Yo La Tengo – Tom Courtenay
Alligator Lounge
Santa Monica, CA
6/20/95
I was recently having a discussion with a friend over lunch about giving bands that you don’t think you like a second chance. Thanks to Simplify Media, I now have access to quite a few music collections of other people, so it’s easy to find stuff that I’ve previously dismissed as “bad.” Yo La Tengo has always been a band that I’ve never been fond of. I’ve seen them live a couple of times and friends have played their records for me, but they just never did it for me. I gave them another chance last week and, in my opinion, they still come up short. This video was tacked on another videotape with some other shows that I received in a trade and has been sitting in my collection for quite some time. So even though I’m not a fan, I’m sure others are and will appreciate the recording. And if you know the name of the track, hit us up and I’ll update the post.
Update: Thanks to Tim and Jeff for IDing the song!
Download: Yo La Tengo – Tom Courtenay (Live Video)
“Tom Courtenay”
This is “Tom Courtenay,” one of their semi-popular songs. I have the 7″ of this from when I was first getting into indie rock. Maybe YLT is one of those bands you have to get into when you’re young — they’re super dramatic, and alternately full of noisy rage or romantic quiet. I’ve seen them a few times and I think live they are hit or miss… though the hits are awesome indeed. Maybe in the distant future you can give them a third chance.