Yo La Tengo - Ride the Tiger

Yo la Tengo released their debut album in 1986, about 10 years or so before their heyday.  For those used to their latter day material, this will come as a surprise.  Many of their albums feel sprawling and diverse, this one decidedly isn't, eleven relatively short guitar tracks, many of which sound in thrall to the major key melodies on the Velvet Underground's Loaded album.

Cone of Silence is fairly representative, a brisk, strumalong tune with Ira Kaplan's Reed-y vocals to the fore.  A jangly Kinks cover pops up early on the album, Big Sky, while the final track sees them record an instrumental version of Pete Seeger's Living in the Country.

The Evil That Men Do is the album's most amped-up moment, while The Forest Green would give The Smithereens a run for their money.  They slow down for the country-flecked The Pain of Pain, the least derivative song here, and it really suits them.  Two thirds in, Kaplan throws in a really fine guitar solo.

Dave Schramm takes lead vocals on the cowpunk The Way Some People Die and vaguely REM-ish Five Years.  Decent tracks, but they sound like a different band.  Later they attempt to get thrashy on Screaming Dead Balloons, but the track doesn't quite hit the mark it was aiming for. 

An amiable collection of guitar tunes which, although far from throwaway, aren't particularly memorable either.