What If

[I Might]

Let me preface this by saying that the current Wilco lineup is by far my favorite and I hope it stays intact for many, many more albums. But with the recent YHF tenth anniversary it made me wonder what Wilco would have sounded like had Jay Bennett stayed around for another album or so. Keep in mind this hypothetical would be his musical input only, completely disregarding the personality conflicts and other issues. He was obviously a very talented musician; I'm a fan of his guitar playing and his pop sensibilities, plus I think at least for a little while, he was able to challenge Jeff and bring out his some of his best work.

Anyway, these are the types of things I spend time at work thinking about, interested to hear others thoughts.

[Hoodoo Man]

I think the first thing that would not have happened is A Ghost Is Born. I just don't see Wilco making that album with Jay Bennett still in the band. At least not the way it turned out.

[Al.Ducts]

It's an interesting thought experiment as Carl Sagan would say. I've wondered before what it would be like if Jim O'Rourke made another record with them, either in the past run of albums or at some point in the future.

[linclink]

Yeah "A Ghost Is Born" certainly wouldn't have been as it is...

I wonder if they would have mined that huge reservoir of unreleased material that the YHF sessions produced. Incredible songs. The finished YHF certainly has it's own unique vibe to it, but...song wise the unused stuff stands up with the material on YHF & it would have been interesting to see where they might have got taken to.

[moxiebean]

I think Jay would've run out of instruments sometime in 2004.

 

I'd love to hear more collaboration with O'Rourke - perhaps another Loose Fur album?

[choo-choo-charlie]

Echo the thoughts on AGIB. As long as Jay Bennett was in Wilco I don't think we would've heard too much lead guitar playing from Tweedy.