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Painful (album)

Painful
Painfulalbumcover.png
Studio album by Yo La Tengo
Released October 5, 1993
Genre
Length 48:36
Label Matador
Producer
  • Fred Brockman
  • Roger Moutenot
Yo La Tengo chronology
May I Sing with Me
(1992)
Painful
(1993)
Electr-O-Pura
(1995)
Singles from Painful
  1. "Big Day Coming"
    Released: 30 September 1993
  2. "From a Motel 6"
    Released: 7 January 1994
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4.5/5 stars
Chicago Tribune 4/4 stars
Christgau's Consumer Guide A−
Encyclopedia of Popular Music 4/5 stars
Entertainment Weekly B+
NME 8/10
Pitchfork Media 9.6/10
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 5/5 stars

Painful is the sixth studio album by American indie rock band Yo La Tengo, released in 1993 by record label Matador, their first for the label.

The album marked a creative shift from Yo La Tengo's previous work, blending atmospheric and ambient sounds with their famous noise jams. Painful features a much more melodic-driven Yo La Tengo in its hazy, dream-like songwriting.

Two versions of the track "Big Day Coming" are present on the album and display the range of musical stylings Yo La Tengo works with; the first version features a simple organ melody accompanied by a soft bass counterpoint and Kaplan's guitar feedback echoing in the background, while the second version is a much more straightforward, shoegaze style with an accompanying organ solo towards the latter part of the song.

On 2 December 2014, the album was reissued with bonus material as Extra Painful, available on double CD, double vinyl and as a digital download.


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Wikipedia

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