Yo La Tengo - Mr Tough (Matador)
3/5
By: Thomas Hannan
Titles like 'Mr Tough' and 'I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass' (the LP this single is due to be housed in) do not suit Yo La Tengo. In the know obsessive indie losers (like everyone at rockfeedback) will tell you their records are more suited to titles like 'Summer Sun', 'And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out' and 'I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One'. You know - hippy nonsense.
As a song however, 'Mr Tough' is in fact about as twee as this lot, often famed for their fantastic, spasmodic noise outbursts, have ever got. It sounds all a little Motown, a flimsy plonk through a request to a bully to get off their case and instead join them on the dancefloor where they can work out their differences by throwing shapes. Sad thing is - if this wasn't Yo La Tengo, few of us would pay it any attention. Pleasant though it is, it's nowhere near up to their usual standards, despite it being enlightening to see another side to their game. We always knew they were jokers at heart.
The B-Side though - that's where they prove they're still special, even if it is a cover version. They soak the standard 'I'm Your Puppet' in such an ethereal glow you could leave it on repeat all afternoon without ever willing another song to enter your field of available listening. Buy the seven inch out of curiosity over the title, but just make sure you get round to flipping it over at some point.
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