core duo of Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley – along with other musicians, most often James McNew – has shifted gears from folk to jangly alt-rock to more experimental synth-driven pop and somehow never got any worse for wear, a feat that few other bands would even attempt. And perhaps as well known for its ability to try anything, cover any band, and play tremendous shows, Yo La Tengo has proven with 13 full-length albums to be one of the most consistent and reliably brilliant bands never to really achieve the renown it deserves.

The question is, of course, why Yo La Tengo never received that renown. Even my friend who most loves the band wasn’t aware they musicians were toiling together since 85. It’s curious that acts like Sonic Youth got such major label support, while Yo La Tengo wasn’t ever able to fully live up to mainstream success. In truth, I found the band in the mid-90s and thought it a fun alt-rock project, then rediscovered them in the early 2000s as a synth-pop band, and my own knowledge of the breadth of Yo La Tengo’s catalog remained limited until Matador’s worthy collection of, as the title says, scintillating senescent songs.

Released as either a two-disc or three-disc set, it’s clear who this album is intended for. The two-disc collection is a mish-mash of 26 songs that truly explore the range of Yo La Tengo, mixing in new tracks and old. And wonderfully, it doesn’t just take from the band’s more well-known “hits,” instead plucking out favorites along with lesser-known gems. Some of my favorite Yo La Tengo songs are here, from the crunchy mid-90s rock of “Sugarcube” to the dreamy “Little Eyes,” the soothing synthy “Our Way to Fall,” the absolutely brilliant and bouncy “You Can Have it All,” the dreamy slow-core “Pablo and Andrea, the sad and somber “Tears are in Your Eyes,” and the wonderful pop song “By the Time it Gets Dark.” And I also am able to scour the band’s back catalogue to find great songs like the wonderful, almost shoegazey pop of “Barnaby, Hardly Working,” the Dylan meets Dinosaur Jr. song “Stockholm Syndrome,” the edgy shoegazey brilliance of “From a Motel 6,” the playful 90s pop of “Tom Courtenay,” the gorgeous organ-led “Autumn Sweater,” and the Pixies-styled “Drug Test.” The only flaw is the ordering, which mixes tracks with no apparent order, therefore not allowing new fans to hear and appreciate the natural progression of the band’s style and instead making an incohesive flow.

The third disc, itself titled A Smattering of Outtakes and Rarities, proves that even a cast-off Yo La Tengo song is far and away better than most bands. With 16 songs, this album offers old fans the unique and new listens they’ve been craving, with new songs and new versions of old ones. The fuzzed out, lo-fi “Pencil Test” shows the band’s sweet indie tendencies, and “Almost True” could become my favorite Yo La Tengo song yet. “Bad Politics” is a noisy punk-rock mess, while “Blue-Green Arrow” is a somber, ethereal dream-pop instrumental, one right after the other to show off the band’s versatility. The cover of “Dreams” in full Sonic Youth-esque fuzz-out rock is fun, and Kevin Shields’ remix of “Autumn Sweater” is impressive as expected. And the closer, “Magnet,” is a fun pop song with a strong alt-country vibe.

There’s no arguing Yo La Tengo’s presence in indie rock, influencing a slew of bands and parlaying its own influences into unique and varying approaches as the decades passed. Every time I listen to this lengthy and perfect offering, I find new songs to like, new tracks to adorn mixes, new demonstrations of the band’s talent. In fact, Prisoners of Love is perfect for fans like me who may have a few albums and know of the band’s legacy but who are not aware of all the band has to offer and may be intimidated by a vast expanse of work to collect. And with the rarities disc, even tried-and-true fans have something to enjoy.