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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsWilco's "Bull Black Nova"...
I avoided Wilco for years, because I saw what seemed like a painful degree of hype...I did listen to Son Volt quite a bit, the other half of the Uncle Tupelo split.
This year, I decided I was going to finally start exploring. I picked a track at random..."Bull Black Nova"...and thought "Holy CRAP, this is EVERYTHING I LOVE about music."
I knew a little bit about the band's history...beginnings as a "twang band" a la early R.E.M., an abandonment of their early sound, a partial return to it in later years, and when I tried to listen to "Ode To Joy" I thought "What the hell is THIS turgid crap?"
I interact with quite a few musicians on Facebook, and just put the question out there..."What happened, what's the story here?" I was directed to the Marc Maron interview with Jeff Tweedy (available on YouTube) and Tweedy's own book.
Short version is the first song I picked, and loved, was described as an "outlier" in the overall Wilco catalogue...wouldn't ya know it...but I tend to do that, lock in on the "outside" stuff.
They lost me when their main stock in trade became somber, acoustic dirges. C'est la vie, I guess.
Response to Miles Archer (Original post)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)(which you should hear if you've not ... their 4 albums are all genius)
And yeah, Ode to Joy is pretty dull. And yeah, Bull Black Nova is something of a outlier, but not entirely. Great song though.
Wilco Albums I strongly recommend listening to:
Being There
Summerteeth
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (of course)
Sky Blue Sky
Wilco (The Album) (which you likely have heard)
The Whole Love
Those I think best represent their repertoire ... first Mermaid Street album is pretty great too. Star Wars is also a pretty cool album.
For Uncle Tupelo ... Anodyne and Still Feel Gone are my preferred two, but the other two are also great.
BTW, Son Volt's stock in trade is more somber acoustic tunes than Wilco's ... Wilco is almost infinitely more diverse
Response to mr_lebowski (Reply #2)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)From Being There, their 2nd album, 1996 (my list above is chronological)
From #3, Summerteeth (1999)
Killer live version ...
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)Show I went to when Jay was doing a solo tour between Son Volt records ...
https://imgur.com/a/Lc8WOLl
Saw Wilco on Being There and Summerteeth but believe it or not, both were free shows (Summerteeth was the KFOG Kaboom show, a yearly fireworks display on the SF Wharf ... which I'm guessing is dead cause KFOG just died earlier this year), so no ticket stub to show off
Response to mr_lebowski (Reply #14)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)I hear you RE: Son Volt...the stuff I like is along the lines of "Route"...I have to have a certain level of patience to listen to acoustic music from anyone. I do, I own quite a lot of it, but it's never a 7 day a week thing for me.
Uncle Tupelo will be interesting, having heard the splinter bands first.
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)No Depression & Still Feel Gone ... The March SomeDate album is mostly acoustic, and Anodyne is maybe 1/3 acoustic but is generally slower than the first two except a couple tunes ... but it's probably the best overall album (and their last).
Here's MAAAAYBE my favorite Tupelo song ...
Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)Neil Young's my favorite performer, "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" is my all-time favorite album, so I'm definitely up for that sound.
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)They're roughly a amalgam of Young, Creedence, and ... Nirvana.
In fact, No Depression came out before Nevermind and frankly I'd be shocked if it wasn't some inspiration to Kurt.
What I esp. love about these records is ... they're freaking kids, but as you can hear the above, uncannily world-wise, esp. Jay's songs. He's like early 20's when that came out ... it's kinda crazy.
One more for ya ... this is one of Glam's faves, he's posted it a bunch ...
Give it a minute ... trust me ...
Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)...I'll probably pick up the Anthology as well. Thanks again for the recommendations, you definitely hit the sweet spot.
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)Is also their one and only national TV appearance ... I love Jay's flame-throwing, Neil Young style licks on this one ... he was not happy the record company made 'em play a Tweedy song though ... he was more the front-man and wrote more of the bands music ... which is kinda trite, but I think it fueled his guitar maelstrom which is kickass, so ...
Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)...I discovered quite a few new acts on his show.
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)That's the sound. Spend a lot of time in that realm.