Painful (album)

Painful
Studio album by Yo La Tengo
Released	October 5, 1993
Recorded	1993
Genre	Shoegaze [1] [2] dream pop [2]
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
"Big Day Coming" Released: 30 September 1993 "From a Motel 6" Released: 7 January 1994

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Chicago Tribune	[4]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	A− [5]
Entertainment Weekly	B+ [6]
Mojo	[7]
NME	8/10 [8]
Pitchfork	9.6/10 [9]
Q	[10]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[11]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	9/10 [12]

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.

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. ^[13]

Music

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 melody-driven Yo La Tengo in its hazy, dream-like songwriting. ^{[14] [15]} Music journalist Andrew Earles described the album as the band's "ultimate love letter" to UK shoegaze and New Zealand indie pop, calling it the band's most atmospheric-sounding release to date. ^[16] Music critic Jim DeRogatis said the tracks “Big Day Coming” and “Sudden Organ” have been noted for their elements of psychedelic music. ^[17] Music critic Robert Christgau characterized the album as "Hoboken's answer to My Bloody Valentine". ^[18]

Two versions of the track "Big Day Coming" are present on the album.^{[ citation needed ]}

Reception and legacy

Music critic Robert Christgau gave Painful a score of A-minus, and wrote: "This is not the forbidding experimentation of an aspiring vanguard. This is the fooling around of folks who like to go out on Saturday night and make some noise--and then go home humming it." ^[18]

In recent years, Painful has become regarded as a significant step for Yo La Tengo in their discography. In a biography of the band, AllMusic's Mark Deming dubbed it "their first masterpiece", seeing it push them "in a multitude of new directions, significantly expanding [their] palette of sounds and textures." ^[19] Reflecting on it in a 20th anniversary review, Spectrum Culture's Rodger Coleman called it "revelatory, ageless and sublime." He saw it as the album "where they first came together as a real band," as well as showing "a substantial refinement of sound and approach." ^[20]

In 2014, Stuart Berman of Pitchfork gave the album's 30th anniversary reissue a score of 9.6 out of 10, and wrote: "From this point on, Yo La Tengo could no longer be described as mere Velvet Underground wannabes, and within just a few years, you’d be hard-pressed to even call them a rock band anymore. But then, such a free-ranging future seemed almost predestined when, after a decade of playing the rock'n'roll classicist, Kaplan opened up Painful by declaring, 'let’s be undecided.' As Yo La Tengo’s post-Painful path would prove, indecision has never sounded so assured." ^[21]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Vocals	Length
1.	"Big Day Coming"	Ira Kaplan	Kaplan	7:04
2.	"From a Motel 6"	Ira Kaplan Georgia Hubley	Hubley Kaplan	4:08
3.	"Double Dare"	Ira Kaplan	Kaplan	3:28
4.	"Superstar-Watcher"	Yo La Tengo		1:42
5.	"Nowhere Near"	Georgia Hubley	Hubley	6:01
6.	"Sudden Organ"	Ira Kaplan	Kaplan	4:42
7.	"A Worrying Thing"	Ira Kaplan	Kaplan	2:53
8.	"I Was the Fool Beside You for Too Long"	Yo La Tengo	Kaplan	5:04
9.	"The Whole of the Law"	Peter Perrett	Hubley Kaplan	2:19
10.	"Big Day Coming"	Ira Kaplan	Kaplan	4:14
11.	"I Heard You Looking"	Yo La Tengo		7:01

Extra Painful bonus disc

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Nowhere Near" (demo)	7:14
2.	"From A Motel 6" (live acoustic)	3:44
3.	"Tunnel Vision" (unreleased instrumental demo)	1:43
4.	"Sudden Organ" (demo)	7:35
5.	"Smart Window" (unreleased Painful session)	3:16
6.	"Big Day Coming" (live acoustic)	3:10
7.	"Slow Learner" (unreleased demo)	6:38
8.	"Double Dare" (demo)	3:24
9.	"A Worrying Thing" (demo)	2:57
10.	"I Heard You Looking" (live)	9:17

