
Indie darlings Yo La Tengo have enjoyed a long and esteemed career, and now sit atop a respectable discography. Among Yo La Tengo's past gems, 1989's
President Yo La Tengo/New Wave Hotdogs may rank among the best. Barely preceding Yo La Tengo's destined-to-be-a-classic cover collection
Fakebook,
President Yo La Tengo finds husband-and-wife duo Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan bounding from garage rock anthems like "Orange Song" to looping, sonic sculptures like "Barnaby, Hardly Working." This rare disc is often a proud feature of any true fan's Yo La Tengo library.
--Nick Heil
Customer Review: Two greats in one!
President Yo La Tengo and New Wave Hot Dogs are two of Yo La Tengo's best albums on their own. With both of them together, you get a good mix of what is Yo La Tengo. There are some of the harder Yo La Tengo songs with "Orange Song", and some of the more folksy rock with "Alyda" and "Did I Tell You". Overall, I would recommend them both by themsleves, but together you can't lose.
Customer Review: Yo La Tengo's Come a Long Way
This is a very different Yo La Tengo (pre- James McNew) and has a very different sound. Ira and Georgia were still working with similar sounds to bands like the Feelies, Phantom Tollbooth and other Hoboken peers. However there are two Yo La Tengo universals here - great song writing and intelligent ecclectic tastes. Lewis and Shy Dog from "New Wave Hot Dogs" along with pretty much all of "President Yo La Tengo" have more than just glimpses of genius in them. I saw YLT when they toured in support of "New Wave Hot Dogs" and the live cuts on "President" definitely capture the energy and love of music possessed by the band. It's a great CD for rounding out your YLT collection, has a LOT of music for the money - of course, it was the first one I ever bought (I have the Coyote records). IMHO, "President Yo La Tengo" is where the light just starts to break through - and like the dawn, it can take your breathe away.
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