Camp Yo La Tengo [Single]

Yo La Tengo | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 27, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Single
• Label: Matador Records
• ASIN: B0000036V8
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #261,046 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

1 Blue Line Swinger 3:45 2 Tom Courtenay 3:09 Recorded By - Mark Guenther 3 Can't Seem To Make You Mine 3:24 Written-By - Sky Saxon 4 Mr. Ameche Plays The Stranger 9:27

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars what a beautiful camp, in deed, June 16, 2001

By 

ASO (South America, not Minn.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Camp Yo La Tengo (Audio CD)

Camp Yo La Tengo includes 2 great songs from Electr-o-Pura. The version on Tom Courtenay is excellent. With only four songs this recording makes go for different camp-fire-moods and keeps you looking for stars. The fourth, although simple, is one of the best songs I've heard. I mean it. Inside the E.P. the text says "Sun, shine on Camp Yo La Tengo PLEASE!". I hope the sun keeps waiting. And the clear night a little bit longer.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good retakes of album cuts and some mediocre b-sides., October 7, 2008

By 

Michael Stack (North Chelmsford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Camp Yo La Tengo (Audio CD)

"Camp Yo La Tengo" is effectively the second single from Yo La Tengo's Electr-O-Pura album, featuring an remixed edit of album track "Blue Line Swinger" with a trio of b-sides: a re-recording of first single Tom Courtenay, a cover of '60s garage rockers The Seeds' "Can't Seem to Make You Mine", and unreleased original "Mr. Ameche Plays the Stranger".

"Blue Line Swinger" gets quite an intriguing rework, turning itself from the 9 minute plus workout into a three and a half minute single anchored by an over-the-top brilliant solo by guitarist Ira Kaplan. While I'm normally not in love with edits, this one is fantastic, although the oddball synth coda I could have done without. And speaking of reworks, what a change on "Tom Courtenay"-- the original lived off of layered distorted guitars and a great vocal from Kaplan, this retake is driven by acoustic guitars and a vocal by drummer Georgia Hubley. While I prefer the album cut on this one, it's a nice retake and helps really illustrate the band's strengths in versatility.

"Can't Seem to Make You Mine" is pretty expendable-- a pretty straight rock sound (something I never really saw Yo La Tengo excelling at), it's listenable but not terribly exciting, though Kaplan gets a nice solo in the coda of the piece. "Mr. Ameche Plays the Stranger" is one of the more bizarre pieces in the band's catalog-- built off a clean tone guitar riff and a gentle percussion line, it uses sampled vocals in almost unintelligible fashion, setting quite a mood, but I see the piece as more an ambient cut than a pop performance. It's a decent piece, but not anything to get excited about.

"Camp Yo La Tengo" is a decent EP and worth tracking down for fans. Anyone more casual can probably skip this one.