badger

My instrumental album: http://www.wix.com/harrmich/harrismusic

I am also a devotee of this excellent programme, every Saturday morning. There always seems to be something on there that I've never heard before. Brian's now 83! You might also want to check out Sounds of the Seventies with Johnnie Walker.

Maybe that's true, but I really enjoy hearing SBS songs live (even the ones I don't particularly like on the record) and that's what, over time, has rendered it, as an album, almost unlistenable for me. I was really excited about the "back to basics" approach when it came out, and still believe that overall, it contains a solid set of songs, bar the few oft-quoted stinkers. However, the live versions really, really rock, in comparison to what I hear as a much more tentative approach on the record (much as Cryptique described, a few posts back), despite the "liveness" of its recording. As

Full band version?

I agree with a lot of what you say here, but I don't think that the arrangement problem you allude to revolves around Nels Cline necessarily. I also don't believe that Wilco is likely to shift its focus significantly from being a guitar band. In my opinion, the arrangements could just do with being sparser and more dynamic. The precedent set by SBS, where they all sat down and recorded together, is in some ways a dangerous one, because it assumes that everyone has to be involved all the time. A band which has built such a successful live reputation, is also likely to arrange parts for all i

I'd hoped we might get something special for the last date of the tour, but when the band didn't appear until 9.15, I feared my hopes would be dashed. Wilco, however, did not disappoint!! By my timing, Pivoboy (I could be wrong), they actually went off at 11.32. Incidentally, the first-ever Vienna show last week also had 27 songs, but there were 10 (TEN) changes to the setlist for this show. There were an awful lot of Americans in attendance (mostly nice ones), which definitely helped with the overall atmosphere of familiarity with the material; but in my opinion, (biased I know, because I

What an excellent venue! As mentioned, the gasometers are visually stunning and all the concert facilities were well-organized with extremely friendly staff (the Germans/Swiss/Austrians seem particularly good at this). For me, the sound was pretty good a few rows back and I'm sure it was better nearer the desk. The setlist had a nice mixture of rock and more pastoral numbers and the encore seriously rocked (Hoodoo was hilarious!). The crowd really played its part and was both energetic and friendly. I said hello to bbop and learned that he is not in fact an idle millionaire who has devot

Not sure what a psychiatrist/psychologist would make of this, but was sufficiently disturbed that I needed to post it as therapy. Anyway, last night I dreamt that I was invited to join Wilco as a full member, although on what instrument was not entirely clear. This of course seemed completely natural and plausible during the dream. We were rehearsing for a gig the following evening in an old rented house (it might have been Headley Grange, but I wasn't sure). A few hours prior to showtime, everybody decided to have a nap. I took this opportunity to get in the van (the only obviously avai

To nevadí - Viden je bližší!

Are you sure it's Prague? Brno would be good (for me anyway!!!!). Like Bbop, I'm sure that a lot of Americans will attend the show, but when Wilco played Dresden in 2007, a fair handful of Czechs were there, so it will be interesting to see how much local support there is. Additionally, unusual foreign bands playing here often generate nationwide publicity, so it's possible that a lot of people will go out of curiosity.

CZECH REPUBLIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My own wishful thinking is as follows: Wilco are definitely recording this month. W(TA) was quite a short album, by Wilco standards at least, therefore there is already a heap of top material in the can. The untypically sparse number of released out-takes (one b-side?) supports this theory. The 7 Worlds Collide fast recording process has inspired Jeff to bang one out sharpish. Next Wilco album is released summer 2010. Call me a hopeless optimist, I don't care!

But that's exactly my point. After the initial euphoria associated with hearing SBS, I concluded that the first half was great and the second half was well, mediocre at best. Over time, for a number of reasons, mainly I think, hearing great live versions of the initially-assessed mediocre songs, I grew to like the second half a lot more. As a result, for me, and just for now, SBS is a more cohesive album than W(TA). However, I am fully prepared to accept that W(TA) may achieve the same feat in the future. Of course, that's just my opinion and it may not work for you in the same way, but

I think you're probably right. I listened to SBS and W(TA) back-to-back the other day, and SBS definitely came across as a weightier and more impressive listen. This was totally contrary to my first impressions.

Some really interesting stuff from this band, but when the pianist goes off into one of his more dissonant departures, I can't help thinking of Les Dawson (it's possible that only UK members will know what this means)!

Having been at shows where it broke down, albeit quite amusingly, it was great for it to go on so perfectly in time, and for so long!

A few random points I noted: After the "Jesus etc" singalong, someone threw a cigarette onto the stage, to which Jeff commented "How poetic!" A couple of people near where I was standing, held up lighters during the first part of "Poor Places". Jeff gave them the kind of seriously unimpressed/withering look that only he can. "Hate it Here" and "Walken", two songs I'm not overly fond of, were both incredibly tight and really rocked. The audience clapping during the "Spiders" breakdown was totally metronomic - hey, this was Switzerland! On the way out, I paid my compliments to Stan on

Finally obtained this recently on CD and wasn't disappointed. However, my copy has absolutely no information in the booklet. This may be standard issue, but since both Tweedy and Kotche are on there, I was really looking forward to finding out who played what on each track. I really like the way the Loose Fur albums dealt with that. I've looked around and not come up with anything. Does anyone have the knowledge?

I'm thinking of following your advice, but can you tell me if the Volkshaus is a mixed standing/seated venue. Their website seems to suggest so, but my German is embarrassingly limited. I'm really not keen on all-seater places, because people (including me) do want to stand up regardless. Otherwise, it looks like a great, compact place - capacity about 1500?

Great cover! I'm really looking forward to this one coming out now - next month?

He's got a point: Wilco (The Album) - first week, number 49 in the UK album chart, second week, no trace in the top 100. Still, this is a chart currently featuring no less than 3 Take That albums!

It really strongly reminds me of the way "Long, Long, Long" follows "Helter Skelter".

Has anybody else noticed what a total rip W(TA) is of The Residents "Commercial Album" (apart from it being 2 minutes longer and having 29 fewer tracks and the title moving the "the" in "The Residents" to "The Album", with brackets and missing out the word "commercial")?

As a self-confessed grumpy old git - and hyper-critical one where music is concerned, I can report, for reasons not fully-formed yet, that there is hardly a second that I don't love on the new record. I don't give a monkey's if it's too eclectic, not experimental enough, or parts of some of the songs sound like songs I don't like. Overall it works for me, in a way that probably "A New World Record" did in 1977.

I have to say that during the Wilco shows I've been to, Nels has drawn quite a lot of attention (too much for some people). Watching the DVD reminded me why: there can be few guitarists around today who commit so physically to their performance. He really is wrenching every last shred of emotion from his instrument and his improvization within solos, when it comes off, is spine-chilling. IMO, this has enhanced Wilco's live reputation over the last couple of years. Also clear to me from the DVD is that Nels and Jeff really combine well as guitarists, in completely different styles. Now