Extra Painful bonus downloadable additional tracks

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Double Dare (Sominextraction)" (live, CBGB, 1/31/92)	5:41
2.	"What She Wants" (live, House Of Music, West Orange)	2:54
3.	"Ashes On The Ground" (live, SIR, 9/29/93))	5:14
4.	"Nutricia" (recorded At Snack Time by Fred Brockman)	5:04
5.	"For Shame Of Doing Wrong (Slide Version)" (live, House Of Music, West Orange)	4:37
6.	"Superstar Watcher" (recorded At Snack Time by Fred Brockman)	1:45
7.	"Big Day Coming" (live, Reckless Records, 4/26/92)	19:02
8.	"I Was The Fool Beside You For Too Long" (live, SIR, 9/29/93)	4:43
9.	"Shaker" (live, The Batschkapp, Frankfurt, 1/3/94)	3:07
10.	"Artificial Heart" (live, Shank Hall, 5/11/93)	2:39
11.	"Whole Of The Law Loops" (Painful Sessions, Water Music & James Apartment 1992)	2:45
12.	"Nowhere Near" (live, Lounge Ax, Chicago 11/13/93)	6:04
13.	"Sleeping Pill" (excerpt From "Ian Mackaye", Room Temperature, Brooklyn 2/20/93)	2:12
14.	"Big Day Coming" (live, SIR, 9/29/93)	3:45
15.	"Sudden Organ" (live, SIR, 9/29/93)	7:04

Shaker 7" reissue

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Shaker"
2.	"For Shame Of Doing Wrong" (8-Track Version - the CD single contained a different version which is on the download coupon)

Notes

• An exact reproduction of the original single Shaker 7" came with the vinyl edition.
• 15 additional bonus tracks were available for download

Personnel

• Georgia Hubley – drums, percussion, vocals, guitar, organ
• Ira Kaplan – vocals, guitar, organ, percussion
• James McNew – bass, vocals, guitar, percussion

References

1. "The Top 25 College Radio Albums of All Time". CMJ New Music Report . Vol. 74, no. 5. CMJ Network, Inc. January 6, 2003. p. 20. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
2. Ankeny, Jason. "Yo La Tengo – Biography". AllMusic . Retrieved May 11, 2016.
3. Deming, Mark. "Painful – Yo La Tengo". AllMusic . Retrieved March 27, 2015.
4. Kot, Greg (November 11, 1993). "Melody Lingers On". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved October 12, 2016.
5. Christgau, Robert (2000). "Yo La Tengo: Painful". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN   0-312-24560-2 . Retrieved March 27, 2015.
6. "Yo La Tengo: Painful". Entertainment Weekly . October 8, 1993. p. 54.
7. Chick, Stevie (February 2015). "Yo La Tengo: Extra Painful". Mojo . No. 255. p. 102.
8. "Yo La Tengo: Painful". NME . November 6, 1993. p. 29.
9. Berman, Stuart (December 2, 2014). "Yo La Tengo: Extra Painful". Pitchfork . Retrieved March 27, 2015.
10. "Yo La Tengo: Extra Painful". Q . No. 342. January 2015. p. 139.
11. Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Yo La Tengo". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp.  896–97. ISBN   0-7432-0169-8.
12. Sheffield, Rob (1995). "Yo La Tengo". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 443–44. ISBN   0-679-75574-8.
13. Cosloy, Gerard (October 21, 2014). "Yo La Tengo > Coming December 2 : Yo La Tengo's 'Extra Painful' 2XLP / 2XCD". Matador Records . Retrieved December 9, 2014.
14. Painful - Yo La Tengo | Album | AllMusic , retrieved September 1, 2025
15. Electr-O-Pura - Yo La Tengo | Album | AllMusic , retrieved September 1, 2025
16. Earles, Andrew. Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981-1996. Voyageur Press. p. 361.
17. DeRogatis, Jim (2003). Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock. Hal Leonard. p. 517.
18. "Robert Christgau: Album: Yo La Tengo: Painful". www.robertchristgau.com. Retrieved September 1, 2025.
19. Deming, Mark. "Yo La Tengo Biography, Songs & Albums". AllMusic . Retrieved August 20, 2023.
20. Coleman, Rodger (March 27, 2013). "Yo La Tengo: Painful | 20 Years Later". Spectrum Culture. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
21. Berman, Stuart. "Yo La Tengo: Extra Painful". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 1, 2025.

External links

• Painful at Discogs (list of releases)