Customer Reviews

Summer Sun

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I gotta confess that it doesn't surprise me people have decided this is The Decline of Yo La Tengo since it rolls back the guitars and the lyrics are more direct. I saw the same exact thing happen with the last two R.E.M. albums. The common logic seems to be that neither band is being true to its original eclectic vision (not that R.E.M. was ever half as eclectic as YLT, wonderful as both bands may be).

My answer is -- what vision? If we're going to hurl these accusations, what is it exactly that we're expecting? If "Let's Be Still" and "Today is the Day" and "Nothing But You and Me" are being seen as steps backward, and a return to feedback-laden pop bliss wouldn't be, then I'd better just give up on understanding popular music right now.

By the way, this album IS pop bliss, start to finish. I loved the band's older records too, every one of 'em, although May I Sing with Me is my least favorite by quite a margin, but if you want to hear that stuff, it's not like they're confiscating your copies. I wouldn't necessarily recommend "Summer Sun" as a first purchase - go with "Fakebook," "I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One," or their masterpiece IMO, "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out" - but it does show off the fact that intricate, warm pop music didn't die with the Beach Boys.

In a sense, of course, whether or not you may like this could have something to do with your usual taste in music. It really does lack any rock & roll intensity, making it unique in that regard aside from "Fakebook," and the reason "May I Sing with Me" didn't appeal to me was the fact that it was basically one raveup after another. So if you don't run off in terror at the notion of quiet music, "Summer Sun" may well be the best album since... well, the last Yo La Tengo record.

n.

Yo La Tengo were forced to rush the sequencing and mixing of this record in order to make a production deadline. Although the rush job shows, the strengths of Summer Sun's songs work hard to overcome what's missing otherwise.

This is a band that would have a hard time making a bad album. Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley and James McNew have always made music with an intuitive sense that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. 1997's I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One summed up the band's approach perfectly.

The band's instrumental score to the nature films by Jean Painleve, collected on last year's The Sounds of the Sounds of Science filled the gap between 2000's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out and this new album. And Then Nothing... was mellow compared to prior outings, yet anything but easy-going, with the calmness of the songs crossed with emotionally frank lyrics about the ups and downs of marriage, personal anxieties and depression. The less-is-more approach looms large in Yo La Tengo's legend. Referencing an old KISS t-shirt that reads "If it's too loud, you're too old," Kaplan once chastised a raucous, inattentive audience: "If it's too quiet, you're too young."

YLT's best music is often in its longer numbers, in which the band takes time to stretch out and let simple sounds establish great power. "Let's Be Still" is Summer Sun's best track, and its longest, at over ten minutes. The song is based on a beautiful groove built from a piano sample and Hubley's magnificently understated drumming. A cover of Big Star's "Take Care" -- a melancholy Alex Chilton ballad that YLT has played live for years -- rounds out the album.

Summer Sun doesn't have the collective impact of its predecessors, a problem typically attributable to song selection, sequencing and mixing. The songs here are good, but even when the heart beats as one, it's a bit too faint to hear.

Ric Dube
Junkmedia.org Review

(three and a half stars, rounded up because Yo La Tengo deserve every benefit of the doubt.)

Yo La Tengo are back with their proper follow-up to their 2000 masterpiece "And then nothing turned itself inside-out," and I'll warn you now: if that one was too soft for you, don't dare waste your money on Summer Sun.

Instead of returning to the eclectic sound of their earlier records, the Hoboken trio have carved another record of tender subtly and grace. The problem here is that the sweetness is not anchored by anything darker and more brooding, which is what made "And then Nothing..." succeed so completely.

This record sacrifices the cerebral to maintain a constant mood, and the result, though utterly grogeous in moments, does not better Yo La Tengo's previous ground. Both "And then nothing..." and 1997's brilliant "I can feel the heart beating as one" NEVER had washover moments. Though rarely keeping a completely consistant mood, I would argue that every single song on those records was a winner.

