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My First Negative Wilco Review


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I don't think "Sunken Treasure" is good. Very disappointed in the DVD as a whole, but the biggest letdown is Jeff's playing and self indulgent, rehearsed monolouges. More when my 3 month old isn't screaming. Maybe he is screaming because I am being negative about his favorite songwriter.

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Yeah...it is sad. I am not going to sell it in hope of it finally "clicking". I also think his guitar playing is much better than the days of old, but on this DVD something is off. The playing seems really sloppy and the song selection does not work well for solo acoustic. A few songs are gems (most of the finger picked selections), however cuts like How to Fight..., Summerteeth, IATTBYH, amonstt others are flat and a bit boring.

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I enjoyed the film for many reasons, partly because I'm a fan but also because I thought it was a very surpising release for a record label insofar as artist bios are concerned. I'm currently finishing a study on the history of documentary film and I'll take this opportunity to share my thoughts on the subject with a short critique:

 

The filmmaker remarkably tried to include a wide variety of of Jeff's performances on that NorthWestern tour. Look at how many different kinds of songs and styles Jeff plays on the DVD: some songs are exactly what the most outrageous Tweedy fan would want - perfect finger-picking, able to sing the toughest highs and lows; other songs he is forced to abort and restart such as Shot In the Arm or he is interrupted by fans mid-whistle and begins laughing. A few of the performances, yes, are far from the perfect Tweedy one would expect to see in a film produced and released by the singer's record label. I think that is one of the best things about this documentary: it shows Tweedy at both his weakest and his best. He is bold and angry but at the same time reminds you in the car that he is humbled by the extreme pleasure people find when hearing his songs.

 

but the biggest letdown is Jeff's playing and self indulgent, rehearsed monolouges.

 

I have found that the flaw in any interview is that the person answering questions is either going to tell you what you want to hear, or tell you what you don't. What they say is dictated almost solely on what is asked. I suppose it would have been more Cinema-Verte-esque if we learned about Tweedy's thoughts on touring etc. from his own conversations with friends/bandmates etc. Then it would appear spontaneous and more raw. In Sunken Treasure, however, Jeff Tweedy speaks directly to the camera - which is why those comments might appear unnatural or "rehearsed."

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I'm completely 180 degrees from the person posting this thread. I think the DVD is beautiful. I'm not sure what someone would expect from a documentation of a solo tour. The music's good. I found Tweedy's quotes and personality intriguing and interesting. The song selections are nice.....How to Fight Lonliness, Summerteeth, Black Eye, Future Age, Laminated Cat and Was I In Your Dreams are particularly fantastic.

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I'm completely 180 degrees from the person posting this thread. I think the DVD is beautiful. I'm not sure what someone would expect from a documentation of a solo tour. The music's good. I found Tweedy's quotes and personality intriguing and interesting. The song selections are nice.....How to Fight Lonliness, Summerteeth, Black Eye, Future Age, Laminated Cat and Was I In Your Dreams are particularly fantastic.

 

i'm completely 360 degrees from this post.

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I thought it was good, not exceptional. It satisfied my desires, but I felt like I knew what it was gonna be going in. I downloaded one of his solo shows a while back and it happened to be one of the ones in the DVD, so I was kinda upset that I'd already seen that stuff. Really, I'm just lusting for a new album :) and I don't think any other stuff will make me super happy before that.

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I don't mind the chit-chat, even it was somewhat rehearsed. The playing, well that's how Jeff plays he isn't Tommy Emmanuel. The only thing the DVD didn't capture is the vibe and atmosphere of the actual shows, at least not the 3 shows that I attended. One thing that made the shows so cool was the way Jeff was lit. The weird up-lighting that made it seem "vintage", the actual shows felt like you could have been watching a performer from the 40's or 50's. It added to the experience IMO. The way it was filmed lost all that.

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what?

 

"Pretty boring DVD. But an interesting one to have in your collection.

 

The songs it has to download are definitely the highlight. Too bad you can download them now regardless of whether you bought the DVD.

 

[broken link]

 

Don't want to do that one backwards."

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as i am downloading the mp3s, i'm beginning to think more critically of this film. for what it is, it's highly enjoyable, but it was a more modest film than i expected. it has some great moments, laminated cat for sure. but it's funny how neither acuff or treasure (being the title track) come close to the amazing performances filmed by Sam Jones. what really puzzles me is the song selection, why is half of Summerteeth here but only four songs from Wilco's past two albums? The solo versions of ALTWYS, Spiders, and Muzzle of Bees are all mindblowing. I'm also kindof missing Wait Up and New Madrid. I don't know if Jeff even played these songs during this particular tour, but I feel that there needed to me more old and new and less middle. Doing so would give a better picture of Tweedy as a songwriter, but it seems the film's only aim to show Tweedy at these five venues. And while the snippets between venues were beautiful, I would've liked to see a little more behind the scenes, and I would like to have heard what Tweedy was recording in his hotel room. The film has some great aspects to it, but overall I feel like it's a light treatment as opposed to I Am Trying To Break Your Heart or The Wilco Book.

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Guest tandylacker

Uh-oh... The 'thank you so much for everything you've done Wilco, you're so generous' crowd is turning...

 

 

Doesn't it kind of seem like Wilco noticed there are a lot of Wilco bootlegs, so they made Kicking Television. About 2 months after that was released they film Sunken Treasure for those who have Jeff Tweedy bootlegs.

 

Both Kicking Television and Sunken Treasure are not fantastic, but if you want to listen to Wilco or Jeff Tweedy playing some of the Wilco songs live, then that's what they are. Maybe not best song choices... but sure beats the hell out of audience recordings.

 

I don't know. :music

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