Yo La Tengo – 3Olympia – Live Review – 10/04/23

 Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com 

Lambchop – Showtunes – Album Review

 Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com 

Yo La Tengo – Olympia Theatre – Live Review – 28-04-18

Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/04/29/yo-la-tengo-olympia-theatre-live-review-28-04-18/

Yo La Tengo – National Concert Hall – 15-10-15 – Live Review

Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

http://nomoreworkhorse.com/2015/10/18/yo-la-tengo-national-concert-hall-15-10-15-live-review/

Album Review: Mark Eitzel - Caught In A Trap And I Can't Back Out 'Cause I Love You Too Much Baby

Mark Eitzel released his third solo album in 1998.  Despite the sardonic humour of the title, this was a bleak piece of work even for him.  Most of the tracks focused on Eitzel guitar and voice.  And what a voice.  His vocals are as powerful as on any of his other albums, pushed out to the front he sounds impassioned, desperate and at times completely bereft of hope on these tracks.  After the cheery misery of Are You The Trash, proceedings get more downbeat on Xmas Lights Spin.  Picking out a simple, descending guitar part, Eitzel sings of "a man doing an imitation of Satan" on a track with very little seasonal cheer ("St Nicholas left your toys behind at the bar").

The stark music of these tracks is matched perfectly by some pretty downbeat lyrics, sung with an absence of hope but a generous helping of passion.  Auctioneer's Song with its tale of "buried underneath not moving a bone" and White Rosary about a little girl "calling to heaven to take her away from the trap her life turned out to be," with the most minimal of guitar accompaniment, Eitzel literally only plays notes that are absolutely necessary.

If I Had A Gun varies the sonic formula a little, adding Kid Congo Powers on growling electric guitar as Eitzel sings about how if he had one he would "seal my fate with you" over a gloriously miserable picked acoustic guitar.  After this they are joined by a rhythm section of Steve Shelley and James McNew for the world weary Goodbye and the uptempo trio of Queen of No One, Cold Light Of Day and Go Away.

But the acoustic tracks are the heart and soul of the album, showing off Eitzel's incredibly fine guitar picking.  Never mind your Nick Drakes etc, the closing pair of Atico 18 and Sun Smog Seahorse compare favourably with any acoustic melancholia you care to name.

Yep, sure, it's a bit much.  But as well as being a downer, it contains some of Mark Eitzel's prettiest melodies and no frills guitar playing.  Avoid this like the plague unless you like your depression leavened with a heavy dose of bleak misery.  But for the rest of us, enjoy a bravura vocal performance, that's for sure.  A shame he doesn't record his voice like this any more, as similar to his live performance, he inhabits the songs, making them sound like they really matter.

Album Review: Yo La Tengo - May I Sing With Me

Yo La Tengo released their fifth album, May I Sing With Me in 1992.  Opening track Detouring Americans With Guns starts out as a gentle strum before transforming into a grunted-up Velvet Underground style strum, with Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley resplendent on bored, alienated vocals.  Upside-Down is like Lou Reed fronting the Jesus and Mary Chain, roaring along, hitting the mark perfectly in two and a half minutes.  It's a great opening salvo, but after this all doesn't quite go to plan.  Mushroom Cloud of Hiss is the first of TWO nine minute tracks, and it proves to be an abrasive slog, like VU's I Heard Her Call My Name stretched out.

Swing For Life is one of a couple of downtempo, brooding tracks in the vein Sonic Youth's less intense material (a good thing).  Hubley delivers a perfectly pitched vocal on a reasonably sparse track, which allows Kaplan to spring forth with some fine guitar licks.  Five-Cornered Drone uses a similar guitar tone to great effect, this time with Kaplan taking vocal duties, while Some Kinda Fatigue is almost like Echo and the Bunnymen meets Husker Du!

The downcast, desolate Always Something is one of the the strongest tracks, helped by a fine backing vocal from bassist James McNew.  After this the album takes a turn, not necessarily for the better.  The barrelling 86-second Blowout is exactly that, and Out The Window huffs puffs without really hitting home, despite Hubley's fine drumming.  Sleeping Pills is nine minutes of experimental, keyboard drones before the album finishes with the understated, yet charming Satellite.

So an uneven, hit and miss album, which I think is the key to its charm.