Music
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I’m basically a Wilco super fan and I’ve had trouble with a lot of their work since Ode to Joy. I haven’t listened to the new one yet. I did listen to A Ghost Is Born last week to celebrate its 20 year anniversary and it’s still an absolutely brilliant album to me. Their work from Being There up to Wilco (the album) is part of my core musical dna. I think it has to be very difficult to maintain that level of creative output over time. But then there is Dylan who puts out Rough and Rowdy Ways at 79…
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@endo enjoyed this video and it was the inspiration for a great breakfast discussion with my wife and kids (13 and 10) who are all creative in their own way. A huge part of me relates to Rick’s main point, about the sweat equity involved in the enjoyment of music for me personally. At the same time, the expanded access to music (via Spotify) has introduced me to tons of new artists I wouldn’t have experienced otherwise. I even use the AI DJ, “X” regularly and it has been fun discovering new artists that way too.
Anyway, great video that made me think…thanks for posting it.
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I’ve talked about the thing Beato is on about, or at least in that rough ballpark, many many times. I always cite the Beatles as (imo) the best example. They spent all that time in Hamburg playing several hours every night and just honed their craft like crazy — bands back then were so tight because they had to nail stuff in one take, etc, and goddamn it’s impressive. I totally agree that most musicians these days, certainly myself included, lack those kind of chops. Also, a lot of these groups were raised on jazz standards etc, stuff that’s heavily rooted in elements of classical composition, to the point to which a lot of their music feels more traditionally “accomplished” from a songwriting perspective. Elvis Costello is probably my best example when it comes to this. Or someone like Carole King.
While I’m in awe of these abilities and certainly aspire to get some of that into my own songwriting, I feel like they’re used too often by older generations as a reason to shit on younger ones. I even find myself doing it to generations younger than mine already, being like “they’re young and they just don’t get it!” I deliberately try to fight that, and boy it’s a practice. Anyway, I don’t know if Beato even got that tone because I didn’t watch the video (he annoys me), but I for sure know that his audience farts out a lot of that “I miss when they made real music” noise. Anyhoo, I’m up on a soapbox. Making music was great back then, but it’s great now too. Also there was plenty of shit music back then, just as much as there is now.
I enjoyed that new Wilco EP more than I have a lot of their more recent stuff. I wish Tweedy would stop singing in his hushed voice so much in general though. Just feels like he’s always halfway through a cup of chamomile and is about to nod off for 12 hours.
WTB
IHSH-IHG-BLK XXL
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@GraemeE man, psyched to check this out. I love Cale so much — that run of more sort of trad songwriter-y records in the 70s is f'n god tier to me.
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@popvulture vintage violence, Paris 1919 and fear are my jams
I can hang with the terry riley record but I have to be in the right mood
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Yep I think those are the best. I like Slow Dazzle and Helen of Troy, too. Ya know, generally before he started doing gobs of coke and wearing the hockey mask.
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@popvulture this is pretty much spot on to how I feel. One other thing that stuck out to me was one of the comments under the video referencing an Orson Welles quote..”The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.” Kind of a take on the “necessity is the mother of invention”. On the surface, I can find lots of art that supports this…Sgt. Pepper’s comes instantly to mind. But I look at my kids and the access they have to music, art, books and I’ve begun to think that the “absence of limitations” can actually inspire creators more than limit them. And “limitations” are so subjective. I think that having these tools helps more than hurts(although I never again want to hear a drum machine play a Bonham shuffle).
On Wilco…of course I had to listen to the new ep this morning and I agree that some of it sounds more energized than what they’ve been doing recently. And I agree about Tweedy’s voice. At the end of the ep, Spotify played “Either Way” from Sky Blue Sky and his voice was so clear and intense compared to the ep…it was almost a shock.
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@popvulture When I was playing in bands and making records, we had to be really tight,and know exactly what we were doing,or going to be doing in the studio because it was expensive and ultimately it came out of our pockets. We would work with producers doing as much pre production as possible. Also the sooner it was done the sooner we could be back out there playing.
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@Jett129 I absolutely get that!
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@SKT I agree so much with this! I often get a little gate-keepery about what we had to go through when we were younger to even find music. Know a cooler, older person, have access to cool magazines, know a record store that stocked more esoteric stuff, etc. Chuck Klosterman said an interesting thing about buying a record back then being an investment. You didn’t have the ability to just try whatever you wanted because you likely just had a little bit of money, so often buying music meant committing a bit to a genre, digging into a culture. That said, I would’ve absolutely killed for Spotify back then. Is it better or worse? I don’t know. I think it’s neither, just different. Pluses and minuses on all sides. Anyway, I guess it all relates to our general tendency to think “my way is better than yours,” which as we know causes endless problems.
Re: Sky Blue Sky, man… that record is a big time fave of theirs for me. He uses that higher, forceful voice a lot, and it just has such a nice energy to it. Might have to pop that on the turntable…
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I've always loved the stories of how he's set up the signs when he'd get hired for a session gig. YOU DONE IT! YOU HIRED THE HITMAKER! Boss move.
