J. Twizzle
Wilco - Via Chicago
Wilco - Handshake Drugs
Randy Newman - Political Science
Uncle Tupelo - New Madrid
Good day, Hideaway frequenters. Forgive me, my frontal lobe is still recovering from a Saturday night of fun and frivolity. As I mentioned in my last post, I went to see Wilco in Kalamazoo, and my goodness gracious was it a humdinger of a show! As a bit of background, my older brother got me listening to them in high school, so I’ve got an emotional, nostalgiac connection workin on a few levels. But this was the best I’ve ever seen them play. Nay, it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
I’ve determined to stop ranking shows in my top 5, because I’ve noticed that I can’t really compare shows like the Quannum Crew or Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe with Ben Harper or Wilco. They produce totally different feelings of elation in me; one that involuntarily shakes my moneymaker until I’m sweating profusely & one that shakes, rattles, and rolls my very soul until the hair on the back of my neck stands up and I’ve got a cheesy grin on my face. This show fell head over heels into the latter category. Musically and songwriting-style-wise, I’ve seen Wilco change significantly since I saw them the first time about 6 years ago back in college when I was front and center, playing the role of Captain Superfan, you know, “that guy”. They were alt.country back then, no ifs ands or buts. With each subsequent album since that time, Jeff Tweedy’s songwriting has evolved into what is now a sort of arty, progressive style of rock music, with pop-style leanings. And, he’s become a charismatic frontman, which takes their live show to a whole other level. I’m just going to throw this out there, Question: Has Wilco become a prog-rock band for the new millennium? (I’m not saying they are writing songs like Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” or Yes’ “Roundabout”, it’s not a retro thing.) I think they’re “progressive” in the true sense of what that means in this day and age. They’ve show they can write an album of pop songs (Summerteeth), deconstruct the classic pop album (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot), and then synthesize both together into a style that can be played live by a six-piece (Ghost is Born). These days they’ve got 2 guitarists, 2 keyboardists, a bassist, and a drummer and they make good use of all the pieces. The new lead guitarist especially impressed me, something Wilco has needed for awhile. Singer and guitarist Jeff Tweedy is the only original member since the first album, A.M., but I think he’s shown that all the band changes over the years were more or less necessitated by the songwriting, style changes that he’s been going through since starting out. Don’t be confused, Jeff Tweedy=Wilco. He’s probably an ass to work with and create with, but you can’t argue with the quality of the body of work that he’s created. When you’re in a band w/ Tweedy, you either go along with the music he wants to make, or he’ll find someone else who’s into it. Such is the nature of some America’s favorite artists. Alright, I’m out of hyperbole, on to the music for today. I’ve got the song they opened up with (fittingly “Via Chicago” since Saturday was the last night of their tour), my favorite song off the new album("Handshake Drugs"), a song they covered (Randy Newman’s “Political Science”, ; I put this on a mix for a friend recently), and a pre-Wilco tune from Uncle Tupelo ("New Madrid" from Tweedy’s first band w/ Jay Farrar from Son Volt).
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