Product Description

This sprawling, ambitious album is YO LA TENGO's 16th, and marks their 25th anniversary. It is also a new culmination for a career that has been swinging upwards again since 2006's I Am Not Afraid Of You. A new generation of fans is discovering one of the most influential and intriguing bands in late-20th and early 21st-century rock'n'roll.This is the definitive YO LA TENGO album and Matador's #1 priority this fall.

Track Listing

1. Here To Fall
2. Avalon Or Someone Very Similar
3. By Two s
4. Nothing To Hide
5. Periodically Double Or Triple
6. If It s True
7. I m On My Way
8. When It s Dark
9. All Your Secrets
10. More Stars Than There Are In Heaven
11. The Fireside
12. And The Glitter Is Gone

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1480 in Music
• Released on: 2009-09-08
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Customer Reviews

Another good YLT album
I've been listening to YLT since 1995. Most of their albums fall into one of two categories: cohesive or eclectic.

Their great "cohesive" albums are Painful and Electr-o-pura. Fakebook and May I Sing With Me also deserve high honors. Many would add And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out to this category--for me, it's just medium strength--the first half is great while the second half loses focus. Summer Sun is the somewhat weaker entry in their cohesive collection.

Their great "eclectic" album is undoubtedly I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One while I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your [...] is too scatter shot. Their collection of b-sides and outtakes, Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo, gets more love from me than I Am Not Afraid of You...

Which leads us to Popular Songs, which is a little from column A, a little from column B. Tracks 2-9 is a nice little cohesive run that any YLT fan would enjoy. The album is book-ended by more experimental tracks--"Here to Fall" features a string arrangement while the final three are variations on drone and noise. "More Stars Than There Are In Heaven" doesn't quite sound like anything they've done before. "The Fireside" fits in the "Green Arrow" and "Night Falls on Hoboken" genre. "And the Glitter is Gone" is familiar waves of Ira's guitar noise.

Popular Songs is probably their best album since And Then Nothing...While most of the bands strengths are represented here, the neat division between cohesive and eclectic can make it a lopsided listening experience.

another good one from Yo La Tengo
Wow, its hard to believe that Yo La Tengo have made yet another really good album. For Yo La Tengo fans, this is an essential purchase. Like "I'm Not Afraid of You....," this album contains a wide range of styles, from droning guitar workouts (the fifteen minute "And the Glitter is Gone") to Motown lite("If its True"), and, of course, the more mellow songs with hushed vocals. And after 20 years, they are still experimenting. Opener, "Here to Fall" sounds like nothing else in their catalog, some sort of space age soul-prog - and it actually works. This album is similar to "I'm Not Afraid of You.." but its a little better and more quiet. I'm fan of almost all of YTL's music, and here they pull off the usual variety with extra confidence. Growing old has made them better, not more boring. Few rock and roll acts manage that trick.

Unique and airy
What a ride, such a admixture of unique sound approaches. If you want something that facinates and stimulates minor thrills in your soul, this collection is something extraordinary especially for a non-fan- "If it's True" brings it all together.