Yo La Tengo: I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One

For a while in 2000, Yo La Tengo were my new favourite band, and this was my favourite album of theirs. Just two short months, bounded at the start by the time Tim and I saw them play at the Leadmill (with Neil Innes and Sonic Boom guesting) in May and at the end by discovering The Magnetic Fields in July, which eclipsed everything else for a time. But Yo La Tengo did, as I mentioned before, play an important John the Baptist role in that discovery.

If I were to recommend one YLT album to someone who was coming to them for the first time, I think it would be this one, possibly followed by the most recent one. I Can Hear… has the live favourites Sugarcube and Autumn Sweater (why not Autumn Jumper or Fall Sweater for consistency?), and it has a mix that shows some, if not all, the versatility of the ensemble: Deeper Into Movies, Green Arrow and We're an American Band (you probably spotted the Grand Funk Railroad reference there straight away, but I confess I didn't).

Great songs, lovely band — the kind you could invite round for dinner and be guaranteed a good evening.

MusicBrainz entry for this album Wikipedia entry for this album Rate Your Music entry for this album Listen to this album in full at Last.fm