Balboa wrote:Hey Pep! wrote:
To me, at least initially, they were always about creating an unholy row, and that's largely what still appeals to me. These days, it seems people keep that kind of thing more and more at arm's length. It's all about Nick Drake and Fairport Convention and cathedrals of sound and fragile vocals and melodic pop and all that crap. It bugs me and one day I'll put together a thread about it.
Its funny but the "unholy row" accounts for such a small part of their work. The bulk of their stuff is reasonably accessible (at least musically)- at least 1/2 of the first album, actually not too much off the second, most of the third and most of the fourth. So maybe 60-70% is nowhere near as strange as you would think. Left of centre, sure, but its not all Sister Ray.
In fact there is plenty of fragile vocals and melodic pop going on.
And in fact this defines very neatly why I don't care for Yo La Tengo or (most) Sonic Youth- the "unholy row" side is all they got from the Velvets. They completely missed not only the fragile vocals and melodic pop, but the songwriting skill. Nothing by the Velvets- even "Sister Ray" meanders like almost all of either band's material.