Bill just loves to disagree with me:
>Hmm, for a small hypothetical, if you removed the vocal track from all
>three Wilco records, and just listened to the instrumentals, you wouldn't
>find each record different from the other? (What's the degree of difference
>significant to your mini-analysis here? "Drastically different" is a
>self-justifying measure of judgement. And what constitutes a "breakthrough?")
>To me, BEING THERE sounds notably different from AM, the transition from
>twang-rock into twang-pop into the notably different pop stylings of
>SUMMERTEETH.
Being There sounds mildly different from A.M. (which was poppier and less
twangy than Bill is suggesting, to my ears) if you subtract the vocals, I
guess, but it's a point on a continuum, not the sort of reinventing of a
sound that so many critics made it out to be. What I've heard of
Summerteeth sounds like the next point along the continuum; the production
is the biggest difference, obviously.
To put it differently, I'd say that:
--for A.M., Jeff spent about five minutes writing each song, and the band
spent about ten minutes on each song in the studio;
--for Being There, Jeff spent about five minutes writing each song, and the
band spent about a day on each song in the studio; and
--for Summerteeth, Jeff spent about five minutes on the melody of each song
and ten minutes on the lyrics, and the band spent about two weeks on each
song in the studio.
You'll note a certain similarity in the creative process for all three
records. <g>
>
>>I'm withholding full judgement
>>until I've heard the whole record more than once, but for now, I give it an
>>"it sucks." <g>
>
>I'll be holding my breath until the big light bulb comes on and the sheer
>brilliance (or even the barely-marginal OK-ness) of SUMMERTEETH reveals
>itself to you. <g>
>
>Geez, if you were the judge of most any Tweedy endeavor, I'd get a change
>of venue, begging your honor's pardon.
I'm not sure it's accurate or justified to characterize me as a relentless
Tweedy-basher. It's true that I didn't like them live, enough so that I
don't plan to see them perform again. But I liked A.M. reasonably well and
still listen to it from time to time. I liked parts of Being There very
much and parts of it not at all, and I rarely find myself with the urge to
listen to it. I love Mermaid Avenue, and though I'm more of a Billy Bragg
fan than a Wilco fan, I like Jeff's songs on the record a lot too.
Summerteeth, so far, just sounds like a big ol' muddle to me. Still, I
remain convinced of Jeff's and Wilco's ability to make a great record; I
just don't think they've done it yet. And I'll continue to pay attention to
what he does, if not nearly as avidly as I do with his former bandmate.
>
>off to mow two yards,
>b.s.
>
>n.p. A Replacements overview show on KCUR. How about some "objective"
>analysis on that new Westerberg record?
>I just heard 3 tracks and they didn't suck, though I wasn't sure if it was
>my cup of tea. <g>
>
I don't even pretend to be objective about Westerberg, but I've listened to
the new record as open-mindedly as I can, and I think about half of it is
almost embarrassingly bad. The other half, though, is probably Westerberg's
best solo work, and it contains more (apparently) real emotion than I've
heard in his previous solo work. It's not the masterpiece I hope he still
has in him, but it's an encouraging step.
--Amy
