Wilco.....anyone?

Started by Caleb, September 27, 2006, 05:43:16 PM

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any fans here?

im a bit late to the party on these guys, im afraid.   im sort of getting into their history backwards.  ive got 2 wilco cds that im trying out:  'a ghost is born' and 'kicking televsion' - the double live disc. 

ive also got one cd by son volt, the "other" spin-off from uncle tupelo, who ive yet to hear a tune by.

anyone into any of this type of music here?

Yes!!!!!!!!! "Being There" is woderful as well.. Also, give a listen to Mermaid Ranch... it is a collaboration with Billy Brag on previously unheard Woody Guthrie lyrics... there is a follow-up, but I haven't heard it yet.  :thumb

I have the last Son Volt, Okemah and the Melody of Riot.  Excellent tunes, great crunchy guitars, definitely worth a listen

I own most of the wilco/son volt/uncle tupelo collection. IMO, the best of the bunch are Trace (Son Volt), Anodyne (Uncle Tupelo), and A.M. (Wilco). This is the early stuff, and very representative of the alt.country movement these bands are known for pioneering. While Wilco remains interesting, they have definitely evolved into more of a "indie" sound, and with constant personnel changes are not the same band.

Check out the DVD "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart", which chronicles the making of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Great documentary.

Quote from: stubby on September 28, 2006, 04:31:02 PM
I own most of the wilco/son volt/uncle tupelo collection. IMO, the best of the bunch are Trace (Son Volt), Anodyne (Uncle Tupelo), and A.M. (Wilco). This is the early stuff, and very representative of the alt.country movement these bands are known for pioneering. While Wilco remains interesting, they have definitely evolved into more of a "indie" sound, and with constant personnel changes are not the same band.

Check out the DVD "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart", which chronicles the making of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Great documentary.
i scored trace off ebay last week for $3. im REALLY liking this cd. i keep getting outbid on AM each time i try to get it. and it seems that all uncle tupelo stuff has got a serious cult following, so ive not won an auction yet. the wilco stuff i have is what my local library has in stock. i have to admit, im a bit underwhelmed by most of it. just too weird and "experimental" sounding. some of it is growing on me, but some gives me a headache....all that pounding random notes on the piano and things like that.

waht i REALLY want is to check out the earlier alt-country stuff. im getting more and more into this style of music and i hear that these guys (uncle tupelo, son volt, and early wilco) were about as good as it gets.

btw, where can i check out that documentary? does blockbuster have it....or is it something you have to purchase? i hate buying dvds. i watch them once...maybe twice....but then they just sit.


Sound of Acoustic, I think the DVD is a little obscure. I bought a copy - couldn't tell you if Blockbuster carries it.

Summerteeth is my favorite Wilco CD.  I wouldn't put it in the "uplifting" category, though; it's a pretty depressing collection of songs.
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question:  can anyone tell me what the "no depression" movement is? i know there is a song by wilco called no depression, though ive not heard it. is this sarcasm of some kind? i also recently found that there is a magazine titled no depression.

anyone?

If I've got this right, "No Depression" was a Carter Family song written in the '30's. Uncle Tupelo used this as the title of one of their cd's. The term "no depression" is more or less synonymous with the the "alt.country" movement which was seen by some to have been spearheaded by Uncle Tupelo.

As for the magazine, No Depression is essentially the alt.country bible. I've been reading it for years, and it's turned me on to a number of relatively obscure artists in the alt.country vein. I recommend it highly. For more info on that, you can google the no depression website. 

Quote from: NotConvicted on September 30, 2006, 10:29:05 PM
Summerteeth is my favorite Wilco CD.  I wouldn't put it in the "uplifting" category, though; it's a pretty depressing collection of songs.
got summerteeth yesterday. sounds really good to me, though kind of dark at times.

Quote from: NotConvicted on September 30, 2006, 10:29:05 PM
Summerteeth is my favorite Wilco CD.  I wouldn't put it in the "uplifting" category, though; it's a pretty depressing collection of songs.
after listening to them for the last month, i would have to agree that summerteeth takes first prize.  i do not have "being there" though.  i think YHF seems to be somewhat overhyped imo.  summerteeth has the best melodies. heck i even like AM better than YHF.  i think A Ghost Is Born is pretty good too. it took me a while to "get" Wilco, but i do now.  i do have to say that Tweedy sounds like one tormented soul.  some of those lyrics could only come from someone a bit distured on some level.

from what ive read, Farrar was the innovator back in the Uncle Tupelo days with Tweedy. looks like Tweedy has found himself....and some though....these days. i probably like Son Volt better than Wilco, from what ive heard though. at any rate, im glad to have found out about all these guys. 

