Sunday, April 24, 2016

YO LA TENGO'S FAKEBOOK TURNS 26!




Yo La Tengo - FakeBook  (April 27, 1990)


Ira Kaplan and Glenn Morrow worked together at New York Rocker long before one started a band and the other a record label.  Yo La Tengo had already released three albums before signing to Bar/None for 1990’s groundbreaking covers project, Fakebook.  In 2016,  Yo La Tengo returned to Fakebook’s format of semi-obscure covers and reworked originals for Stuff Like That There, which reunited the trio with original guitarist Dave Schramm and producer Gene Holder (of the dB’s.) 

Ira Kaplan: It’s funny but I don’t remember how Fakebook wound up on Bar/None.  Maybe Coyote wasn't around anymore?  What I do remember about making that record is that it wasn’t much of a strategy.  At the time, we had such a revolving door with bass guitarists that would come in and out of the band, and Stephan Wichnewski had just left for the last time, so the band was down to just me and Georgia.  So we just thought about the songs that we already knew that way, as a duo. We had done lots of covers at radio stations and record stores, so we just thought to ask Dave (Schramm) and Al (Greller) to help with the sessions, and it just happened very organically: “I think it’s time for a covers record.” But at that point, everything gets fuzzy. It just seemed like a natural thing for us to wind up on Bar/None.




Al Greller, Dave Schramm, Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan at the Fakebook recording sessions.



Some Favorite Fakebook Tracks

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/griselda/id281155882?i=281155942
"Griselda" - Originally written by Antonia of The Holy Modal Rounders, this jaunty waltz came from the seminal Seventies compilation Have Moicy!, considered by many critics to signal the birth of the Freak Folk and Anti-Folk movements.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/you-tore-me-down/id281155882?i=281156036
"You Tore Me Down" - This reverby gem comes from the Flamin' Groovies' all-but-forgotten power-pop masterpiece, Shake Some Action.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/here-comes-my-baby/id281155882?i=281155978
"Here Comes My Baby" - One of Yo La Tengo's jauntiest pop performances, this is a Cat Stevens tune popularized by the Tremeloes in 1967,  and decades later included in the soundtrack of the film Rushmore.


 


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