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Fakebook by Yo La Tengo on Bar None Records
Black and white photograph of early Yo La Tengo

Yo La Tengo - Fakebook

BAR NONE RECORDS

Fakebook is the fourth studio album by Yo La Tengo, originally released in 1990 by Bar None Records. 

A collection of mainly cover songs that lean toward the idiosyncratic, Fakebook is warm, low-key, and lovely, with heartfelt singing and playing that never flags after hundreds of replays - after three decades! It's impossible to imagine playing this record and not smiling and singing along. A timeless record in so many ways, just some highlights include great versions of the Flamin' Groovies' 'You Tore Me Down,' and Daniel Johnston's 'Speeding Motorcycle,' as well as the YLT's own 'The Summer' and 'Did I Tell You.' 

When Hoboken, NY's Yo La Tengo released Fakebook in 1990, the band was only a twosome (Ira Kaplan on guitar and vocals, with Georgia Hubley on drums and vocals), as future bassist James McNew was presumably still playing in various other bands and moonlighting as a parking lot attendant. According to Ira Kaplan, the record itself was mostly an excuse to screw around in the studio double bassist Al Greller and with guitarist, Dave Schramm. Other guests include The Pussywillows, who provide perfect 'sixties-style backing vocals to Rex Garvin & The Mighty Cravers' 'Emulsified,' and Peter Stampfel (Holy Modal Rounders, The Fugs) who sings and plays fiddle on The Escort's 'The One To Cry.' 

While Fakebook is primarily a compilation of covers, it also includes five originals. Setting aside their noisier proclivities and the rawer elements of their former work in favour of a more stripped-down, breezily folkish approach, the album was, in its time, a novel approach for the band. Today, more than 20 years on, Fakebook remains a testament to Yo La Tengo’s versatility and early promise, as well as being the first full glimpse into the group’s almost frightfully encyclopedic familiarity with radio hits. 

 

TRACKLIST: 
  1. Can't Forget 
  2. Griselda 
  3. Here Comes My Baby 
  4. Barnaby, Hardly Working 
  5. Yellow Sarong 
  6. You Tore Me Down 
  7. Emulsified 
  8. Speeding Motorcycle 
  9. Tried So Hard 
  10. The Summer 
  11. Oklahoma, U.S.A. 
  12. What Comes Next 
  13. The One To Cry 
  14. Andalucia 
  15. Did I Tell You 
  16. What Can I Say 

 

  • US import 
  • LP housed in reverse-board jacket  

 

 

 

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