This is simply not true of "Summer Sun"- the meandering 10 minute+ "Let's be Still" has yet to keep my attention, and I am a patient music listener. I love Ira, but "Nothing but you and Me" has to be one of his worst vocal performances in recent history- it feels like re-hashed, b-side "And then nothing" material, as he pleads to try again at a failed relationship. "Don't have to be so sad," as well, is a bit too sparse to not become simple background noise, if lovely background noise.

And NO rock at all?? I understand evolution for bands, but "Cherry Chapstick" was GLORIOUS drone, and that was only a few years ago! We have absolutely nothing of remotely upbeat nature here. That gets me down, I hate to say.

That said, there are a handful of total winners here. "Beach Party Tonight," the excellent drony opener, feels like a world of possibilities in three minute's time. Georgia is, for the most part, totally on vocally with these tracks- "Little Eyes," and "Today is the Day" are beautiful in every sense. And the closing "Take Care," as many reviews have said, is a trancendent 2-and-a-half-minute cover that points to even better times on the next record.

So what does this all add up to? "Summer Sun" is at once a lovely album and one of Yo La Tengo's less successful. But this confirms even more just how amazing this group is, that even a slight backstep is a gorgeous listen. And Yo La Tengo are still one of the most consistant and wonderful bands indie rock has to give us.

While labeled by most as a mediocre follow-up to an also mediocre release by a once-great, I was not to be turned away. I placed my order and patiently waited. I'll admit, I hadn't been following every Yo La Tengo release, and while I had their previous album my teeth were cut on oldies such as "New Wave Hot Dogs" and "May I Sing With Me". This album quickly embedded itself into the dark crevices of my hippocampus, sitting alongside other summer releases of that year ( somehow I'll always hear the beginning of "Radical Adults Lick Godhead Style" by Sonic Youth begin right after "Summer of the Shark" in the asylum of my mind ). But the months passed, the newness wore, and I would probably have rated this album as good, if slightly forgettable.
Then we were lucky enough in Jacksonville to have Yo La come through and play for the first time in like 10 years. The show was interesting, in an all seated theatre. But they performed nearly every song on this album, regardless of demand for nostalgic classics. Powerful, that show has stayed with me. It made songs like "Today is the Day", "Lets Be Still" and the magnificent "Take Care" take corporeal form, and now I listen to the CD with new ears, understanding new depths. The personalities of the players shine through, like Ira's lyrical novocain on "Little Eyes" and Georgia's smarmy keyboarding on "Georga vs. Yo La Tengo". Maybe its just my perception but this album is astounding, and a step forward for the `Tengo if you ask me, not some run of the mill release from an inert has been as others might lead you to believe.

I like Summer Sun much more than YLT's previous effort, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out. That album had some beautiful, touching songs, but wasn't quite as cohesive as Summer Sun, and certainly didn't achieve the greatness of the three albums before it.

Some of the bands best work is on Summer Sun; "Little Eyes," "Tiny Birds," and the Big Star cover "Take Care," are real standouts. However, frankly, "Nothing But You and Me," is a failed experiment at free-form jazz, and "Today is the Day" is just sort of there. But cut out these two songs, which are ho-hum enough to me to give this album 4 stars, and there is some great stuff here.

It's true there are no "rockers" on here, but many of the songs are fun and a little goofy, and somehow ambient and tuneful at the same time. I give YLT lots of credit for taking music to a new and different place, and if you're already a fan, you'll love a lot of this album. Just have that FF button handy about two or three times while you're playing it.

