badger

My instrumental album:

http://www.wix.com/harrmich/harrismusic

 

My favorite show is Sounds of the 60s - Brian Matthew.

 

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.

I said it was only "a shame" because people can have opinions and not affect mine - but it is a shame knowing that at a Wilco concert, a few select fans shiver out of disgust when an SBS song is played. That is a shame.

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 a result, I think it's the least definitive WIlco album. I've heard plenty of great live versions of Wilco songs which didn't stop the originals from sounding great. Unfortunately, as far as I'm concerned, the live versions of SBS songs, almost without exception, have ended up making the recorded ones sound lame. So I definitely don't hate SBS, I just find it irrelevant.

Full band version?

i personally think the biggest problem with the last two albums was the arrangements of the songs, tweedy's writing was roughly the same (maybe not at his peak, but still very good) - although everything about the last ones production was bad, in my eyes. it really comes down to having nels cline in the band, which seems to limit how they perform the songs. everything seems to revolve around the electric guitar - if there's a riff it's on the guitar, solos are on the guitar etc... i just want them to let the other people have a go for once. also, i keep saying this everytime i talk about what i want - i want some effort put into the vocal arrangements. making the backing singing interesting, at least 2 of the other members sing, so why can't they do something a bit more interesting with that? so, folk, rock, soul, reggae, whatever - it doesn't matter, they just need to make the arrangements interesting again.

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 its members.

More light and shade within songs would make a big difference. They're all great players, it's just that when they're all competing for space in the aural spectrum for too long, definition and sonic identity gets lost. A lot of this could be achieved just through imaginative and/or brutal editing, which is what happened with a lot of YHF, after all.

You won't find a guitarist with more colours on his sonic palette than Nels Cline, so personally, I don't think it's a guitar problem of his making. Live, I think that some of the most exciting moments revolve around the combination of Tweedy's acoustic and Cline's electric. More of these dynamic combinations, in greater isolation and involving some of the other voices, as you suggest, would be good.

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 live here) a special mention should go to the Czech crowd, which was fantastic beyond expectation.

I felt a bit sorry for the security men, who were trying to do a thankless and impossible job in stopping people from taking pictures. The photography continued right up to the end of the show, but became more covert, which achieved something, I suppose.

The upshot of the almost comical, constant battle between the security and crowd members was the creation of a certain strange tension, which I felt heightened the atmosphere. It also removed the potential for far less desirable tension between the crowd and Jeff Tweedy.

It might be just me, or where I was stood (somehow I eventually ended up at the front), or the acoustics/small dimensions of The Archa, or maybe Stan just really cranked it up, but it's a long time since I remember sound with such a physical effect. I swear there were bass frequencies which kicked me in the ribs in a way which I can only compare to those Moog Taurus pedals Rush and Genesis used in the 70s (OK, I was there). The feedback at the end of Handshake was the most piercing I've heard and caused considerable suffering to the security guys!

The appearance of Radio Cure early on suggested the possibility of something extraordinary, Laminated Cat reinforced that feeling and when the intro to Too Far Apart started, it had officially become epic! Jesus, Kingpin and KT were just joyous.

As Pivoboy has previously pointed out, Tony Margherita took a bit of a punt on coming here. I'm really glad it was a successful show (maybe even financially?) and hope that it bodes well for future visits, perhaps even beyond the capital.

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 devoted the rest of his life to Wilco shows (although the second part might be true)!

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 available means of transport) and drive to the venue, leaving the others stranded.

Now here's the interesting part: a few minutes prior to showtime, with me the only member of Wilco actually ready to go at the venue, the remaining 6 members of the band arrived, each one driving a Banana Buggy (from the Banana Splits 1970's TV show) and looking distinctly less than happy.

Jeff in particular, gave me a withering look as he drove past me.

je mi lito - Moravci.

To nevadí - Viden je bližší!

Prague in September?

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm pretty sure that part is true. I remember reading something to that effect.

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 this is suggesting that W(TA) will be thought of as a greater Wilco record in the future. It MAY sound a little better in the future, but the thing that I think it lacks....cohesiveness...won't ever improve.

 

I'd say the first half of W(TA) is great. The 2nd half is mediocre at best.

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 that's the whole point - how it's thought of is our personal property.

With the things work around here, the next album will push SBS into classic status and move W(TA) to very good status.

 

Folks are fickle and judemental.

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)!

that clapping actually was in double-time.

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 a typically excellent sound job, which he modestly acknowledged. What a nice chap.

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?

Hi everybody,

 

i would totally pick zurich

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?

Something along the lines of however many gigs they play in UK they always sell exactly the same number of records so not inclined to play many gigs here.

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!

These two songs back-to-back are killer.

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.

It's funny. After watching Jeff play "ALTWYS" on Ashes of American Flags, and after watching Ashes of American Flags, I realized I'd hit my Nels Cline saturation point.

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 that is a special recipe in a rock and roll band, which is what Jeff has no qualms in describing Wilco as - nothing more, nothing less.

There is some truth in the view that Nels was deployed as something of a "show pony" on SBS, but I don't think that can be said of his playing on the new record. The contributions which are most obviously his, are some of the most beautiful and interesting IMO.