Barnaby, Hardly Working

Usually, it is more engaging to stay on the cutting edge of a band's work, seeing what comes next, how it has evolved from what came before, and how the change relates to the evolution in the times or that in the band itself. However, from time to time, it is just as interesting to look at the unknown previous work of a band. Sometimes, what you find is not a whole lot different from what is more recent, but sometimes it is so different that it speaks to the breadth of the group's range, its taste for experimentation, and its willingness to change.

Recently, I've discovered a work of the latter form, Yo La Tengo's "Fakebook" (1990). Being a fan of their more recent efforts "I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One" (1997), "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out" (2000), and "Summer Sun" (2003), I was interested to see what their early work would sound like. The three albums I just mentioned display a straight progression, from the impetuous and varied indie rock of "I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One" to the mellow and instrumental "Summer Sun", so I figured "Fakebook" could be aligned on the same gradient.

However, "Fakebook" lands nowhere on the progression of these three albums, not even holding a place as a distant forebear. Yet while it could have just as easily been the product of a different band altogether, a few listens shows that "Fakebook" certainly has a place in Yo La Tengo's catalog. While it may lack the bravado and tongue-in-cheek genre experimentation that marks the other albums, "Fakebook" exudes a warmth and human sincerity that is present throughout Yo La Tengo's later period, albeit muted.

A collection mostly of cover songs, "Fakebook" has a folksy and honest appeal that could have become the band's trademark, if only their later albums hadn't shown the band's guts as well. While a country-tinged old timey album may not seem like a romp to fans of Yo La Tengo's later work, I can assure that it only strays towards the sappy or hokey on only a few tracks, namely "Speeding Motorcycle" and "The One to Cry." On the whole, regardless of how it fits in the band's catalog, Yo La Tengo's "Fakebook" is always a good spin, especially when you're studying, as I should be doing now.