not guilty: wilco
the second best thing that ever happened to john lennon's career was being shot only weeks after the release of his first new album in five years. his untimely death then - and continuing to this day - overshadowed that there's very little "rock and roll" in songs about giving your infant son a bath. it's understandable why jeff tweedy wants to be linked, musically, with lennon. what's less clear is why he's also emulating his idol's mistakes.
wilco's latest - "sky blue sky" - dropped only a couple of days ago, but my vast network of spies and minions managed to procure me a copy well in advance of its official release. so i've had some time to spend with the record already. my initial reaction was that tweedy was taking the obsession which began on "a ghost is born" to new extremes. more than a few songs wouldn't be the least bit out of place on "double fantasy." but as i listened more closely, i heard other influences and none of them were particularly what one who is not robert christgau might call "good."
many of the reviews of "sky blue sky" mention those influences, but - curiously - in an overall positive context. entertainment weekly says it's "... the best eagles album the eagles never made" seemingly unironically. slant magazine says it sounds "...at least 30 years old" seemingly unironically. rolling stone name-checks both steely dan and the allman brothers seemingly unironically. and i am left wondering how this record can be the product of the same guy who gave us "gun." (dabysan will attest, i am sure - and probably with no small amount of glee, to a dismayed instant message several weeks ago comparing the record to steely dan. he even posted about it, sort of, not long afterward.) the good folks at pitchfork however, ever the contrarians, thankfully recognize the emperor has no clothes, stating that the record, um, "...nakedly exposes the dad-rock gene wilco has always carried but courageously attempted to disguise." heh. "dad-rock." that's rough, right? right?
make no mistake: i'm going to buy "sky blue sky." but only because i've had a bootleg copy since march and i'm anal about actually paying for records. (music "sharing" IS stealing, and though jeff tweedy probably doesn't need the small stipend he'll get from my purchase, i listen to plenty of bands that could use whatever they get from my sixteen bucks.) i'm not going to feel especially good about it, though. one might even say i might feel "guilty." my plan to assuage my guilt is to sit back and enjoy a double-shot of wilco's debut to remind myself of when they were, you know... cool.
Comments
Once again, Pitchfork demonstrates how pretentious and smug they are. Excuse me guys, but every band goes through a period of suckitude. It's inescapable, and that's just how the music world works. Nobody's perfect.
Where was all that talk about dad-rock gene back when Being There and Summerteeth came out, let alone the more recent A Ghost is Born?
I don't read them, unless they are written by my friends (or you hotrod -- ha).
But I know some people who refuse to formulate an opinion until they see what 'everyone' else thinks.
I went to see that Wilco documentary with Emma and Hotrod a few years back and was just completely perplexed by the looks of awestruck wonder on the looks of all the the little shoegazers as they left. The arguments between Tweedy and the chubby smoking dude seemed like those of a middle-aged gay couple arguing about who's turn it was to mow the lawn. Heavy Metal Drummer indeed.
As for reviews. Iooooooooove them. I prefer reviews to the actual experience sometimes. Cultural criticism is one of the richest sources of great writing I know.
I like the idea of cultural criticism and being a rich source of writing, but often music reviews are nothing but a bunch of fanboys (yes, it seems typically a field dominated by men) wanking all over themselves, trying to prove how much arcane knowledge that have about bands nobody cares about.
Hotrod - you should come to the Pitchfork fest. My indie rock friend only wants to go to Sunday's fest, and I want to do the whole weekend. All those bands for $50? I need new friends.