Yo La Tengo - Live at the Grotto - 60 min.

Recorded live in New Haven, CT 10/23/87

Notes

From analog master (thanks Hank!); pretty good sound but ever-so-slightly muffled.
Ira: All right New Haven, how ya doin'?!

    (dead silence, followed belatedly by a couple "yeah!"s from the audience.)

Ira: (somewhat dispiritedly) Well, we're glad to hear it.
An early show; pretty raw. Apparently there were only about a dozen people in attendance. "Did I Tell You" is the pre-Fakebook "rock" version (!). "White Rabbit" is an early version of "Demons" with Ira singing and totally different lyrics. Some songs delivered with unconvincing braggadocio; others sung unaffectedly though (nice "House is Not a Motel"). "For the Turnstiles" can't touch the '95 KCRW version, but it's better than their studio version. Masterful transition between "Clunk" and "The Evil that Men Do". Tape break in long jam at end of the latter. Some brilliant flickers in the noise but there is a lot of noise!
Michael Edmonson (edmonson@sdf.lonestar.org)