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In Praise of Leroy Bach


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After watching "Man in the Sand", and then cranking my weekly listen of AGIB, I realized that Mr. Bach gets lost in the discussions about Jay Bennett. Since he's a low key guy, I don't really see much said about him. He's a great player, and was a great fit for Wilco. His piano is all over AGIB, as much as Jeff's guitar. Very cool. He quit because he went back to theater or something? I can't remember. I won't say he's underrated, but he deserves more credit, especially for his work on this record.

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Guest Speed Racer

I would take sloppy seconds on Leroy when Poon was done.

 

I loved that man; you have to admire a guy who played four instruments during a single song and still looked bored to tears. :lol

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I have been to many Wilco shows with Leroy, he was solid and I enjoyed his time in the band. I actually prefer his low key approach to Pats "rock star stage dynamics". Then again, I prefer the old Wilco to the new, this includes Nels who is a fantastic player but does not have Jay's presence. Those Wilco shows circa 96-99 were amazing! I miss them!

 

I would take sloppy seconds on Leroy when Poon was done.

 

I loved that man; you have to admire a guy who played four instruments during a single song and still looked bored to tears. :lol

 

 

I agree, that is an excellent way to describe Leroy!

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1st time I saw Wilco was w/ Leroy (also w/ Mikael, pre-AGIB recording). I was underwhelmed by his stage presence. His playing was okay but didn't wow me the way Nels does.

 

Part of his issue with stage presence, especially after Jay left, was that he was stuck behind the keyboards when he played guitar. It was like he was inside a little box. Pat leaves that area when he plays guitar, but Leroy was kind of stuck, just playing whatever instrument needed to be played at the time. I always felt bad for him for that reason. It was like if he jammed too hard he'd probably break something or mess up his other gear.

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Part of his issue with stage presence, especially after Jay left, was that he was stuck behind the keyboards when he played guitar. It was like he was inside a little box. Pat leaves that area when he plays guitar, but Leroy was kind of stuck, just playing whatever instrument needed to be played at the time. I always felt bad for him for that reason. It was like if he jammed too hard he'd probably break something or mess up his other gear.

I'll buy that. I really didn't know who he was at the time and just thought "meh". Clearly he was a great player, but I just don't think he makes Wilco any better. He played on the better LPs, but they're at the top of their game live w/ the current lineup IMO.

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Leroy would make the same songs sound different every night - he'd constantly be doing something different. The new band plays the song the same way every night. It has been so long since the band with Leroy that I don't feel comfortable saying one live version was better than another, but it was always cool to see what Leroy would play during a song on any given night...

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Guest Speed Racer

I loved the way he played the keys - Pat may as well be sticking his rig up his ass with what he brings to the table. Mike is alright, but Leroy brought a distinct voice to Wilco that I've missed since he left.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not sure if this has been mentioned here before, but Leroy plays a solo acoustic set every Friday at the Whistler in Chicago. If you have any doubts about how great of a player he is, go and see for yourself.

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