"Wilco: Sunken Treasure" by Tim Grierson- New Book About Wilco Coming Out 6/10/13

[linclink]

Well I'm not buying the hardcover, but it's cool it's happening...hope it's a good one...
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/tim+grierson/wilco/9434702/
 

"Grammy Award winning Wilco rose from the ashes of one of the most respected alt-country groups of the 1990s, Uncle Tupelo, to emerge as a celebrated (and far more popular) act in their own right. Led by frontman Jeff Tweedy, Wilco have evolved from a country-rock band into an eclectic indie-rock collective that touches on many eras and genres in their music: '70s rock, country, Beach Boys-style pop, noise-rock and folk. As a result, no two Wilco albums sound the same. This biography looks at Jeff Tweedy's early life in Illinois before starting Uncle Tupelo with Jay Farrar and an examination of their four albums. The media attention about Wilco's fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and the controversy surrounding it. After the recording sessions were complete, their record label rejected the album and dismissed Wilco from the label. Yet it became their most successful album to date. An analysis of all their studio albums including their latest - The Whole Love, which was released in September 2011. How Wilco's music has been inspired by a wide variety of artists and styles, including Bill Fay and Television, and has in turn influenced music by a number of modern alternative rock acts."

Book details

Published
10/06/2013

Publisher
Omnibus Press

ISBN
9781780385488

[Maghtee]

Looks like Grierson wrote a biography on the The Eel's last year.  Film critic also for Deadspin and Paste Magazine.  I wonder if he interviewed the whole band for the book?

[choo-choo-charlie]

So in other words, if you've read Learning How to Die, you can skip more than half of this book.

[Robby]

Amazon wants $24.95 and that it's coming out in September :

 

http://www.amazon.com/Wilco-Sunken-Treasure-Tim-Grierson/dp/178038548X/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370382362&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=Wilco%3A+Sunken+Treasure+%28Hardback%29

 

Not sure why the cover shot shows eveybody's hands in their pockets (except Nels & John)?

[jff]

 from the ashes

 

 

 

Right out of the gate.

[Atticus]

There aren't many sentences in that blurb.

[suites]

Right out of the gate.

I was thinking that too.....come on got to come up with another phrase.

[barbkm]

So in other words, if you've read Learning How to Die, you can skip more than half of this book.

Ha!!! I never read it; I know how it ends.

[jff]

Ha!!! I never read it; I know how it ends.

 

...and then they hired Nels Cline and Pat Sansone.  The end.

[lost highway]

It would be good to get some reflection on the AGIB process.  The creative process has been well documented.  The interesting part for me is how Jeff was doing some of his best writing at the time, and taking new risks on the guitar to great effect, yet was apparently barely functional in the studio due to being at a personal low with migraines, pain killer addictions.  How was that for the band?  Leroy left right after.  And then how was it for Pat and Nels to join up when they were aware of that reputation?  And then how was it for Jeff to get way better and have the new guys vote of confidence?

 

I guess what I'm saying, is it's pretty nosy of me to want to know about it, but the group psychology at that time seems really interesting.  I think it might have been pretty shitty, which is likely why the guys have never talked much about it- which is totally their right to privacy.  I still wonder....

[jff]

It would be good to get some reflection on the AGIB process.  The creative process has been well documented.  The interesting part for me is how Jeff was doing some of his best writing at the time, and taking new risks on the guitar to great effect, yet was apparently barely functional in the studio due to being at a personal low with migraines, pain killer addictions.  How was that for the band?  Leroy left right after.  And then how was it for Pat and Nels to join up when they were aware of that reputation?  And then how was it for Jeff to get way better and have the new guys vote of confidence?

 

I guess what I'm saying, is it's pretty nosy of me to want to know about it, but the group psychology at that time seems really interesting.  I think it might have been pretty shitty, which is likely why the guys have never talked much about it- which is totally their right to privacy.  I still wonder....

