Yo La Tengo - "...Bebop"
I'm writing it here as it appears on my iPod, but really the name of this song is "Spec Bebop." Strange. I did a quick Google search to see if there was ever an alternate title, but I came up empty. I did learn something however about this 10+ minute organ jam: critics hate it! Even on what is a universally acclaimed album, this song gets the big thumbs down. Some examples:
- The venerable Robert Christgau says, "without the 10-minute organ wash 'Spec Bebop,' which gathers momentum around 8:00--I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One is perfect."
- Mark Athitakis of Salon calls it, "10 minutes of self-indulgent knob-twiddling that's all texture and overtones, and it sinks the album like a rock."
- The Onion is not joking when they say "Spec Bebop" is, "a noise-powered trainwreck"
- Even Amazon users pile on. Frazernc (if that's even his/her real name) writes, "'Spec Bebop' is ten tuneless irritating minutes of the same riff, and I've never wanted to skip over an extended YLT song before."
Modest Mouse - "Little Motel"
The Fiery Furnaces - "Evergreen"
The Go-Betweens - "Black Mule"
Elvis Presley - "Trying To Get To You"
Destroyer - "Rivers"
The National - "Available"
The Kooks - "Time Awaits"
Magnetic Fields - "Long-Forgotten Fairytale"
And then I got to work.
Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 10
Total minutes of music (approx.): 49
Song with the most previous plays: "Time Awaits" - 7
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 6
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: That guy from The Real Housewives of NYC is stalking me! I saw him again on the train.
4 comments:
You called it right again, this time on "Spec Bebop." It's an f'ing amazing track. Obviously none of those critics have experienced YLT live, or they would understand.
As I was reading this, it occurred to me that I hadn't listened to this album in some time. Then it occurred to me that the reason for this is that I own it on vinyl, not CD. So, I ran to the nearest record store (iTunes) and purchased the digital version as quickly as I could.
Do you have any great albums that haven't been mentioned on this blog simply because you still don't own the digital version?
I could name a few more, but that'll wait for another post on another day.
Oh, man, there are probably hundreds. This is a good idea for a post, CP, and I might have to get into it one day. Although I'm slowly uploading some CDs or downloading stuff I already have on CD or album, it will take a very long time before I'm even close to being all digital, musically. Take Yo La Tengo for example - - I don't have Fakebook on my iPod. And I kinda love that album.
I actually own Painful on vinyl as well. It makes me feel as if I've neglected a huge portion of my music library by not updating to digital.
BTW-I'm listening to my newly downloaded I Can Hear... and am loving every moment.
I concur on Spec Bebop, not because it's a phenomenal song (it's good but not great) but because it's such a nice change of pace and a stylistic leap for the band. Back then YLT could toss off pop nuggets like Tom Courtenay and Sugar Cube, seemingly in their sleep, but Spec Bebop showed they weren't afraid to try something completely different. On the downside, however, the song did foreshadow the ambient meanderings of And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, an album I enjoyed at first but never listen to any more.
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