Tom Courtenay

by

Yo La Tengo

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A piece that was stunningly out of place on the most downtempo Electr-O-Pura, I've been of the opinion that this is the presentation that "Tom Courtenay" deserved, that of a single. Perhaps the greatest pop song Yo La Tengo has ever produced, this is a piece that's got an unerring pop hook to open it up, a great, chugging rhythm driven by a fantastic overdriven guitar and a fantastic, relaxed vocal by guitarist Ira Kaplan. But the Yo La Tengo stand is highly obvious on here-- Kaplan provides a feedback-laced lead guitar line that could only come from this band that, as assertive and noisy as it can be, somehow doesn't spoil the utterly pop nature of the piece. Truly, a masterwork in three and a half minutes.

That love-fest aside, the single comes with three b-sides-- unreleased original "Treading Water", a cover of New Zealand noise rock band Dead C.'s "Bad Politics" and an early take of "My Heart's Reflection". And like Electr-O-Pura, "Tom Courtenay" is so staggeringly good that it dominates the piece. "Treading Water" is another downtempo sort of piece that would not have been out of place on Electr-O-Pura, built off a gentle acoustic guitar, throbbing drums and a lovely vocal from drummer Georgia Hubley, I actually find it a better piece than many of the cuts that made the album. "Bad Politics" is a feedback-drenched guitar workout, hitting a midtempo rolling stride and really letting Kaplan strike a noisy counterpoint to the vocal, though truthfully I don't think much of the piece. While one of my favorite things about Yo La Tengo is Kaplan's noisy guitar solos, this one doesn't really hold together for me. "My Heart's Reflection" I didn't care for on the record and the early take doesn't really do it for me either, it's another downtempo sort of piece, it's ok, but nothing spectacular and the early take doesn't really help.

Bottom line, while the title track is spectacular, odds are anyone looking at this already has it elsewhere. This single is really a collectors' only kind of thing.