MCHowdy

Thanks so much man. I was at this show, one of my favorite ever.

This exactly.

This post, along with your post just below it, is very well put, very thoughtful. Performance art is especially susceptible to forces beyond just the artist's alone, and that's true whether the artist wants to be influenced or not. None of us are uninfluenced by our environment. A band that plays as many shows as Wilco is not going to go into the studio one month and suddenly achieve a clean slate. I've been a musician my entire life, and it's always thrilling/frightening to debut a new song. Afterwards it's always the first thing spoken of, and always in terms of "I wonder what they lik

Good point. To take that in a slightly different, we could all probably come up with a long list of artists whom we suspect may have purposefully sabotaged their own careers just to avoid dealing with large audiences. I could probably prove none of the cases, I admit.

I hear what you're saying. When I was (much) younger I was a huge Clash fan (obviously) and lived in dread that they would one day not be "my little secret." Well, I was a teenager, so I didn't realize at the time that they already weren't "mine." When they went to that entirely different realm after Combat Rock, I was disappointed, but I overcame it later. In fact, I never felt that way about a band again, and having been a musician all of my life, I never begrudge any band success. Strange that we sometimes feel that way, though, isn't it? Like we don't want to share, at least too muc

Well, you seem to be willfully misapprehending what I wrote to make some kind of point. What point that is, I don't know, maybe just to be smarter than me. But your analogy needs a lot of work. You also seem to be referring to my post in your first paragraph, and somebody else's in the third. "Pop" music, more than most, is "popular" by nature, and therefore has, by definition, a larger potential audience that it can reach. Ornette Coleman may have been a genius, and he may have hoped that his recordings would reach a large audience, but I assure you he never expected to or even aimed fo

Maybe so: they may be purists. But they are a pop group in (large) part, and pop groups try to make albums that will reach a large number of people. Sometimes individual songs are crafted in such a way that they will draw in some fans that might not be snared by the more challenging stuff. I say this not as a criticism at all. I'd suggest that a song like "Walken" was crafted for a larger audience, but that doesn't hurt it as a piece of art, at least to me. However, "You and I", which I believe must have been recorded as an attempt to reach a larger audience, strikes me as attempt at t

Not to beat up on W(TA) too much, because I think it has some really nice songs. But I think it lacks in song craft overall, and that's not a problem I see with any other Wilco album. I'm not concerned about marketing in the least. I think that on any particular album some fans are going to consider some tracks throwaways, while others will consider those throwaways gems. One Wing was attractive to me initially, but like other parts of the album, the lyrics began to seem a bit trite. Now folks, not Bon Jovi trite, ok? Just not up to Tweedy standard. Hold your fire. And You and I not onl

1. YHF 2. Being There 3. Sky Blue Sky 4. Summerteeth 5. A Ghost is Born 6. A.M. 7. The Album Sky Blue Sky is the album that always continues to rise in my estimation. The more I become aware of John's bass playing on that album, and the guitar interplay, the more interested I become in it. Wilco (The Album) is the only album they have produced that, over time, I've liked less and less. I really check out when You and I comes on.

It's Just That Simple was so wonderful. And I was not expecting Must Be High. Very satisfying night!

More Like the Moon? Very sweet.

I've been to probably a dozen shows, all in the Boston/New England area, and was fortunate enough to see Uncle Tupelo a couple of times as well. I have to laugh at myself because when I was younger I never noticed all the chatter, but now it drives me to distraction every time (not to mention how my complaining about chatter distracts my poor wife!) The only real way to combat this effectively for me is to have a good seat, up close, where Nels or one of the guys can blast me into a solitary state. I've never been a snob about where I sit or stand, but with Wilco I just won't risk it any