Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo

Infobox Album |
Name = Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo
Type = Compilation Album
Artist = Yo La Tengo


Released = September 10, 1996
Recorded =
Genre = Indie rock, Instrumental rock
Length = 122:41
Label = Matador Records
Producer =
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:brm8b5p4nsqj link]
Last album = "Electr-O-Pura"
(1995)
This album = "Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo"
(1996)
Next album = "I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One"
(1997)

"Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo" is a 2-disc compilation album by Yo La Tengo, consisting of rarities, alternate versions, and out-takes, spanning 1988 to 1995. The album was released on Matador in 1996; a Japanese version with two extra tracks appeared in 1998.

The title is a pun on the 1960 Ray Charles album, "Genius+Soul=Jazz". ("The Genius" was Charles' nickname.)

The first disc contains songs with vocals. There are several cover songs, such as John Cale's "Hanky Panky Nohow," The Velvet Underground's "I'm Set Free," Beat Happening's "Cast A Shadow," and Wire's "Too Late." The cover of Daniel Johnston's "Speeding Motorcycle" features Johnston calling in his vocals to the song via telephone. "Demons" originally appeared on the soundtrack to the 1995 film "I Shot Andy Warhol" (in which YLT appeared as a Velvet Underground-esque band).

The second disc consists entirely of instrumental pieces. Included are songs previously recorded by the group (such as an 8-second drum solo), and covers, such as a wedding-band-like rendition of the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop." "Sunsquashed" is a 26-minute psychedelic jam, from which one of the band's main fansites took its name.

Track listing

Disc 1

#"Evanescent Psychic Pez Drop" – 2:48
#"Demons" – 3:18
#"Fog Over Frisco" – 3:47
#"Too Late" – 5:57
#"Hanky Panky Nohow" – 2:58
#"Something To Do" – 2:11
#"Ultra-Powerful Short Wave Radio Picks Up Music From Venus" (feat. Jad Fair) – 1:31
#"Up To You" – 4:03
#"Somebody's Baby" – 3:38
#"Walking Away From You" – 5:58
#"Artificial Heart" – 3:00
#"Cast A Shadow" – 2:24
#"I'm Set Free" – 4:10
#"Barnaby, Hardly Working" – 3:54
#"Some Kinda Fatigue" – 7:38
#"Speeding Motorcycle" (feat. Daniel Johnston) – 3:33

Disc 2

#"Nutricia" – 5:01
#"Her Grandmother's Gift" – 2:39
#"From A Motel 6, Pt. 2" – 4:29
#"Gooseneck Problem" – 0:04
#"Surfin' With The Shah" – 2:07
#"Ecstasy Blues" – 2:47
#"Too Much, Pt. 1" – 1:18
#"Blitzkrieg Bop" – 2:18
#"One Self: Fish Girl" – 5:31
#"Enough" – 5:25
#"Drum Solo" – 0:08
#"From A Motel 6, Pt. 1" – 3:35
#"Too Much, Pt. 2" – 0:21
#"Sunsquashed" – 26:22

External links

* [http://www.sunsquashed.com/Discog/Discog/genius.html Album details at Sunsquashed.com]
* [http://www.yolatengo.com Yo La Tengo band site]
* [http://www.matadorrecords.com/yo_la_tengo/ Matador Records' official YLT page]