Electro-O-Pura

Another wonderful gem of an album by the fantastic YLT

Pitched right at the heart of their golden period – between 1993’s Painful and 1997’s I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One – 1995’s Electr-O-Pura has a valid claim, alongside ‘Heart’, to being Yo La Tengo’s most diverse, consistently outstanding set of songs (… whilst also not forgetting 2006’s mega-album, I Am Not Afraid Of You….). Electr-O-Pura once again shows up this band as being the most adept (since the Velvets) at pitching a sublime ballad up against an anarchic wall of guitar noise (sometimes within a single song) and coming up trumps. Ira Kaplan gives us ‘his tender’, vocal-wise, on The Hour Grows Late whilst his ‘other half’, Georgia Hubley, does likewise on the beautiful Don’t Say A Word (Hot Chicken #2) and Pablo and Andrea – the latter song, however, morphing into a powerful Kaplan guitar solo which is a pointer for much of the rest of the album. So, following the powerful, hook-filled album opener, Decora, we variously get Flying Lesson (Hot Chicken #1), (Straight Down To The) Bitter End and My Heart’s Reflection, all songs whose conventional rhythms and melodies are eventually undone by Kaplan’s dissonant guitar, whilst the atonal noise assault of Attack On Love puts paid to any notion of bland romanticism (this is a band that generally 'don’t do lyrics’)!If the journey’s been interesting, the destination is something on an altogether different plane, as we get to the near-10 minute masterpiece that is Blue Line Swinger. Infectious and all-consuming doesn’t really convey the song’s impact, with James McNew’s organ intro, Georgia’s initially stuttering drum beat and, as the pace steps up, ultimately the unleashing of Ira’s mega, bluesy guitar jam, but all with an unforgettable underlying melody. Etched deep in my memory is Kaplan’s virtuoso, indulgent (obviously!) 10 (or was it 15?) minute solo when I saw this live, building to a Sister Ray-like intensity, right up there with similar live performances on I Heard You Looking and The Story Of Yo La Tango. It has to be seen to be believed! Blue Line Swinger is, of course, a live favourite (usually an encore) as is the other ‘most famous’ (and very poppy) song here, the wonderful Tom Courtney. This is the band’s take on showbiz celebrity, namedropping Julie Christie, Courtney’s co-star in Billy Liar, plus Macca and Eleanor Bron (who featured in the Fab Four’s film Help!). The song is a quite rare example of the band 'giving something away’ in their lyrics as well as showing their appreciation of all things cultural. Remember, this is a band who have covered (I would contend) live more songs by other artists than any other band – for example, for The Beatles this includes Help!, From Me To You, Eight Days A Week, One After 909, I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party, Birthday, Flying, It’s All Too Much, Not A Second Time and Rain. Simply amazing!

This album is how I discovered, back in 1995, what would become most probably my favorite band, or certainly one of my favourites...see them live if you can, because they're verging on jazz nad pop lately...that's what you get for knowing each other for so long...you become one.Back to 'electr-o-pura'- It came after 'Painful', where they hinted the road they were to embark upon..here its set...this is the record that set their sound, or new sound if you like...'Decora' is the song My Bloody Valentine never managed to write, 'Flying lesson' is a monologue of despair, with one of the most melodically apt guitar riffs to ever end a song...There's sweet ballads as well, and that's a recurrence of most YLT albums, that's why they balance so well...one minute your rocking and nodding onto a hypnotic rhythm driven piece and the next you're being cuddled in a warm (love) folk ballad by Georgia Hubley's tender voice and essential melodic guitar by Ira Kaplan's phrasing, such as in 'Pablo and Andrea'.'my heart's reflection'..or ' Don't say a word'.... check out an alternate version of 'Tom Courtenay' on the single as well. 'Blue line swinger' ends the album, and it is a great track... building up in a drone -hear it live and see what I mean.I'm a sucker for this band and I can't help myself; I never, ever get tired of them, they never repeat themselves, live they are amazing and more than anything they improve with time. They are focused yet playful, tense and intimate, melodic, never banal, touching and cinematic. If you don't know them you are missing out on one of the best american bands of the last 20 years, and I really mean that, so buy this, buy 'fakebook', and buy one of the last 2 albums. If you have a chance, see them live.

while perhaps not the absolute best by Yo La Tengo, it is a very good album. There are some fantastic moments, such as 'false alarm' with it's spiky organ attacks, the beautiful 'don't say a word' and the epic 'blue line swinger'. Bizzarely, many of the track times on the reverse are totally wrong, with many tracks clocking in at three times what it says on the back, while some are exactly right. don't let this put you off though.

I find this album frustrating as it has some of yo la tengo's best work but as an album i feel it doesnt play as well as 'i can hear the haert beating as one'.Basically if you are into the 'tengo' - buy this for 'Tom Courtney' and 'Blue Line Swinger.Tom C is an abosolute pop gem - very beatles esque - with some great sketchy guitar work too - this is such a joyous catchy song i dont know how people cannot sing a long to the'bop-da-da.. bop-bop.. ba da-da da-da' of the chorus.and 'blue line swinger' is a 10 min jam that nicely builds up from a keyboard drone and occasional drumbeat into a full on tune drench in humming bass, seering feedback from the guitar and water tight drumming.i love the way the drum beat keeps teasing the listener into thinking that the next time round the song will explode into the main theme but keeps circling round until it finally unleashes it self into a cool uptempo beat.Another good song is 'my hearts reflection' which is an indication to the direction that they would be taking later in their career, where atmosphere and resonate bass often take over wild feedback and heavy drumming.however there are few tracks that dont really do anything and let the album down.but any fans of sonic youth, sugar, my bloody valentine or anything just that little bit different should definately check ou the above tracks.