Posts Tagged ‘Jeff Tweedy’

  
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Vinyl Review: 7 Worlds Collide, “The Sun Came Out”

by Dw. Dunphy

7 Worlds Collide, spearheaded by Crowded House’s Neil Finn, is a loose collective formed with friends, acquaintances and contemporaries coming together in a studio to hash out some songs. It’s a nice concept, though not an entirely unique one, the most recent comparison (relatively speaking, considering its decades-long gestation) being Peter Gabriel’s Big Blue Ball. Not coincidentally, Tim Finn is a member in good standing of both, but The Sun Came Out trumps Big Blue Ball in one important aspect: consistency. Because of Gabriel, and his Real World label’s world music emphasis, the tracks bounced wildly from a pop tune to a chant, to an African tribal rhythm and back to a pop tune, all good in their own right but incoherent in the record’s preset context.

The Sun Came Out has a rock & roll through-line and, therefore, is an easier listen. The pedigree is outstanding as well, since you’re not just getting more Finns than you can shake a stick at, but you’re getting a chunk of Radiohead, a large part of Wilco, and some Johnny Marr for good measure. One of the early standouts is “Run in the Dust,” a Marr contribution with some nice, moody guitar textures, but the set spans two CDs or four full vinyl sides. By the sheer weight of the thing, the listener instinctively begins to cherry-pick tracks. For the CD or iTunes set, that’s fine. For the vinyl collector, not so much. (more…)

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Thursday, September 10th, 2009

CD Review: 7 Worlds Collide, “The Sun Came Out”

by Jeff Giles

618P4xqm7zL._SCLZZZZZZZ_[1]The coolest thing about 7 Worlds Collide’s The Sun Came Out is also its biggest flaw: Namely, that “group” founder Neil Finn brought the whole damn thing together — all two discs and 24 tracks’ worth — in a scant three weeks.

7 Worlds Collide, as the Finn fanatics among you will remember, was the name Finn gave the stupidly awesome live album he released in 2002 — a name derived from the fact that he was joined for its performances by his brother Tim, erstwhile Smith Johnny Marr, Lisa Germano, Radiohead’s Phil Selway and Ed O’Brien, and Eddie Vedder. (And yet it wasn’t a huge hit. Go figure.) Seven years and one Crowded House reunion later, Finn has decided to revive the 7 Worlds banner for something even cooler than a star-studded live compilation: A star-studded charity compilation, assembled to support Oxfam.

For the occasion, Finn re-enlisted his old friends Johnny Marr, Phil Selway, Ed O’Brien, and Lisa Germano, as well as a multitude of Finns (including Tim, Sharon, Elroy, and his son Liam) — and then went further, recruiting Jeff Tweedy, K.T. Tunstall, Bic Runga, Glenn Richards, John Stirratt, Pat Sansone, Don McGlashan, and Sebastian Steinberg to take their own turns in front of the microphone. This sprawling collective (which was actually even bigger — I only named the vocalists) holed up Auckland for a few weeks and emerged with The Sun Came Out. (more…)

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Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

CD Review: Son Volt, “American Central Dust”

by Ken Shane

Son Volt - American Central DustOnce upon a time there was a pioneering Americana band from Belleville, Il. called Uncle Tupelo. Two of the founding members of the band were Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar. The band recorded three albums for a local indie label, and when they were signed by Sire Records, they expanded the trio (which included Mike Heidorn) to a five-piece. Sadly, the relationship between Farrar and co-songwriter Tweedy was deteriorating faster than the band’s fortunes were rising. Just before the release of Uncle Tupelo’s first major label album, Anodyne, Farrar decided he was leaving. The band broke up in 1994. Farrar formed Son Volt, and everyone else formed Wilco.

It’s inarguable that Wilco has received the lion’s share of the spotlight in the intervening years, and I’ve often wondered how that must make Jay Farrar feel. But Son Volt has made some terrific albums, and stayed out on the road through it all, except for a three-year period when Farrar pursued a solo career. There have been a lot of lineup changes, but the one constant, Farrar, soldiers on. (more…)

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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

CD Review: Wilco, “Wilco (The Album)”

by Ken Shane

Wilco (the album)Wilco has reached that point in their career when it becomes trendy for the hipster brigade to slag each new release as “not as good as (fill in album name here).” That’s a shame, because the Chicago-based band is making some of their best music these days. Led by the irrepressible Jeff Tweedy, and featuring the off-the-charts guitar work of modern master Nels Cline, this Wilco lineup, together for five years now, finds the band at their musical peak.

