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i'm torn about going to see son volt on this tour

 

the set lists are so frustrating

 

wish he would embrace his remarkable early material like tweedy does

 

just one tupelo track (looking for a way out? still be around) and one early son volt catalogue track (route? loose string?) would make me so happy, but i know it ain't happening

 

i love hearing new stuff ... but i also like hearing artists i love play their best songs

He played a blistering "Chickamauga" when I saw him in 2007 supporting The Search.

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I just wish we could discuss the merits of Son Volt's studio work and live performance on their own, without comparing them to JT and Wilco. Oh, to live in a perfect world.

 

Jay is a major league INTROvert. That's just who he is. He's not going to exhibit a lot of emotion on stage. I realize that is boring to some, and believe me I completely understand. But if Jay got up there and tried to act like something different than what he is, it would show and would end up being really, really lame.

 

Right. I believe part of that is due to his old school country/bluegrass/Clarence White background.

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It really is a great little abum. Certainly the best since Farrar re-ignited the SV brand and an album that will garner more plays in my house than the new Wilco...or the previous Wilco at that.

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I am just listening to Son Volt's new album American Central Dust and it occurred to me, do you think it is a mere coincidence that Jay Farrar decided to release a new album, clearly going back to the post Uncle Tupelo (read Tweedy) roots of their first two albums Trace and Straightaways only a week after Wilco (the album)?

 

Let's chat about it, shall we?

 

-Henry

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Guest Speed Racer

do you think it is a mere coincidence?

 

Yes.

 

Both men have families, band members, band members' families and budgets to schedule recording and releasing around, and frankly I don't think they give rat's ass when the other does a thing. It's been 15 years and they're both wildly successful in their own right, and both have publicly stated they neither wish the other ill nor think about the other very often. Their careers are so different at this point it's not really worth the comparison, is it?

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I'm thinking their records companies may have some input on the release dates of their records.

 

From (Jay Farrar interview) : http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_12764297

 

Q: Several years ago I read that you haven't listened to Wilco or Jeff Tweedy's music. Is this still true? How do you deal with comparisons and questions about Jeff so many years after you parted ways? Is there any sense of competition (friendly or non-) given that your new albums are dropping within a week of each other?

 

A: I have heard Wilco, both live and on records. Anything you may have read to the contrary was untrue. I think this is about the third time we've had releases coming out about the same time, so it's getting to be routine.

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If my recollection is correct, the songs for American Central Dust were written while on tour last summer and the record was recorded in the fall of 2008. This is their first album with Rounder Records, so I imagine it took time to get a deal together and release an album. And, if I'm not mistaken the record was originally slated for release in May. I seem to recall seeing that date on Jay's website back around February or thereabouts.

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One thing is certain: ACD is a pretty awful record. The songwriting is lazy, the music just plods along and there's little if any spirit. Jay's first three records post-UT are all solid, along with Okemah and Sebastopol. The last two have been snooze city.

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For more chat about ACD, check out the Son Volt thread in the Someone Else's Song thread. Son Volt.

 

Edit: There was a new thread about this that got merged, this post went into that, I didn't randomly make a post linking to a thread inside the thread itself.

 

--Mike

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One thing is certain: ACD is a pretty awful record. The songwriting is lazy, the music just plods along and there's little if any spirit. Jay's first three records post-UT are all solid, along with Okemah and Sebastopol. The last two have been snooze city.

You are correct. Windfall, Tear-Stained Eye, Ten Second News, Out of the Picture, Too Early, Mystifies Me, Back Into Your World, Left a Slide, Creosote, Last Minute Shakedown, Been Set Free, No More Parades, Way Down Watson, Strands, Carry You Down, Streets That Time Walks, and Hanging Blue Side are so peppy and make me want to get up and shake my ass.

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You are correct. Windfall, Tear-Stained Eye, Ten Second News, Out of the Picture, Too Early, Mystifies Me, Back Into Your World, Left a Slide, Creosote, Last Minute Shakedown, Been Set Free, No More Parades, Way Down Watson, Strands, Carry You Down, Streets That Time Walks, and Hanging Blue Side are so peppy and make me want to get up and shake my ass.

 

5.gif

 

p.s. -- I love the Search as much as anything else Jay has released

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You are correct. Windfall, Tear-Stained Eye, Ten Second News, Out of the Picture, Too Early, Mystifies Me, Back Into Your World, Left a Slide, Creosote, Last Minute Shakedown, Been Set Free, No More Parades, Way Down Watson, Strands, Carry You Down, Streets That Time Walks, and Hanging Blue Side are so peppy and make me want to get up and shake my ass.

 

So are you saying that these songs you listed are lazy, listless, and plod along? I think you missed his point. Something doesn't need to be peppy in order to avoid those types of adjectives. And comparing ACD to most of these songs is just as laughable.

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Longtime Volt fan here who's interest went from worshipping them and Farrar to not buying the Search or ACD. Oddly, I just won tickets for tonight (Mesa, AZ) after deciding to miss the last couple of shows following a dreadful Farrar gig at Nita's years back. So, I'm going and actually quite excited to give this band another chance, especially after reading this entire thread.

 

Here's an interview from today with Jay from the local New Times. A Tweedy nugget or two at the end for you folks not interested in SV/Farrar...

 

http://bit.ly/Q7EOD

 

e

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Dust expands upon the new sounds explored on Son Volt’s 2007 disc The Search, with several tunes bathed in organ fills and pleasing vocal harmonies. Farrar is certainly opening up to new sounds – which is good, because the songs themselves are still not up to par of Son Volt’s widely-accepted best [and first] album, Trace.

:dontgetit

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