 

It had to have been tough for Nels (maybe Pat too, but I don't know  enough about his backstory to comment).  Nels had been a somewhat well known and highly respected musician for a long time, just not to the point where he could make a consistent income.  At the time he joined Wilco, the Nels Cline Singers were a pretty new project that he was obviously excited about, so it had to be pretty wrenching for him to put his band and other projects on the back burner only for Wilco to almost immediately be put on hold while Jeff Tweedy got the help he needed.

 

I agree it'd be interesting to learn more about that, but I can't blame any of them for keeping those experiences to themselves.

[nalafej]

 it had to be pretty wrenching for him to put his band and other projects on the back burner 

 

He made that pretty clear at the time. A lot of people took his message as insinuating that he was selling out by joining Wilco.

[Three dollars and 63 cents]

The blurb doesn't mention anything about interviews with the band. It won't be worth reading if it's just a compilation of information that's already out there, or if the writing is half as cheesy as the blurb is.

[I Might]

I totally agree that the time period surrounding AGIB is one that I've always wanted to know more about.  It's my favorite album and with so much written regarding YHF it's surprising that there's not a little more out there.  Hopefully this will shed some light on the creation of AGIB and also some of the behind the scenes stories of Pat and Nels joining up.  The obsessive fan in me wants to know this stuff.

[smells like flowers]

It would be good to get some reflection on the AGIB process.  The creative process has been well documented.  The interesting part for me is how Jeff was doing some of his best writing at the time, and taking new risks on the guitar to great effect, yet was apparently barely functional in the studio due to being at a personal low with migraines, pain killer addictions.  How was that for the band?  Leroy left right after.  And then how was it for Pat and Nels to join up when they were aware of that reputation?  And then how was it for Jeff to get way better and have the new guys vote of confidence?

 

I guess what I'm saying, is it's pretty nosy of me to want to know about it, but the group psychology at that time seems really interesting.  I think it might have been pretty shitty, which is likely why the guys have never talked much about it- which is totally their right to privacy.  I still wonder....

 

This is the Wilco book I want to read, too.

[mountain bed]

It's a fine line a biographer has to tread between being the adoring fan and the hard-hitting investigative journalist. I guess you have to stroke the ego a little at first before you can dig into the tough stuff. Sort of a carrot/stick approach. 

 

And if you're the huge fan there's never enough books out on your favorite subject. Trust me on this one

[jimtweedy1977]

It's a fine line a biographer has to tread between being the adoring fan and the hard-hitting investigative journalist. I guess you have to stroke the ego a little at first before you can dig into the tough stuff. Sort of a carrot/stick approach. 

 

And if you're the huge fan there's never enough books out on your favorite subject. Trust me on this one

I hear you. The Beatles are right up there for me as far as books go.  Bob Dylan: Song & Dance Man is pretty comprehensive as well. 

[LouieB]

I have a copy, but never rea,d the Greg Kot book.  I like reading bios of musicians, but won't be reading this one either I don't think. 

 

I was going to say that reading a bio of an artist who is still active (and very much alive or not yet elderly) can be goofy, but I have read some.  (Bob Dylan)  I suppose the most interesting period of every musician's life is their early years, when they are formulating their art.  I didn't read the Kot book because knowing the band I guess I don't really want to know all the dirt someone has dug up on them.  More power to this author for finding a suitable topic I suppose.

 

LouieB

[LouieB]

I hear you. The Beatles are right up there for me as far as books go.  Bob Dylan: Song & Dance Man is pretty comprehensive as well. 

This book is not a biography and was revised three times, so even the author realized he hadn't really covered the subject the first time.  We can argue about this book (although I enjoyed it a lot), but much of what is in it is highly speculative.  If this book were only about the music I might read it (I mean why not speculate on Wilco too), but rehashing the salad years in Belleville and the fights in UT seems like something best left alone.

