wilco

I have met maybe a half dozen people from Bellevillie, Illinois in my life, even dated a girl who took me back there past the Still Feel Gone highway signs to meet the parents. Each one, within five minutes of the city's first mention in our first conversation, has told me the same piece of trivia: That Belleville's Main Street is longer than anywhere else's.

Chapter One of Tweedy's memoir? "The Longest Main Street in the World". Apparently, they ain't all just playing to type.

long Main Street in Belleville, yeah, but personally I think the World's Largest Ketchup Bottle in Collinsville wins "coolest -est" among cities of the Metro East

anyone here considering a trip to this:

https://wilcoskybluesky.com

No but I'm going to Solid Sound for the first time next month!

I was driving around the other day when "Via Chicago" came on the radio. Of course the song is great, but I didn't totally recognize it as the version I knew, so figured it was a live version, or some other session. I Shazam it and it comes up the usual "Via Chicago." Hmm, I think, that can't be right, so I do it again, and get the same result. It turns out it'd been so long since I actually listened to "Summerteeth" and the studio version that I just didn't recognize it. Listening to "Summerteeth" right now it's more clear than ever that the band really, really lost something when it fired Jay Bennett. I mean, that's old news, and obviously Tweedy has remained a good and sometimes interesting songwriter, and the band long ago coalesced into something consistently solid, especially as a live act. But Bennett brought something to the band, or at least helped shape what Tweedy and the band did, that brought it to another level. Like, there are a lot of things at play, but I couldn't imagine Wilco playing a show without touching on songs from "Being There" or Summerteeth." The stuff is just too good, even after all this time. I guess in retrospect, "YHF" was more of a transitional album rather than a peak many made it out to be, with plenty of Bennett but also showing off the first full taste of Tweedy's more ascetic aesthetic. Tweedy and the band have remained good, but I don't think anything post "YHF" is in competition to supplant any of those Bennett albums as the band's best.

Anyway, no news here, just thinking about stuff.

i think a big part of what made YHF so great was tweedy, bennett and o'rourke all firing on full cylinders with the arrangements, despite the bennett/tweedy tensions they really ended up with great results there. it's a real shame the creative & personal differences between bennett & tweedy lead to tweedy firing bennett, so much colour was gone from the band's arrangements after bennett was fired, and his songwriting contributions were really missed too.

still kinda strange that they've never quite managed to make an album that captures how great they became as a live band either. like there's been the occasional moment where they get there on record in their current post-AGIB incarnation but never for anywhere near a whole album.

with "via chicago", it's one they really transform live with it getting even more chaotic etc., the studio version's great but it's even better live

yeah they are so much better live now

could definitely go with another live album

yeah kicking television is one of their very best releases & while it covers their strongest material there's still plenty of gems since then that have become live staples ("impossible germany" etc.) that would be great to have on a new live album

yeah I feel like "Impossible Germany" has turned into their "Dark Star"

last time I saw them was a very cute moment when Nels was going absolutely apeshit during IG and Tweedy looked at the crowd, shaking his head and laughing, then pointed at Nels with his thumb like "Can you believe this guy?"

can y'all recommend a good boot

I do not but that's a good idea

That's actually a good question. I've seen them a bunch, but all the most memorable ones were up to and including behind YHF. Since then the band has been remarkably consistent live. My favorite was a stand they did here for five nights where over the course of the week they played every song they'd ever recorded to date, including the one from the Sponge Bob movie. I saw a great Golden Smog set back in ... 1998? That was when Tweedy/Wilco was still in rock and tumble shambling mode.

This was a great one I saw:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7pY6UPPbVQ

from videos ive seen the yhf tour was their weakest, due to the transitional lineup where tweedy was the only guitarist

That wasn't my experience, those shows were pretty intense, iirc. Plus Leroy Bach played guitar, too. Definitely transitional, though.

^^I saw the Austin date on the first leg of that tour. The band brought it (and The Handsome Family on that show is one of my all-time opening act memories), but there was so much going on feelings-wise: YHF was still in limbo, 9/11 was only a couple weeks old, and those combined facts almost led them to cancel the tour. The decision not too, the band later said, is why they're still around today.

Would love to get recommendations on good live boots, too. (Paging Tyler..)

Having said that, this 2011 show in the Netherlands was streamed professionally and I love it. Beautifully shot. The opening song from that stream is on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4GWGSndpag

I captured the audio back then and burned it to cdr, I'll try to find it! Can't recall if the encore is on it though, seems like too much to burn to one cd..

Setlist:
One Sunday Morning
Poor Places
Art of Almost
I Might
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
One Wing
Bull Black Nova
Black Moon
Impossible Germany
Born Alone
Jesus, Etc.
Capitol City
Handshake Drugs
Dawned on Me
Hummingbird
Whole Love
A Shot in the Arm

Encore:
Via Chicago
California Stars
War on War
Standing O
I'm a Wheel
I'm the Man Who Loves You
Monday
Outtasite (Outta Mind)

Found the cdr. One single 64 minute track, so I'm sure the encore's not included, sadly. I'll look for the audio file on my old laptop so I can upload.

Listening now. Dear god, the synths/keys on "Art of Almost", Carl Craig should've remixed this a la "Revelee"... and the finale, it shreds!

Tweedy's written a ton of great songs, but there's a case to be made for "California Stars" as the one that's steadily climbing toward standard status. Case in point:

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

Isn't there a thread for artists whose best or best known song is a cover? This isn't quite that, but it is curious that one of Tweedy's best is a song written with Jay Bennett based on words from Woody Guthrie in at least passive collaboration with Billy Bragg.

say what

thought this revival was going to be about them going ahead with their Sky Blue Sky festival with Omicron peaking. all-inclusive at Hard Rock Riviera Maya. crazy.