Thought I'd bring this one back to life....

I just picked up Wilco's new one, Sky Blue Sky today.  I'm still on the first spin, but my initial impression is that I have no idea how to catagorize it.  It's got elements of 70s and 80s rock mixed with elevator music.  It seems like a bit of a departure from the other CDs they've put out.  But I guess each one is a depature from the previous one for them.  I'm not sure if I'm going to like it, but we'll see. 

Does anyone else have this one yet?

Around 1995 a buddy said "check out these cds, you'll love these guys" and lent me his Uncle Tupelo and Wilco cds. Well, I found them quite unbearable but forced myself to listen all the way through.
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Quote from: Novalis on October 16, 2007, 08:13:00 PM
Around 1995 a buddy said "check out these cds, you'll love these guys" and lent me his Uncle Tupelo and Wilco cds. Well, I found them quite unbearable but forced myself to listen all the way through.
:yak:
That's exactly what happened to me when I first listened to them.  But I stuck with it, mainly because I couldn't believe all the fuss over such a crappy band. One day I just "got it" and have liked them ever since.  Summerteeth is one of the best albums in my collection, in any genre.  YMMV

Quote from: Denis on September 28, 2006, 12:20:52 PM
I have the last Son Volt, Okemah and the Melody of Riot.  Excellent tunes, great crunchy guitars, definitely worth a listen


There's an even newer new one called The Search that's quite good.  I saw them last summer and really liked them.  Jay Farrar is quite the dour fellow though.
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Quote from: Tycho on October 16, 2007, 09:18:42 PM
There's an even newer new one called The Search that's quite good.  I saw them last summer and really liked them.  Jay Farrar is quite the dour fellow though.
Jay needs a serious dose of my sig line.   :laughin:

My first post on the Larrivee message board is about wilco and not about my newly acquired OM-50-TSB. yikes. I guess that describes how much I like Wilco.

I own all their albums, plus bonus tracks, the collaboration with Billy Bragg (Mermaid Avenue by the way), have seen them 4 or 5 times over the years and have amassed a great deal of appreciation for them. If you haven't already, get the Sky Blue Sky version with the bonus DVD  -- some great live performances and interviews from the current Wilco incarnation.

As for recommendations, if you're into the rootsy stuff, the previous posts about Being There, AM are spot on. The early Son Volt (Trace and Straightaways) are solid, but I kind of feel that Jay Farrar has been struggling do something interesting since then. I only have Uncle Tupelo's Anodyne, but it is definitely a must own.

These have been mostly covered, so let me also suggest the Wilco Live album, as well as the Jeff Tweedy Live DVD (which also comes with  MP3 tracks). They're a good indication of just how solid the band is LIVE, although the Tweedy solo dvd is probably for the superfans only.

Some more esoteric stuff that may be of interest:

Golden Smog - Weird Tales.... An alt-country super group of sorts, Tweedy, the guy from the Jayhawks, etc. Some fantastic roots rock songs from Tweedy and others.

The Minus 5 - Down With Wilco... Collaboration with wilco. no tweedy singing, but some fantastic songs. As a matter for fact, check out all the Minus 5 stuff. It's the guy who was in Young Fresh Fellows

Loose Fur - s/t & Born Again in the USA - Tweedy and Glen Kotchke (wilco drummer) and the amazing producer/musician Jim O'Rourke (from Wilco, Sonic Youth, also did all the music from School of Rock). It's very loose and interesting and I actually prefer the O'Rourke stuff to Tweedy's.

Anyway, I'm wayyyy to into Wilco. and btw the new Larrivee is beautiful in both sound and appearance
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I can get into some of the Wilco stuff but not nearly as easily as Son Volt.   As some others have said, Son Volt's earlier efforts were the best in my opinion.  I saw them in a little club in Sacramento, Calif. about the time the Trace album came out and they were pretty solid then.  The songs on "Trace" just stick with me for some reason.  I 'm a sucker for the well-turned phrase and Jay Farrar is a great songwriter.

I really like the latest albums but I don't consider them alt country. Some spots are, but not the record...

AM is in my top five albums ever.  I think I learned alot of my country licks from it. 
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is also in there. Just a great record. I like listening to it in order. I think it may be one of the last albums that actually made sense that way for me.

I didn't get Wilco for 3 years, and then I saw the movie about Yankee Hotel Foxtrot...  Bought the record... and got hooked instantly. But it did take a couple of years.

I know that there is a Wilco song for every mood I have. Which is nice because I can only think of a few artists like that exist for individual people.


Recent pictures of Jeff Tweedy show him playing a 12-fret, probably 000 style guitar.  Anybody know what it is??
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