20 thoughts on “Saturday Spins: Wilco Schmilco”

1. Ehh, “common sense” seems like an example of Tweedy and the band doing that space music thing they began experimenting with around the time of the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album. (Maybe earlier?) I always account for those self-indulgent dissonant-noise moments by trying to figure out what particular mood they’re trying to create and settling into it. Whether I want to or not. I mean, I’m a Wilco fan afterall.

   Thanks for writing this. Wilco loves ya baby.

   Add: I’ve always wondered … did Jeff and Jay Farrar have a competing space music thing going on there which they both were inspired by, trying to outdo each other?Report

   1. Read the autobiography! Jeff is real careful to not outright call Jay a lot of mean names.Report

      1. The only story I know from the Uncle Tupelo days, one where Jeff is (mildly!) critical of Jay is about Jeff emerging as a song writer. He wrote some songs, brought them into the studio for Jay to sing, and Jay tells bass-playing, non-singer Jeff “sing your own damn songs.” 🙂

         Adding: when you referred to Wilco as “dad rock” I immediately remembered a line from 30 Rock where a black woman, referring to an event she attended, said “there were more white people there than at a Wilco concert”.Report

2. I have really good friends who are huge Wilco fans and they have tried and tried to get me interested, but, even after repeated listens, it just isn’t happening for me. The first 2 tracks of The Whole Love gave me real hope, but the rest of the album reverted back to mid-tempo dad rock (sorry!).

   Jeff Tweedy is a great guy (humble brag time – my band played at a block party he was at. When we were done, he and I talked about minor league baseball.), and he’s one of the best story tellers I’ve ever met. His book took me about a day to read. He’s that good. If he ever to decided to take the Henry Rollins tack, he’d clean up. I’ve just always felt like there was a sameness to his songs.

   Here’s a great take on one of there songs:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQvHzZ2bk2YReport

   1. I’ve just always felt like there was a sameness to his songs.

      Isn’t that true of all musicians with substantial work under their belts though? I mean, all Radiohead songs sound like … Radiohead songs, no?

      Are you maybe saying he’s overly *safe* in his songwriting/presentation, along the lines of Tom Waits criticism of the Eagles?

      Also, your linky is broken.Report

      1. Well, shoot. Here you go:

         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK6VILyHVDEReport

         1. Holy shit that’s some damn good fun. Thanks!Report

         2. That was…an interesting take on that song.Report

         3. Compare to

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLlg9LMPwnE

            I’ll take the Wilco version, myself. The cover is super fun, but cheap[ and easy.Report

      2. Tweedy’s lyrics are far from safe. And, as he admitted in his book, they’re kind of stream of conscious-esque.

         I’m getting more at how samey his vocals are. I get he’s trying to sell records, but at this point he’s entitled to be a little more adventurous in direction than he’s been willing to take the band. He could make a solid living without ever leaving Chicago, that’s how beloved this group is in this town. And, I’ll bet Wilco’s fans might be interested in whatever different direction the band might take.Report

         1. Well, he’s also not a very good vocalist by conventional standards. He’s got a very limited range, seems to me, not only in scale but types of songs he could effectively sing.

            Jagger once criticized Dylan’s claim that he could have written “Satisfaction” by saying “but could he sing it.” I dunno. It’s easier to cover a great song than write it I guess. 🙂Report

         2. OK, I just conducted an experiment Slade. I listened to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in its entirety and I can categorically say that there is no “sameness” to Tweedy’s songs. 🙂Report

            1. Jay Bennett had ongoing litigation RE Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and songwriting attributions before he died.Report

               1. Yeah, but that dispute goes back to the end of Uncle Tupelo and origins of Wilco, doesn’t it? That is, it isn’t restricted to YHF?Report

                  1. Yea it was for back royalties, but the gravamen of the suit was for his work on YHF and the documentary where they very publicly fired him.Report

                  2. Alan Parsons sued Pink Floyd for royalties on Dark Side of the Moon.

                     I’m not unsympathetic.Report

                  3. {{I need to watch that damn documentary…}}Report

            2. Ha, you won’t sucker me in with that! Wilco remains for me a singles band.Report

3. Thanks for exposing me to more Wilco. I’ve only really listened to them on Mermaid Avenue with Billy Bragg…listened to that one A LOTReport

   1. There’s a hilarious story about those sessions in Greg Kot’s Wilco book. Seems Billy Bragg was absolutely dumbfounded when work ground to a halt because the guys in the band were watching The Simpsons.Report

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