Customer Reviews

Strange But True

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Pop Kulcher Review: While I'm a dedicated fan of Yo La Tengo (in my opinion, the most exciting band of the 1990's), I put off buying this 1998 side-project. The album features YLT backing the vocals of Jad (David) Fair, part of the art/punk band Half-Japanese, whose nasal, semi-spoken oddities I've always found amusing but somewhat irritating. But the album is much better than it should be. Rather than tossing off some half-baked background music, YLT actually compose some tight, concise little numbers, which fully realize their wide range of styles, from quiet acoustic folkiness to upbeat power guitar rock to full-on sonic chaos. And Fair's lyrics -- essentially a series of rhyming vignettes based on what appear to be National Enquirer headlines -- are at least amusing. His little-boy spoken-word approach is somewhere between indie-icon Daniel Johnston (another YLT collaborator, of sorts) and iconoclastic bands like Ween and They Might be Giants. Sure, I would have preferred to hear YLT's vocals on top of the music, but for a novelty side-project it's relatively fun, and further confirmation of YLT's status as one of the most consistently entertaining and innovative bands around. I'd even offer up the straightforward buzzsaw guitar rocker "Texas Man Abducted By Aliens For Outer Space Joy Ride" (in which Fair comes closest to actually singing) as an essential part of the YLT catalog. On the downside, Fair's vocals do annoy over the course of an entire album, so this is best enjoyed in small bites.

For some, the combination of indie rock idiot savant Jad Fair and the deservedly beloved Yo La Tengo might be a match made in heaven. Given the abrasive and atonal musical possibilities explored by both artists in the past, "Strange But True" could have been an epic summit of avant-garde noise. But it's not.

Instead, it's a charming, minor story-song album that you could almost play for children. Jad Fair talks his way through his odd little pseudo-tabloid tales--all self-descriptively named, such as "Helpful Monkey Helps Wallpaper Entire Home" and "Ohio Town Saved from Killer Bees by Hungry Vampire Bats." (For all I know, these are REAL headlines from things like the Weekly World News, and Fair just invented lyrics for the titles.) It's cute (sweet, even), innocent, clever, and nothing you'd want to hear more than a few times.

Yo La Tengo's involvement is to provide the musical soundtrack to these narrations, and they do a wonderful job, providing a diverse selection of atmospheric backings in their various styles (Fair honks along on sax on a couple of tracks). The album was recorded around the time of "Electr-O-Pura," and you can hear a couple musical ideas from that album turn up here too. Many of the tracks are so good that it's a shame they don't feature YLT songs sung by Ira and Georgia.

Jad Fair is an acquired taste and his fans will no doubt like this. YLT diehards will have to have it just to hear another 40 minutes of music from their heroes. And, as I said earlier, clever children might even enjoy it. But on the whole, "Strange But True" is destined to become a forgotten novelty.

Yo La Tengo fans should beware; this album is not exactly what they might expect.

I give this 2 stars for a certain curiosity factor and for the kinda wacky lyrics, but in terms of music and production, this is a far cry from other Yo La Tengo albums. "Weak" sounds like an understatement.

Even though the music is credited to YLT, this is much more of a Jad Fair album. Their musical talents hardly shine through as the production is a devil-may-care kind of lo-fi, the songs rarely extend beyond 2 minutes and seem mere fragmented vehicles to transport Fair's jumbled vocals. A major disappointment.

Yo La Tengo's music here is lazy, but Jad Fair's decision to recite joke lyrics written by his brother David is what really kills this record. David's songs sound like they were written by a 12-year-old -- all obvious rhymes and stupid punchlines. It's ghastly.

As other reviewers have said, "Yo La Tengo fans beware!" Half-Japanese/Jad & David Fair fans will be delighted, however, to have their favorite odd-ball lyricist (I believe David Fair wrote most of the lyrics) and lo-fi songwriting master (perhaps outside of Daniel Johnston) backed-up by some of the premier instrumentalists of the 90's. This album is a gem-- Yo La Tengo's beautiful complexity and precision juxtaposed with Fair's from-the-guts-spontaneity, which has always sounded like a teenager recording songs on a bedroom boombox. It's a long way from Yo La Tengo's usual eerily-soft and clouded vocals and with Fair taking over we're forced to see both teams from a different perspective: Yo La Tengo comes out sounding more angular and grating, Jad Fair more introspective, but only by virtue of the new contrast-- all players remain themselves, as freely and creatively as ever.

But all my praises notwithstanding, the album remains a great experiment but hardly a masterpiece. Essential, maybe, to Jad Fair fans but probably a novelty to Yo La Tengo listeners who may not have the taste for beauty-in-ugliness aesthetic that appreciation for Half-Japanese has always required.

I'm a huge YLT fan but can't really get into Jad Fair. I bought the CD used, because I couldn't not own it. I would much rather have this one as a collection of YLT instrumentals, a la Genius + Love. But the novelty of the funny titles wears off fast and Jad's vocals are just plain annoying most of the time. I can live with the fact that my favorite band in the world is just as marketing-savvy as anyone on MTV, and I'll buy everything they put out, but let's hope that they stick to what they do best.

This CD is pure enjoyment. With the always great musical stylings of Yo La Tengo, and the hillarious lyrics of Jad Fair it can't be beat!

. . .jad fair's cutesy contrivances are so utterly unclever and outright annoying that they make this unlistenable. would the music stand alone as instrumentals (a la the infinitely superior 'genius + love')? i really can't say because i can't get past jad's pretensions (they're not even original; they were supposedly clipped from tabloid headlines). i saw this performed live and was so upset that i couldn't listen to any yo la tengo albums for weeks afterwards. however, if you're into jad, or think live introductions like "this is a song about a circus strongman who runs for pta president. it's called circus strongman runs for pta president'" are scintillating, then go for it.

I edit my old review, having revalued this Fair/YLT release. After repeated listenings I hold it to be actually a pretty good Fair record. One of the better of the era in which it was recorded (1994-96). I would also agree with those seeing this album as a mainly Jad Fair production, with YLT backing up Fair in his lo-fi esse, and as such it should be recommended to his fans. And, yes, one has to appreciate the kinda "weird" aestethics to see the greatness of this album. I would upgrade my stars to four if it was possible, but it isn't.