One week after its release, and it appears Yo La Tengo have
made the year’s first great album in Fade.
However that’s not why I’m here today spruiking. Sure, it’s probably YLT’s best
album for a while but today it’s one of their albums that still fails to gain
the recognition it deserves as to why I'm here. Born out of a similar realm, Summer Sun is one of those albums that you go back to after a couple of years and still shake your ahead as to why so many people place it toward the lower end of YLT’s discography.
Sure, personal choice is personal choice; however so many
bands would give their right arm to make a Summer
Sun. I guess it begs the question: have Yo La Tengo made so many great
albums that Summer Sun deserves its
place in the lower stratum of their cannon? I’m a Yo La Tengo fan, but even
they’ve released some sub-par albums. For a start, Popular Songs, wasn't too popular for me, apart from the
two tracks, ‘More Stars Than There Are in Heaven’ and ‘And the Glitter is
Gone’, which, although very solid, admittedly play bridesmaids’ to I’m Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your
Ass’ ‘The Story of Yo La Tango’ and I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One’s
‘Deeper into Movies’.
Rather than go into further debate, let’s talk about an
album most wish to forget.
Summer Sun is
meandering. Some associate the term meandering as boring, passé. Almost
middle-brow even. One question: what’s wrong with that? You need albums like Summer Sun. Your diet requires them. We
can’t always hanker on a slice of pizza or a juicy steak. We need some garlic bread or
a side of garden salad from time to time. Summer
Sun is that garlic bread and, indeed, that garden salad.
The cover art conveys a peculiar juxtaposition. The picture
of the band wearing coats looking awkward and generally elusive, despite the
title of the album. This was the first thing that intrigued me when I first bought
this album many moons ago.
‘Little Eyes’ is the perfect foil for opening song, ‘Beach Party Tonight’;
an atmosphere is set. It’s a gloomy beginning that sets the tone for the album.
Tracks such as ‘Today is the Day’ and ‘Don’t Have to be So Sad’ (personally my
favourite Yo La Tengo song) are easily among the best the band has produced.
You can feel the darkness ooze from frontman, Ira Kaplan, as he almost struggles to
deliver the vocal due to the emotional weight the song carries.
Then there’s ‘Let’s Be Still’. All 10 minutes and 22 seconds
of it; the song encapsulates the album. It’s an interlude of noodling, with
sprinkles of back alley jazz which in a strange way, is an illustration of Yo
La Tengo, not such much by sound but
by feel.
‘Take Care’ is one of my favourite covers. The Big Star
track was made for Georgia Hubley it seems. It’s a gloomy rendition that
finishes the album in the same tone it started.
So there you have it, that’s my two cents worth into why I
think it’s an injustice that Summer Sun doesn’t receive the plaudits it
deserves. Those of you who abandoned the album all those years ago, simply go back to
it. Fade is great, there’s no
question about it, but Summer Sun lies
pretty close to it in terms of sound and feel. You may just be surprised this time
around.
By Simon K.
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