Fair, Jad & Yo La Tengo: Strange But True (CD)

In the ’90s, Jad Fair had five favourite bands and songwriters: Daniel Johnston, The Pastels, Sonic Youth, Teenage Fanclub, and Yo La Tengo. It’s a good list, sure, but what’s most remarkable about it is that, in the course of a dozen years or so, Fair made music with all of them in one form or another.

Jad Fair has been prolific for half a century now, long before the Internet could create a simultaneous and seemingly eternal archive of everything someone with his predilections made. He’s been involved in several hundred titles, at least, many of them out-of-print on tiny labels that do not exist anymore. In fact, one of those collaborations that Fair made in the ’90s — Strange But True, with Yo La Tengo — has been hard to find, despite its stateside release on October 20th 1998, by Matador Records.

For the first time, the album is being reissued on vinyl by Joyful Noise and Bar/None.

By the time Fair played a party with Yo La Tengo in the mid-’90s, they were all friends, fans, and collaborators, having worked on or released records together. When Fair suggested they all head into the studio, the trio bit. The result, Strange But True, is as wonderful, varied, and wild as some enormous lawn of native grasses. This collaborative album showcases the artists’ uncanny range, bringing us back to a time when indie rock was still free to be as weird and unruly as its makers wanted it to be.

1. Helpful Monkey Wallpapers Entire Home
2. Texas Man Abducted by Aliens for Outer Space Joy Ride
3. National Sports Association Hires Retired English Professor to Name New Wrestling Holds
4. Dedicated Thespian Has Teeth Pulled to Play Newborn Baby in High School Play
5. Three-Year-Old Genius Graduates High School at Top of Her Class
6. Embarrassed Teen Accidentally Uses Valuable Rare Postage Stamp
7. Principal Punishes Students with Bad Impressions and Tired Jokes
8. Retired Grocer Constructs Tiny Mount Rushmore Entirely of Cheese
9. X-Ray Reveals Doctor Left Wristwatch Inside Patient
10. Clumsy Grandmother Serves Delicious Dessert by Mistake #2
11. Retired Woman Starts New Career in Monkey Fashions
12. Circus Strongman Runs for PTA President
13. High School Shop Class Constructs Bicycle Built for 26
14. Clumsy Grandmother Serves Delicious Dessert by Mistake #1
15. Ohio Town Saved from Killer Bees by Hungry Vampire Bats
16. Nevada Man Invents Piano with 21 Extra Keys
17. Clever Chemist Makes Chewing Gum from Soap
18. Minnesota Man Claims Monkey Bowled Perfect Game
19. Ingenious Scientist Invents Car of the Future
20. Car Gears Stick in Reverse, Daring Driver Crosses Town Backwards
21. Shocking Fashion Statement Terrorizes Town
22. Feisty Millionaire Fills Potholes with Hundred-Dollar Bills