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Blackberry Rust

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Everything posted by Blackberry Rust

  1. Blackberry Rust
    I'm wracking my brain here for an equivilent group who have: A Undergone frequent line-up changes B Eventually settled on a stable line-up for a considerable period Again The Byrds come to mind, but this Wilco line-up has now broken the decade mark. Where the argument surrounding whether the group would be/wouldn't be better off with/without certain members, for me it's always been a case of three seperate Wilco entities: 1994-2001 - Relationship Status: It's Complicated 2001-2003 - Relationship Status: Divorced, It's Very Complicated and AWOL. 2004-2015 - Married. From my perspectiv
  2. Blackberry Rust
    I think as far as The Byrds name is concerned, it was always McGuinn's group regardless of being the original brain child of McGuinn/Clark/Crosby. It's just unfortunate that McGuinn is the weakest songwriter of that trio; which blighted a bunch of stuff from 1969 onwards - though his contributions on Untitled are easily the best stuff he's ever (co-)written* The only aspect of the 1969-1972 material that grates (aside from McGuinn's ropey contributions) is the presence of Skip Battin. For a real insight into Gene Clark, see if you can track down the recent doco, The Byrd That Flew Alone - it
  3. Blackberry Rust
    I think it's "Dophin's Smile" actually, but whatever - it's one of tensest, hilarious studio/band bust ups I've ever heard. David Crosby: "The part that's being attacked is your ego, man...e-go." Michael Clarke: "I don't give a f-ck [...] I don't even like this song." Roger McGuinn: "What are you in the group for?" Clarke: "The money" McGuinn: "Well, you're not helping make any." Gary Usher (Producer): "Uh, Mike? Start of with that rim shot thing, (etc.) Clarke: "Don't you understand it's been done a f-ckin' hundred-thousand times before man, IT'S BEEN DONE."
  4. Blackberry Rust
    Done! http://viachicago.org/topic/50981-the-byrds-appreciation-thread/
  5. Blackberry Rust
    As per previous discussion in the new Wilco album thread, this should the ball rolling Byrd-wise. I've been a Byrds fan since I was about 15 when my dad lent me a copy of the 1990 box set (in the mid-90's) which worked as a sort of career retrospective to coincide with their induction into the rock and roll hall of fame that same year. For me it's always been a case of The Byrds before The Beatles or Beach Boys; there's something far more attractive about their relative instability, erraticism and (of course), occasional brilliance. Personal favourites include: Mr. Tambourine Man (1965)
  6. Blackberry Rust
    In addition to this, this is why O'Rourke has only released his albums in uncompressed file formats and not mp3s. The guy is a hardcore audiophile.
  7. Blackberry Rust
    Huge Byrds fan here. I attribute my obsession to the fact that my dad had a fairly comprehensive collection on vinyl when I was growing up, but the 1990 CD boxset was the gateway drug that got me fully hooked during my high school days. I'm also a strong defender of their late 1969-1972 work - especially Ballad, Untitled and Farther Along. These albums are still critically overlooked in my opinion. Once they settled on the stable 1970-1972 line-up of McGuinn/White/Battin/Parsons they became one of the finest live groups of that period. By 1972, things were disintegrating but they were going
  8. Blackberry Rust
    That's my favourite Byrds album and one of my favourite albums of all-time. I could hear elements of it across Summerteeth as well. Another remarkable thing about Notorious is that it's only 29 minutes long. On that note, it would be interesting if Wilco were to cut a relatively short album; not as a brief as 29 minutes, but rather aim for the duration of Radiohead's King of Limbs (2011) - a shade over the 35 minute mark. Regardless of whether or not you like that album (I rate it as one of the band's best), such an approach would maybe refine the writing and production process. However, a
  9. Blackberry Rust
    Yeah, I agree - I should have expanded on that a bit. It's his guitar playing with Wilco which drives me up the wall. I really like Nels' more avante garde stuff with the Nels Cline Singers and other colabs. His articulate skronk(?) is frequently excellent and for me he ranks right up there with other noisy folks like Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, David Grubbs, etc. I was geniunely suprised when he joined Wilco as it seemed like a bit of a weird fit and I didn't think that his approach would mould with Wilco's material; but the skronky tendencies of Ghost would have certainly played in his fa
  10. Blackberry Rust
    Producers aside, I think the relative coasting since around 2005 has been due to the comfort zone factor. Now I certianly don't wish mental illness, substance abuse, musical disunity and a generally screwed up existence on anyone, but - as most fine musicians do - Tweedy wrote his best stuff when he was under the hammer. It's a bit disingenious to claim that suffering for one's art is the only way you're going to make decent art, but it goes some way: Leonard Cohen, Jason Molina, Sparklehorse, Neil Young's Ditch Trilogy. So, whilst I sincerely don't wish any ill fortune on Tweedy, it might b
  11. Blackberry Rust
    Albini seconded.
  12. Blackberry Rust
    Totally. The primary issue since SBS has been one of tone and consistency, and the production has been a big issue for me on The Album and TWL. Ultimately it's a case of bringing the sextet into line with the material, which worked reasonably well on SBS in a mostly understated way, but hasn't worked so well on the following albums. This is perhaps an unlikely suggestion, but I think Kurt Wagner (of Lambchop) would do very good things for Wilco. Also, Buddy Miller...hell, Lee Ranaldo. Ultimately, it's difficult to say since I have no idea what Tweedy has in mind - I'm very much hoping th
  13. Blackberry Rust
    Encouraging news. Jeff's solo record last year was enjoyable and I thought it was his best work since the deeper cuts on Sky Blue Sky, but I felt it should have been kept to about 10-12 tracks. To be honest I started to turn off Wilco when the self-titled record came out and The Whole Love just about killed it for me. Maybe I've had a hard time adjusting to stability in Wilco (as a fan who goes back to about 97') and aspects of the current line-up have always bothered me - for one, the space in a given song just seems to evaporate under weight of giving everyone of the six members a part to pl
  14. Blackberry Rust
    Cars Can't Escape Wishful Thinking Black Moon
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