One thing that a creative artist learns early on is that you’re not going to be able to please everyone all the time. There were those who found the Wilco masterpiece Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and its successor, A Ghost Is Born, too experimental for their tastes. The band seemed to react to that by releasing the fairly straightforward Sky Blue Sky in 2007. That one was deemed to be too bland, and the nostalgia merchants began to call for a return to the glorious days of Summerteeth. No doubt we’ll see a similar reaction if Radiohead ever returns to the more easily digestible sound of their OK Computer era.

If Wilco (The Album) (Nonesuch) doesn’t please the entire fanbase it won’t be surprising, but it will be pretty damned unfair. For what we have here is an album that is a nearly perfect fusion of Wilco’s experimental bent, and Tweedy’s straightforward Americana songwriting style, and, I might add, these are some of Tweedy’s finest songs ever. He’s unafraid to let his influences show, and as a result we get takes on Talking Heads, the Beatles, and the Motown sound. Producer Jim Scott rejoined the band for this effort, and the recording is first rate. All of this adds up to what may be the finest Wilco album since, well…since always. There, I said it. (more…)

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Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

DVD Review: “Wilco Live: Ashes of American Flags”

by Ken Shane

Wilco - Ashes of American FlagsLast week I told you about the Hold Steady’s new DVD, A Positive Rage. You may recall that it is strictly a lo-fi affair, and really more of a documentary about the band on tour than a concert film. All of that works very well for the Hold Steady, a bad still pushing their way to the top.

This week, we have pretty much the polar opposite of that experience in the new DVD from Wilco, called Ashes of American Flags. This is a beautifully shot, recorded, and edited film that shows the band on stage in five quintessentially American venues during its 2008 tour. It was released this past Saturday to celebrate Record Store Day. Jeff Tweedy had this to say about the occasion:

“My introduction to a lot of great music and to the ‘music business’ came from hanging around and eventually working at independent record stores in Belleville, IL and St. Louis many years ago. It’s the life I know. Nothing beats browsing in your favorite store, listening to music, finding something new or old that you’ve been searching for, being ignored by the store clerks, all that. And without these stores, there’s no way Wilco would still be around. They’ve been with us from the very beginning, through thick and thin. Even if I wasn’t in a band, I’d still support Record Store Day. It’s a great thing and I’m glad we could do something special with them.”

And that something is very special indeed. Beginning with a show at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, OK, we watch as the band moves across the country, arriving next at Tipitina’s in New Orleans, followed by the Mobile Civic Center in Alabama, the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, and ending up at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC.

Ashes of American Flags was produced and directed in HD by Christoph Green along with Fugazi’s Brendan Canty, who says that the film “was captured completely on the fly with a terrifying lack of planning. ” The resulting 88-minute film brings us 13 songs from the Wilco repertoire, and nicely showcases the band’s brilliant musicianship, and Tweedy’s adept way with a song. (more…)

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Friday, January 9th, 2009

The Friday Linkfest: 01/09/09

by Jeff Giles

Boston.com’s Big Picture visits the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival;

The Onion A.V. Club’s Hater returns to action;

VH1’s remaining viewers have voted on the 100 greatest hard rock songs, and the results are in;

Fearing for your car’s health and your job security? Buy a Hyundai;

Gaper’s Blog has reached Volume LXIII of The Unheard Music, and this week, the focus is on Röyksopp;

The Hits Just Keep on Comin’ digs up the long-lost radio edit of “Two Tickets to Paradise“;

Erin McCarley is suddenly everydamnwhere — but the Wall Street Journal says you shouldn’t be turned off by the hype;

Funky16Corners breaks out the Chuck Jackson & Maxine Brown;

The Screen Door kicks off Bruce Springsteen Month;

Bob Lefsetz asks: How do you know when you’ve made it?

In his latest column for the New York Times’ Measure for Measure series, Andrew Bird discusses the way his new albums came together;

Ickmusic waxes rhapsodic about the hip band du jour, Glasvegas;

Consumerist links to a CNN piece that lists 13 companies that are hiring this year;

Nah Right previews a track from the new Grandmaster Flash record, featuring Busta Rhymes;

Jeff Tweedy covers Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees“;

…and our buddy Amir Talai makes his Funny or Die debut:

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