Tag: George McCrae

Posted in Album Reviews

Yo La Tengo – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (2000)

Posted on by Michael

Released in 2000, the ninth studio album from trio Yo La Tengo is more ambient take on their indie rock sound.  Muffled beats with a clattering of plates introduces the album on “Everyday”.  The song has a darker, colder Joy Division like sound that cover the lyrics – “I hear Kate Moss talk, she talks to me/She’s looking for a new beginning every day”.  Sung by drummer Georgia Hubley, she also takes the vocals on “Tears Are In Your Eyes” where she talks to a friend suffering from depression and reminds them, “Darkness always turns into the dawn”.

Sweetness pervades “Our Way to Fall”, memories of meeting a girl for the first time over a musical bed led by a 70s organ. The sound then later appears on instrumental “Tired Hippo”.  “Last Days of Disco” sees guitarist Ira Kaplan sing of letting himself go at a dance party. The dissociative lyrics of second single “Saturday” has a drumbeat that almost sounds like a hiss then clatters at other moments.  “Cherry Chapstick” sees the band go back to it’s roots of slightly buried vocals and crashes of guitars.

First single, “You Can Have it All” is a standout cover of a George McCrae sung with lots of “b aba babas” giving it an airy and cheery sound. “Madeleine” is a nice, easy going track that appears late in the album before closing with the 17 minute quiet epic “Night Falls on Hoboken”. In the intervening years since it was recorded, many publications sung the praises of And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out as a notable release of the 2000s.  It’s an unsuspecting album with many layers of dark and cold then warm and funny.  What’s remarkable, is that it keeps giving and never lags with great songs spread throughout.

8/10  

Posted in Listed

Favourite Distant (Re)Discoveries of 2022

Posted on by Michael

5. George McCrae – Rock Your Baby (Song): Likely heard one night while listening to the Top of the Pops podcast on the BBC, somehow I had never heard this track before even though it is one of the biggest selling singles of all time at 11 million units. A staggering achievement for this understated slice of R&B disco that slinks along in it’s rhythmic funk. One that works as well on the dancefloor or while holding your baby on the couch.

4. Courtney Barnett – Before You Gotta Go (Song): I missed listening Barnett’s Things Take Time, Take Time album upon release in late 2021 and instead listened in early 2022. A grower of an album with several highlights. One of them being this track of breaking up but wanting to remain friends or at least go out with good memories. The video is equally as great.

3.  Siouxsie and the Banshees – Icon (Song):  Working through the Banshees catalogue, Join Hands was reviewed back in August.  The album proved to be a grim listen at times, lacking some of the pop smarts of the band’s other work.  Still, the track “Icon” was a standout. The slow building song changes midway to thundering drums before exploding into life. 

2.  Radiohead – Kid A (Album):  Kid A is an album I’ve listened to off and on for 20 years but never for more than a few tracks at a time and had never really done a deep dive into the tracks.  Released after the mega selling OK Computer, Kid A split opinion in the rock community, perhaps doing exactly what Thom Yorke was hoping.  Listening to the album and reading Steven Hyden’s excellent book, This Isn’t Happening, was a personal highlight of enjoying art in multiple mediums in  2022. 

1. The Beatles – Revolver (2CD Deluxe Edition) (Album):  Rating another Giles Martin remix of an album by The Beatles is hardly the stuff of surprise at this point. Still, it’s hard to ignore when the attention gets turned to one of the greatest albums of all time in Revolver.  The highlight of these packages, regardless of which edition you choose, is the bonus material. Hearing the all too familiar songs in different takes is thrilling.  From instrumentals (“Eleanor Rigby”), stripped down versions (“Tomorrow Never Knows”) or raw takes (“Here, There and Everywhere”), the bonus album was a delight.