Pop Kulcher Review: The latest release from the best band of the 1990's (seriously) continues down the path of 2000's And Then Nothing Turns Itself Out. Now completely abandoning the wonderful sonic overload of their epic trilogy (1993's Painful through their career apex, 1997's I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One), YLT is focused on crafting quiet, understated soundscapes, with personal lyrics and slow, ambient-infused guitar & organ noodlings. Unfortunately, YLT's biggest appeal was always their unrivaled ability to balance their tranquil moments with manic sheets of Velvet Underground-derived guitar feedback, often within the same song (i.e. "Blue Line Swinger," "I Heard You Looking"); take away the contrast, and there is a bit of sameness to the album. Even Nothing had the more traditional, upbeat "Cherry Chapstick." Summer Sun doesn't even have the token throwback to their early days, and only a couple songs even manage to muster up the energy for a catchy hook. That said, there is some real beauty here. The lyrics again have a heartfelt, personal dimension (albeit with a less noticeable focus on love and relationships than Nothing, which may be the most romantic album indie rock has ever produced). The music, if perhaps less interesting than past YLT efforts, is nonetheless soothing without getting sappy. Whereas the band used to draw inspiration from the Velvet Underground, this one seems more drawn from the spacey-drones of Stereolab and maybe the High Llamas. This isn't a bad thing, just one that takes a little longer to be drawn into; it took me a few months to really appreciate Nothing, and I suspect this one will grow on me eventually.

I'm a huge YLT fan. Ever since the early nineties gem 'PAINFUL' found it's way to my ears - the band has grown and matured beautifully. "And Then Nothing.." was a wonderfully majestic piece of brilliance. This one stays on the same drifty course but tends to drift a bit too much in certain places. Love the band, like the record. Would have liked to hear more of the risk taking YLT have been known for. Georgia's voice is great here though.

There are few bands I will go out and buy on the day it's released. There are few dairy products that I will purchase even a couple of days before it's sell by date. But unlike the dairy products(for arguements sake: whey) Yo La Tengos music has no shelf life. Summer Sun is a terry cloth blanket you wear when the warm dusk breezes lightly tussle your leg hairs while your at a beach you actually get to drive right up to. You have closed in on a 100 pages of some forgotten gem of a novel reocomended by your friend with an MFA--its both erudite, and accessable, and yet you are still able to tap your feet. Buy this CD and quietly go on as if nothing has happened(you'll be glad you did.)

Drone rock legends Yo La Tengo return with their um-teenth album. Let me confess before I get 'called out' that this is the first Yo La Tengo album I've ever bought. For shame! I have my reasons, but I will save them. I'll keep this short, since you may know more about Yo La Tengo than me. I'll tell you what I know about this album.

The band's sense of humor is evident when you put the CD in your player, and look at the back of the album. "Track one: Beach Party Tonight. Oh, that should be a light, poppy, little summer ditty. Wait, when's it going to pick up?" And you keep listening; it sounds more like an intro, which it pretty much it is.

If you make it to the end of track one, by listening to it or skipping it altogether, you will be rewarded with a light, subtle, simple bit of lo-fidelity charm. "Little Eyes," a warm and fuzzy pop number, was the first track I heard from "Summer Sun" and I felt like it was reason enough to buy it.

I only had to listen once to get hooked to the entire album. From the samba-tinted sound of "Season of the Shark" to the minimalist "Nothing but You and Me," this album does it all. That is, it does it all but get loud. But, this is a summer album. Remember, chill out, drink beer, and listen to this.

Ahh, this album has not left my stereo or my cd walkman in the past few days. I have only changed it to go back an review all of my other YLT cds. I do think 'Summer Sun' is one of their greatest though. What I like most about it is its soft consistency--there aren't too many sonic 'eruptions', such as on 'Painful' or 'ICHTHBAO'. Don't get me wrong, these are great albums, but its nice to just have a YLT cd with which you can completly relax. I can see myself playing this at a dinner party or something, but its also great without the food.

What really caught my ears this time is the lyrics. Essentially, many of them deal with Ira's love for Georgia, set to really nice music. The lyrics almost make makes me want to cry, they are so honest. My favorite song so far is "Moonrock Mambo", just because Ira's voice is so lovely on it and the lyrics are quite funny, but touching at the same time.

Basically, folks, just do yourself a favor, go buy this CD and all the other YLT ones out there. This band has been around for a long time and its refreshing to hear a band can make great music even if they aren't wearing skinny white ties.