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A curious question


Jim vs Pat  

88 members have voted

  1. 1. If you could only have one of these guys in the band, who would you rather have?

    • Pat Sansone
      42
    • Jim O'Rourke
      48


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Is it appropriate to view Pat as a 'replacement' for Jim?

 

Leroy and Jim were both involved in AGIB. Leroy was more the multi-instrumentalist and Jim the guitarist (sorta...bear with me, it fits my argument and this IS the internet).; therefore, I view Pat as the replacement for Leroy and Nels the replacement for Jim.

 

Thoughts?

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Jim O'Rourke's contributions to the band both as an instrumentalist and a producer and his solo work particularly Bad Timing, Eureka and Insignificance make me swoon the same way Sunshine swoons over Pat. However, I think Pat is the answer to this question, because ultimately you want someone in your band who first and foremost wants to be in your band, and Pat Sansone clearly wants to be in Wilco.

 

I think if Jim O'Rourke wanted to be in Wilco right now, he'd be in Wilco. He could have replaced Jay in 2001 or he could have replaced Leroy in 2004. After Jay's dismissal, I don't think it's a stretch to speculate the possibility of bringing Jim, who could have replaced Bennett on guitar/keyboards and helped with the songwriting, probably crossed Tweedy's mind at some point and I don't think O'Rourke was touring with Sonic Youth then either. If I could change one thing in Wilco's history, aside of course from putting myself in the band, O'Rourke in full-time for Bennett might be it. But I think the working situation was probably more comfortable on both sides with O'Rourke coming in as an outsider or as the "fifth Beatle."

 

Sansone, on the other hand, has always seemed to love being in the band. He's always enthusiastic and energetic in every live performance, he plays his keyboards with maracas, and windmills in concert, and a lot of the great subtle instrumental flourishes on Sky Blue Sky are credited to him. It's hard to compare his impact with O'Rourke's because there isn't a Sansone produced Wilco album or a side project in which Jeff and Pat co-wrote a bunch of songs together. But if I had to pick one, I'd go with the guy who wants to be there, and right now that's Pat.

 

--Mike

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I never really saw Nels as a replacement for Jim. That's an interesting take. I guess I saw Jim as a consultant. Like a not-so-fatherly George Martin. A facilitator of ideas. Pat's a rock star.

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I voted Jim, not because of any dislike for Pat, because he's an amazing musician on that stage and a wonderful foil against Nels when the band goes for the three guitar sound, but mostly because Jim and Jeff started something interesting in Loose Fur, improved that direction even further on AGIB, and then the group changed again and part of me feels that the sound they were developing up to that point was abandoned in favor of a different, more organic sound for the two recent records.

 

(And i'm not saying that in a bad way either, i've heard a lot of people outside of here look down on SBS and I don't understand it, because that might be the most focused record Wilco as a whole has ever made, as for (the album) for me the jury is still out, I think from the pre-press on the album we were expecting something closer to YHF era studio experimentation, and it's just not that, it's a folkier, 70s rock continuation of the last one more to my ears... I just wish there was one or two more rocking songs, especially on the second side... but that's me)

 

Ideally, what i'd love to hear is the current 6-piece group do an album produced by Jim, especially in the Brian Eno fashion of being with the group through songwriting, getting involved in the sounds and shaping the songs, lots of dictating and experiments (like the AGIB recording techniques used to change things up). Couple that idea with how ferocious the lineup of Wilco is live and damn, it could rival everything the band has done.

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