<\/a>When I first heard \u201cThe Whole of the Law,\u201d it was nighttime and it was snowing outside. Though it\u2019s the ninth track on the eleven-track-long Painful, <\/i>I discovered it as a standalone, stumbling upon the song on YouTube. I\u2019d been listening to something else\u2014who knows what, at this point\u2014when I noticed the name \u201cYo La Tengo<\/a><\/strong>\u201d in the \u201crelated videos\u201d sidebar. I thought, Might as well try it out.<\/p>\n

The video began, with just the nondescript, blurry dark blue and grayish album cover for a visual, and a soft, ethereal guitar riff came floating out through my headphones. I sat at my desk in my dark dorm room, my roommate already fast asleep in her bed behind me, and listened intently as two voices (one male, one female) began singing. \u201cI used to have the notion \/ I could swim the length of the ocean \/ If I knew you were waiting for me,\u201d they practically whispered in perfect harmony. A low thump on the drums occasionally joined them, along with a sleepy, owl-like hooting in the background. It was like a lullaby, both tragic and blissful. Near the end, the female voice became an atmospheric hum as the male voice sang:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Maybe I\u2019m in love with you
\n<\/i>I had to contact you
\n<\/i>I found out I was in love with you
\n<\/i>I had to contact you
\n<\/i>That\u2019s it, that\u2019s the law, that\u2019s the whole of the law<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/i>And in just two minutes and twenty seconds, I was completed entranced.<\/p>\n

I guess it might be appropriate that I discovered Yo La Tengo through what\u2019s actually a cover of a song by The Only Ones. Yo La Tengo have a legendary penchant for covering little-known treasures\u2014the sort of songs you only unearth after hours of browsing through buried, old vinyl records (which is definitely what this band does in their free time). So it\u2019s no surprise that most of Yo La Tengo\u2019s discography come off as meticulously curated little collections of original works and revamped numbers. Painful<\/i>, which turned 20 years old just over a month ago, is a particularly impeccable example of the band\u2019s artistry which set the standard for all of Yo La Tengo\u2019s albums to follow. Not to mention, it\u2019s my personal favorite of theirs.<\/p>\n

Painful <\/i>was the first recording to feature the lineup that the world would come to know as Yo La Tengo\u2014guitarist Ira Kaplan, drummer Georgia Hubley, and bassist James McNew. The unpresuming New Jersey trio came together with such flawless chemistry that a young Rob Sheffield, writing for an even younger SPIN <\/i>Magazine, concluded that \u201cwhen a bunch of weird sounds add up to a masterpiece as casually majestic as Painful, <\/i>well, \u2018genius\u2019 isn\u2019t even the word, is it?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

But genius comes pretty close. The thing about Painful <\/i>is that it\u2019s full of paradox. Its opening track, \u201cBig Day Coming,\u201d is slow and dream-like, almost hypnotic with its repetitive, simple organ riff. Kaplan provides a distorted feedback that echoes off the walls of the song, his voice hushed as he opens the album with the line \u201cLet\u2019s be undecided, let\u2019s take our time.\u201d The second-to-last song on Painful, <\/i>\u201cBig Day Coming (2),\u201d is the same song facelifted into headstrong, pure \u201890s alt-rock. The organ is replaced by a loud, pulsating guitar reverb, and Kaplan\u2019s voice becomes emphatic as he declares, \u201cThere\u2019s a big day coming, about a mile away \/ There\u2019s a big day coming and I can hardly wait.\u201d The song goes from shy and subdued to downright raucous.<\/p>\n

Other songs are similarly, though not as obviously, contrasted. In the two songs that Georgia Hubley sings in, \u201cFrom a Motel 6\u201d and \u201cNowhere Near,\u201d she goes from saying \u201cDream a quiet place for us to fight \/ Oh no, your heart is broken \/ Don\u2019t you think that\u2019s a little trite?\u201d to \u201cDo you know how I feel, how I feel about you? \/ All I know is when you smile, I believe in everything.\u201d Later on in the album, an angry song about the end of a relationship, \u201cI Was the Fool Beside You For Too Long,\u201d is placed directly before the lovesick ballad \u201cThe Whole of the Law.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are no smooth transitions. It\u2019s jarring, and yes, it\u2019s painful, in a hurts-so-good kind of way. So take 50 minutes to flash back to this quietly momentous album\u2014an album that was essentially ten years in the making (Kaplan himself has admitted the \u201cgroup really started when we made the record Painful<\/i>\u201d<\/a>) and has remained an influential indie rock staple for twenty years and counting.<\/p>\n

Listen to\u00a0“The Whole Of The Law”, here via Youtube:<\/a><\/strong>
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