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Wilco was born with Being There


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That's my current take. The soul of Uncle Tupelo was Jay Farrar, and I realized lately while listening to all my UT CDs that I favour Farrar to Tweedy - easily - from the early years (which would surprise those who know me, as I always said the opposite so far, but hey... anyone evolves!), Farrar's voice, music and lyrics. Tweedy had to make a thing of his own. And even with A.M., that still wasn't *that*. You get the feeling he just plays and runs ahead, looking for his own way.

 

Wilco was born with Being There. That album is a so huge step beyond everything Tweedy did before, certainly with the help of the other guys of the band (Jay Bennett deserving a special mention), that it can only be obvious to everyone (but I'm sure there are still hardcore A.M. fans around here). If you want to give Wilco the accolade they deserve, it starts here. And from here, I think Wilco made five great pieces in a row.

 

Anyone share my point?

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Umm no. Every Wilco album has been different from it's predecessor. AM was\is a great album, it's my opinion far too many people buy into the belief it wasn't because of what Jeff has said about it in the past, which was mostly concering the lyrics. It was a solid album, some of the songs on there are among the best they've done simple as those may be. In a way Jeff returned to that simpler way of doing things for SBS.

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Umm no. Every Wilco album has been different from it's predecessor. AM was\is a great album, it's my opinion far too many people buy into the belief it wasn't because of what Jeff has said about it in the past, which was mostly concering the lyrics. It was a solid album, some of the songs on there are among the best they've done simple as those may be. In a way Jeff returned to that simpler way of doing things for SBS.

 

I didn't even know about what Tweedy said of A.M.

 

If Wilco had done that only, they would have stayed one of those empathic but average bands simply copying their fave musics of the past.

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Yeah sorry for the 'extra' I'm feeling surly today.

 

 

I was just agreeing with ya. I love AM ... and they didn't stop there, and wouldn't have progressed they way they have without that beginning. Listening to the whole catalog straight through is like watching a child grow.

 

On yesterday's listen to Being There, I heard NRBQ loud and clear.

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I love AM ... and they didn't stop there, and wouldn't have progressed they way they have without that beginning

 

Certainly, and you can say that for everything Tweedy did before. There's just a step when he and the band become really great, and that incredible step is Being There. All what's been done before is "beginning", of document value.

 

Wilco got better with Being There.

 

The least we could say!

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The BIRTH of Wilco?

 

Uncle Tupelo is actually the name of the phoenix that laid the egg (yea, it was a phoenix egg, bet you all didnt know that) from the ghost is born cover and AM is the cherry ghost that hatched that we can all fondly look back at as the birth of Wilco.

 

A.M. is amazing. I was a YHF hop on but appreciate every note of A.M.

 

I always thought being there was Wilco's response to the negative reviews of A.M... Being There is a noncondesending "maybe you didnt get it the first time" and then subsequently "it" changed every album after that.

 

the whole am sucks thing is getting incredibly old too.... the AM doesnt suck PSA should just be a tracklisting:

I must be high

casino queen

box full of letters

shouldnt be ashamed

pick up the change

i thought i held you

thats no the issue

its just that simple

shouldve been in love

passenger side

dash 7

blue eyed soul

too far apart

are you people really willing to say the wilcoworld would be a better place without these songs??

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tweedy did describe it as "the bastard child of our catalogue" at one of the solo shows (forgot which).

 

i agree with danelectro above.. its a nice album.

 

and up until the AGIB tour started, the band were playing tunes from still pretty often

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I see Being There as the start of Jeff finding his own unique songwriting voice. Sure he wrote some great songs for the Uncle Tupelo records, and on AM, but it wasn't until Being There that he seemed to really rise from the shadows. This to me was the album where Jeff really started to delve into the more poetic and abstract in his lyrics. The lyrical imagery in a song like Sunken Treasure showed this new side of Jeff's songwriting (which he would expand over the next few albums with songs like She's a Jar, and the majority of the YHF songs.) Also, Being There was the record that showed the band breaking further from it's rock 'n' roots sound to allow more experimental and non-rock sounds and song structures into the picture. This combination of lyrical and musical adventurousness really set them on a path that I believe they're still following.

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To Danelectro : there's absolutely no point between A.M. and Sky Blue Sky. The huge difference between these two albums measure the incredible musical progress of Tweedy and band. With Sky Blue Sky, you do hear a GREAT band.

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I disagree.

 

Yes, Wilco has grown tremednously ith each aevery album, and certainly the content of Being There was quite a deviation, but I do seea progression there. Meaning, I do see a link to from AM to their later tunes. In fact, while listening to Being There today and AM a few days ago I was startled that some of Being There wasn't ALL that far removed from AM.

 

Not to be rude, but I think it is the "easy choice," if you will, to say that Being There is this sortr of grand step when Wilco suddenly came alive. Dash 7 and I Thougth I Held You.....I see some lyrical beginnigs there for Jeff.

 

I also think that AM has a very, very unique sound. In fact, I can think of no other album(and I am mostly referring to the genral ambienace/production/mood of the album) that sounds quite like it does. I can't put my finger on it exactly and I'm sure many would disagree, but even compared with Anondyne it just sounds different.

 

So, i guess those are my thoughts and a mini defene of AM.l

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I see Being There as the start of Jeff finding his own unique songwriting voice. Sure he wrote some great songs for the Uncle Tupelo records, and on AM, but it wasn't until Being There that he seemed to really rise from the shadows. This to me was the album where Jeff really started to delve into the more poetic and abstract in his lyrics. The lyrical imagery in a song like Sunken Treasure showed this new side of Jeff's songwriting (which he would expand over the next few albums with songs like She's a Jar, and the majority of the YHF songs.) Also, Being There was the record that showed the band breaking further from it's rock 'n' roots sound to allow more experimental and non-rock sounds and song structures into the picture. This combination of lyrical and musical adventurousness really set them on a path that I believe they're still following.

 

this is exactly what i think.

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I must be high

casino queen

box full of letters

shouldnt be ashamed

pick up the change

i thought i held you

thats no the issue

its just that simple

shouldve been in love

passenger side

dash 7

blue eyed soul

too far apart

are you people really willing to say the wilcoworld would be a better place without these songs??

 

Agreed!

 

This is where their evolution began in my opinion.

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