Tonight I finished ripping the Julius Katchen complete Brahms piano works and a stack of Yo La Tengo. The Katchen set is very well done, and I remember when it came out because Jim the manager at Tower Berkeley held the box up when it was unpacked, had a great smile spread over his face, and snapped ‘KATCHEN!’. He had been waiting for this set for a number of years (since his days playing piano in college), and he took the single copy of the set we got in and immediately purchased it. I asked him if it was good, he looked at me, held up the set and again snapped ‘KATCHEN!’. I picked it up a few weeks after that and really enjoyed it as well, especially the late sets of piano pieces.
I had already ripped a few Yo La Tengo discs early on in the project, so I went ahead and grabbed the rest that were on the shelves. Included in this stack was ‘I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One’, the album that I consider, hands down, to be the best album of the ’90s. The flow of the album goes between rockers, folk songs and out there shoegazer drones. There is a great Beach Boys cover, and the last 20 minutes (“Spec Bebop”, “We’re and American Band” and “My Little Corner Of The World”) is a great outro to a great album. And for personal reasons, it was also the album that introduced me to the band. I first heard it being played at the old Wall Berlin cafe in Berkeley (I think I heard ‘Autumn Sweater’ leading into ‘Little Honda’) one night while I was closing at Tower, and bought the disc that night. Honestly though, the first time I heard it all the way through, I thought it was a bit tough to get through. Then I listened again and probably by the fourth or fifth time I couldn’t believe how good of an album it is. From then on, it just continued to grow on me. I picked up a few more records before ‘And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out’ came out. Within those couple years, Yo La Tengo became probably my favorite rock band. I still pick up any of their releases as soon as they come out (and since the last few have been available as pre-orders on iTunes, Yo La Tengo also tends to be one of the only bands where I buy the album BEFORE I can get it).
This album still stands up incredibly well. And I see it as the start of a great run for the band. After this album, they have been releasing a new album about once every three years (with a few side projects thrown in here and there in between). And they have held up a pretty high level of consistency. As of right now, ‘I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One’ lies at the mid point of their career. So far. ‘Popular Songs’ came out last year, and I imagine the next album should be out sometime around 2012.
I can’t wait.
And if you are one of those unfortunate people that thinks that the 90s topped out with ‘OK Computer’ or ‘Nevermind’ or any of Björk’s great albums, then you should treat yourself and go pick up the real best album of the 90s.
