Bob Soron wrote:
> At 12:00 PM -0600 on 3/25/99, William F. Silvers wrote:
>
> >Bob Soron wrote:
> >
> >> I swore Jeff Tweedy would never get another cent of my money. So far,
> >> I've succeeded, no small feat in the town he lives in. (I didn't know
> >> he was opening for Patti Smith, I swear. We only saw a song and a
> >> half.) If his experimentation tickles you, you're ahead of the game. I
> >> stopped playing, myself.
> >
> >Hmm, let's see. Somebody new gets on the list and, having actually listened
> >to the record, has some positive stuff to say about the new Wilco record.
> >The uninformed response is "I hate Jeff Tweedy" times six. Now *that's*
> >analysis.
>
> Well, now, I don't want to turn this into Postcard, but I think this is
> a useful distinction: I don't hate Tweedy, I hate his work.
Point taken. I was guilty of imprecision there.
> And it
> isn't an uninformed opinion; I've seen him in concert a bunch of times
> (Wilco and Golden Smog only; by the time I'd heard of Uncle Tupelo,
> they were touring with Michelle Shocked, whom I dislike even more, and
> yes I've seen her too, and that's most of the reason). Bought the
> records, saw the shows. Every piece of work he's done has interested me
> less than the last. At this point, I think that declaring I'm not much
> interested in his work is not an uninformed opinion. (And I need to
> say: I've got no problem with him, or anyone else, being a chameleon. I
> think he projects his stage personae very well. They're personae I'm
> not interested in, though.)
Well, I get your point, and I mirror your feelings in that I see BEING THERE as
a significant decline from AM. Dave Purcell said it best, there's not enough
material on there for one disc, let alone two. Tweedy has been increasingly
guilty of some sloppy, unfocused, flaccid songwriting IMO.
But as you implied in your previous post, you haven't heard the new record yet.
A new record which, BTW, has gotten quite a bit of publicity (as would any
Tweedy-Farrar project in this little community) as being a marked change from
anything he's done before. It seems to me that actually hearing the record might
make you better able to critique it, and Tweedy's work.
There is, I'll grant, a fairly rich P2 tradition of criticism based on track
record and press clippings as opposed to what the records themselves actually
sound and "read" like, (lyrically that is) but it's one I've never cottoned to
or found particularly meaningful or interesting.
you add:
> The thread,
> to me, comes down to, how far can a band drift from its original sound
> before it just starts to drive those original fans away? Wilco's a
> great example and timely enough to be worth discussing. As I said in
> that penultimate sentence quoted above, if some fans like the
> experimentation, they're ahead of the game. It isn't that there's
> nothing wrong with it; it's that they're better off for it, as I say
> there. But this isn't a zero-sum game; folks who didn't like the new
> stuff as much as the old don't lose their right to complain, criticize,
> or sulk. Frankly, my investment in the band was so low to begin with
> that I'm more interested in the general issues than the specific.
Again, it seems to me that deciding whether a new direction is worthwhile or not
would be best served by actual listening. Though I'll defend to the death your
right to "complain, criticize or sulk" about the outcome if so. I might even
join you. <g>
> Im my defense on my tone, and I guess I should have said this in my
> reply to Bob, he did note that it wasn't indepth, so it's difficult to
> expect me to do so. On both sides, it was just another "Tastes
> great/less filling" call and response. And if it had been indepth, I
> probably would've deleted it without reading for reasons that have
> nothing to do with him and everything to do with Wilco.
While I'll grant that Big In Iowa/Cincy Bob (as opposed to big in Boston/Chicago
Bob) didn't fill several screens with his analysis of SUMMERTEETH, he raised a
worthwhile point about "experimentation" and fans response to it, and added that
his response to the new record was positive. Forgive me for not finding any
point in your initial response but "less filling."
> >Lemme know Bob, I'll dub ya a free copy.
>
> This is the bravest thing ever said on list during two simultaneous
> antibootlegging threads. Um, that's OK, Bill. <g> (but seriously, too)
Well, you were on record (so to speak) as saying
> >> I swore Jeff Tweedy would never get another cent of my money.
>
and I take you as a man of your word. Thus in no way am I robbing either Reprise
or Wilco of any money.
And the offer stands...<g>
And now that that website is down, you can keep having these arguments more
often again Bob. <g>
b.s.
n.p. Joe Henry KINDNESS OF THE WORLD