I’ve been digging “she don’t have to see you” though the chorus makes no sense
Golden smog stuff is fun

xxxp the very first time I saw Wilco, I didn't know their music well enough to know "California Stars," but when they played it, Tweedy told everyone to sing along, assuming everyone would know it. (It was the only time he asked our audience to sing along during that show.) Barely anyone did, so then he joked, "maybe your parents know the words?"

not sure about 'california stars' being the most well-known thing, but i do agree it's a definite catalogue highlight.

that's an interesting thought though: what will be wilco's legacy tune?

("california stars" the current #2 on their spotify most-played; "jesus, etc." in the top spot by quite a ways)

Smooth jazz drummer

*percussionist

I think when Bob Seger covered this it kinda cemented it as a standard. Tune-wise it's a very Seger song - seemed inevitable that he'd hit it up at some point. Or maybe Seger has a way of making every song he covers (Busload of Faith, etc.) sound like a Seger song.

lol bob seger sux

Like a fuckin’ rock

"California Stars" walked so "Wagon Wheel" could run.

In all seriousness, "California Stars" was the song that got me into Wilco, a band I was aware of, but hadn't actually heard yet. I heard it one afternoon after school on our local Pacifica station, made sure I heard the DJ announce it, and then put Mermaid Avenue on my Xmas list, which Santa delivered. A few months later, Summerteeth dropped, which I picked up week of release (at Borders!) and then worked backwards.

The thing that nobody talks about but really makes the Mermaid Ave. take of "California Stars" work is the absolutely Gorgeous steel part by Corey Harris. I'd bet that's where a lot of people my age (almost 40) fell in love with steel guitar.

lol bob seger sux

maybe your parents like Bob Seger?

I’ve been digging “she don’t have to see you” though the chorus makes no sense
Golden smog stuff is fun

two

The thing that nobody talks about but really makes the Mermaid Ave. take of "California Stars" work is the absolutely Gorgeous steel part by Corey Harris. I'd bet that's where a lot of people my age (almost 40) fell in love with steel guitar.

― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, January 8, 2022 2:47 PM

this is definitely in line with things for me.

also, maybe i just have a very small attention span but i always felt like "california stars" was an outlier in the mermaid ave stuff - because it's so much better.

yeah can’t lie I wasn’t bowled over by either disc, outside maybe 3-4 tunes

still a cool project tho

Bill Callahan looks real comfortable in that clip, lol

lol he sure does

and the "flamenco dancer"!

had a moment with “summer teeth” the song recently. always had a soft spot for their sentimental country-ish ones

there's something incredibly depressing about that austin city limits clip, haha! i think it might be the looming shadow of bill callahan just standing on the side while everyone does little dances and claps

"California Stars" has a special place in my heart as the song that feels like the purest possible distillation of loss and grief, so much so that listening to it feels cathartic, like this cleansing tide of world-sorrow washes through me every time I hear it.

It's partly the lyrics: that sense of loss and nostalgia for an unreachable past, that sense of wanting desperately to go home, is already quite beautiful and moving. But then the Wilco interpretation brings something else to it, I think: the perspective of someone who knows that Woody Guthrie died of a horrible protracted illness in a hospital a long way from California, and so it becomes not just a song by Woody Guthrie but also, and in parallel, a song of grief for Woody Guthrie and the way his life ended. And the longing in the lyrics and the sense of grief and compassion in the music blend together into a song that I find almost too painful to listen to.

"California Stars" has a special place in my heart as the song that feels like the purest possible distillation of loss and grief...I find almost too painful to listen to.

This is how I feel about "Remember the Mountain Bed".

I believe the flamenco dancer is Robert Rodriguez's sister Patricia Vonne, who was singing backup with Alejandro Escovedo during his set and who has been putting out Flamenco-y Spanish Rock & Rockabilly records for like 20 years now.

And the longing in the lyrics and the sense of grief and compassion in the music blend together into a song that I find almost too painful to listen to.

― Lily Dale, Sunday, January 9, 2022 12:18 PM

this is an interesting thought and appropriate for this thread: i remember an interview that jeff tweedy did in the ghost is born/kicking television era where he voiced a similar sentiment. he talked about how there were records and performances that he loved so much that it became almost painful for him to listen to them because they resonated so deeply. i wish i could remember what publication it was for, but i remember his use of (a variation on) the phrase "hitting too close for comfort" changed my mind about what he was trying to convey. i remember reading the conversation and thinking, up until he said that, "what a dork, if you like the music, jam it!" idk what it was about him putting it that way, but it immediately changed my mind because i got it.

anyway, yes i totally get that vibe from "california stars." i always just assumed that the narrator has never actually seen the stars from california.

California Starts

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/cancun-concerts-wilco-dmb-omicron-1281187/

Ha, yeah, that's been a problem for bands doing these Mexico event festivals. Dead & Co's turned into an absolute shitshow. They wouldn't offer refunds for the longest time but, finally, as Omicron cases climbed they relented and offered refunds. Then about a week before the festival, Billy Kreutzmann pulled out for health reasons (he really had trouble at the end of their last tour, so it wasn't terribly surprising). Then a couple days before the festival, John Mayer came up positive for Covid and two days later his replacement also came up positive. They ended up finally canceling the whole thing the day before it was supposed to start, but after a lot of people had already flown down to Mexico. There were rumors of people who showed up to check in to their hotel and told they couldn't, since it was a package deal and the cancellation also impacted the lodging. Apparently they ended up making it right, a little, by honoring the stays of those who had traveled and refunding completely for the others. Don't know why they didn't just pull the plug earlier.

(forgive me if that's all covered later in that article, but I hit a paywall)

Who is John mayers replacement ?

Well, just for the festival it was going to be Tom Hamilton from Joe Russo's Almost Dead.