 

LouieB

[Col. Hapablap]

It would be good to get some reflection on the AGIB process.  The creative process has been well documented.  The interesting part for me is how Jeff was doing some of his best writing at the time, and taking new risks on the guitar to great effect, yet was apparently barely functional in the studio due to being at a personal low with migraines, pain killer addictions.  How was that for the band?  Leroy left right after.  And then how was it for Pat and Nels to join up when they were aware of that reputation?  And then how was it for Jeff to get way better and have the new guys vote of confidence?

 

I guess what I'm saying, is it's pretty nosy of me to want to know about it, but the group psychology at that time seems really interesting.  I think it might have been pretty shitty, which is likely why the guys have never talked much about it- which is totally their right to privacy.  I still wonder....

 

 

 

I pre-ordered this book awhile ago, and I received it from amazon yesterday. I'm now about halfway through it, and It's actually quite an interesting read, I think. It's a decent companion to Learning How To Die. It could  be considered  the updated version of LHTD. It goes all the way up to the making of The Whole Love, and it has exactly some of the things that a Wilco diehard like me would probably look for. a significant portion of the book is culled from interviews of the band from other sources(newspaper and magazine interviews and articles through the years), and while there are no interviews with the band directly, there are new interviews with the engineers of the various albums throughout Wilco's career(some who i don't recell being in the Kot book), including Jim O' Rourke, that give new insight to the recording process of the albums, particularly the post YHF era, which, of course, LHTD does not have. I think they're are new interviews with Billy Bragg as well. Looks pretty good so far. I'll probably have more thoughts when I'm finished with it.

 

EDIT: I quoted this post, b/c I'm currently reading about this exact time period in the book.

[Vacant Horizon]

I was thinking that too.....come on got to come up with another phrase.

not to mention the title..sunken treasure, really?  aside from it's previous use for the tweedy doc, what's it imply?

[Magnetized]

So other than me and Col. Hapablap, who else is reading/has read the book? I'm up to the beginning of Summerteeth now and I'm enjoying it overall. I don't think it's as satisfying as Learning How to Die, but that may have to do with my familiarity with the band when I read that book versus the nut I've now become. Also, LHTD had more direct interviews with band members, while this book is more of a compendium of previously published interviews and articles, many of which I've read already. But it's pulling things together in a linear fashion and reminding me of things I'd forgotten as well as some things that are new to me, and there's definitely lots of interesting information about recording processes that I don't think have been published before.

 

I'm finding it a bit of a slog, for some reason--considering the way I usually inhale anything Wilco-related, I'm surprised that I'm only 1/3 of the way through. I think part of it is psychological--I don't want to finish it because I don't know when my next fix will come, so I'm intentionally dragging it out.

 

A couple of other random observations. . . the author admits to having been more of a fan of Jay Farrar than Jeff Tweedy initially, so the book does not read like the work of a breathless fanboy. He's done his research, and I think it's evenhanded in its coverage of some contentious periods in the band's history. Also, even though the author lives in L.A., the publisher is British, so the usual British spellings (colour vs. color, for example) are used. Seems a little odd for a book by an American author about an American band. No biggie, though.

 

I'm looking forward to a nice uninterrupted stretch where I can blaze through the rest of the book from Summerteeth on. I'm surprised , actually, that more of us on this board haven't been posting about this.

[Albert Tatlock]

. . . so the proper British spellings (colour vs. color, for example) are used.

Fixed that for you.

[Magnetized]

Fixed that for you.

Brilliant, thank you! ("Brilliant" is one of those proper British-isms that used to confuse me. When my British boss would say something was brilliant, I assumed he meant dazzlingly wonderful, not just good. I soon found out differently, which reduced the swelling of my head.)

[Albert Tatlock]

Brilliant, thank you! ("Brilliant" is one of those proper British-isms that used to confuse me. When my British boss would say something was brilliant, I assumed he meant dazzlingly wonderful, not just good. I soon found out differently, which reduced the swelling of my head.)

 

"Cracking" could be used as an alternative, though only in Wales.