The Original Rolling Stone review of Michael Jackson's Off the Wall

For those wondering why i bother w/ posting these old Rolling Stone reviews, i think it's interesting to examine legendary albums at the time of their release. How did critics react to seminal albums before they were acknowledged as such. And how did the response of a major rock music publication like RS match with the subsequent multi-million sales figures and the popular acclaim that came later. That's why i bother.

Off the Wall might seem like a sort of an obscure pre-Thriller MJ album, but it sold, prior to Thriller, 7 million copies--a hit record by any other standard other than Thriller. Under the radar, Michael Jackson was not. His hit-making prowess was well-known if not occasionally discounted--few child stars had really translated past their teen years. In short, critics didn't weren't entirely sure whether they had a pop music savant on their hands or an artist whose finest hour had passed him. Off the Wall, at the time, suggested that Michael had more artistic gas in the tank. 3 years later, Thriller was the triumphant return that waylaid nearly everyone. You couldn't not be amazed or perhaps more aptly thrilled by the pop rock gems abounding on Thriller. But before all the radio airplay, the moonwalking, the videos, the zippered jackets, the one glove, the light up floors, the chimp, etc. etc., there was just an album called Thriller. And before that, there was a sensational disco /funk/soul/pop album called Off the Wall:

"Like any an aging child star, Michael Jackson has had to grow up gracefully in public in order to survive.

Until now, he's understandably clung to the remnants of his original Peter Pan of Motown image while cautiously considering the role of the young prince. Off the Will marks Jackson's first decisive step toward a mature show-business personality, and except for some so-so material, it's a complete success.

A slick, sophisticated R&B-pop showcase with a definite disco slant, Off the Wall presents Michael Jackson as the Stevie Wonder of the Eighties. This resemblance is strongest on "I Can't Help It" (cowritten by Wonder), in which Jackson's vocal syncopation is reminiscent of the master's breathless, dreamy stutter.

Throughout, Jackson's feathery-timbred tenor is extraordinarily beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very daringly. The singer's ultradramatic phrasing, which rakes huge emotional risks and wins every time, wrings the last drop of pathos from Tom Bahler's tear-jerker, "She's Out of My Life." "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" (written and coproduced by Jackson) is one of a handful of recent disco releases that works both as a dance track and as an aural extravaganza comparable to Earth, Wind and Fire's "Boogie Wonderland." The rest of the dance music touches several grooves, from jazzy South American to mainstream pop funk.

A triumph for producer Quincy Jones as well as for Michael Jackson, Off the Wall represents discofied post-Motown glamour at its classiest." Stephen Holden (November 1979)

Rolling Stone Original Review of Thriller

This is Chris Connelly's (yes, that Chris Connelly of early Mtv fame who is kind of a douche these days) review of Thriller in Rolling Stone in January of 1983:

"In the three years since Michael Jackson's first solo album, Off the Wall, sold 7 million copies and spawned four hit singles, black music has veered away from the danceable but ultraslick style that Off the Wall epitomized. From Prince to Marvin Gave, from rap to Rick James, black artists have incorporated increasingly mature and adventurous themes–culture, sex, politics–into grittier, gutsier music. So when Jackson's first solo single since 1979 turned out to be a wimpoid MOR ballad with the refrain "the doggone girl is mine," sung with a tame Paul McCartney, it looked like the train had left the station without him.

But the superficiality of that damnably catchy hit belies the surprising substance of Thriller. Rather than reheating Off the Wall's agreeably mindless funk, Jackson has cooked up a zesty LP whose uptempo workouts don't obscure its harrowing, dark messages. Particularly on Jackson's own compositions, Thriller's tense, nearly obsessive sound complements lyrics that delineate a world that has put the twenty-four-year-old on the defensive. "They're out to get you, better leave while you can Don't wanna be a boy, you wanna be a man." It's been a challenging time for Jackson – his parents may separate, he's been involved in a paternity claim – and he's responded to those challenges head-on. He's dropped the boyish falsetto that sparked his hits from "I Want You Back" to "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and chosen to address his tormentors in a full, adult voice with a feisty determination that is tinged by sadness. Jackson's new attitude gives Thriller a deeper, if less visceral, emotional urgency than any of his previous work, and marks another watershed in the creative development of this prodigiously talented performer.

Take "Billie Jean," a lean, insistent funk number whose message couldn't be more blunt: "She says I am the one/But the kid is not my son." The party spirit that suffused Off the Wall has landed him in trouble, and he tempers that exuberance with suspicion. "What do you mean I am the one," he quizzically asks his femme fatale, "who will dance on the floor?" It's a sad, almost mournful song, but a thumping resolve underlies his feelings: "Billie Jean is not my lover" is incessantly repeated as the song fades out.

Billie Jean is mentioned in passing in Thriller's most combative track, the hyperactive "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," wherein Jackson also takes on the press, gossips of all kinds and other grief-givers. Here the emotions are so raw that the song nearly goes out of control. "Somebody's always tryin' to start my baby crying," he laments, and that sense of quasi paranoia yields to near-bitterness in the chorus: "You're a vegetable, you're a vegetable/They'll eat off you, you're a vegetable." It's a tune that's almost as exciting as seeing Jackson motivate himself across a concert stage – and a lot more unpredictable. These lyrics won't keep Elvis Costello awake nights, but they do show that Jackson has progressed past the hey-let's-hustle sentiments that dominated Off the Wall.

The sheer vitality of the musical setting obviates any sense of self-pity. Quincy Jones' production – Jackson coproduced his own compositions–is sparer than usual, and refreshingly free of schmaltz. Then again, he's working with what might be pop music's most spectacular instrument: Michael Jackson's voice. Where lesser artists need a string section or a lusty blast from a synthesizer, Jackson need only sing to convey deep, heartfelt emotion. His raw ability and conviction make material like "Baby Be Mine" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" into first-class cuts and even salvage "The Girl Is Mine." Well, almost.

Maybe the best song here is "Beat It," a this-ain't-no-disco AOR track if ever I heard one. Jackson's voice soars all over the melody, Eddie Van Halen checks in with a blistering guitar solo, you could build a convention center on the backbeat, and the result is one nifty dance song. Programmers, take note.

Jackson's greatest failing has been a tendency to go for the glitz, and while he's curbed the urge on Thriller, he hasn't obliterated it entirely. The end of side two, especially "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)," isn't up to the spunky character of the other tracks. And the title song, which at first sounds like a metaphoric examination of the same under-siege mentality that marks the LP's best moments, instead degenerates into silly camp, with a rap by Vincent Price. (Couldn't they get Count Floyd?)

Jackson has made no secret of his affection for traditional showbiz and the glamour that goes with it. His talents, not just singing but dancing and acting, could make him a perfect mainstream performer. Perish the thought. The fiery conviction of Thriller offers hope that Michael is still a long way away from succumbing to the lures of Vegas. Thriller may not be Michael Jackson's 1999, but it's a gorgeous, snappy step in the right direction."

Shimm Note:

(Can you imagine anyone today saying Thriller isn't more important and arguably finer than Prince's 1999, 30 million albums sold and counting? Of course, if albums sold was the arbiter of what is and what isn't fine music, i'd have to agree that Mariah Carey's music is important. That, i'm not prepared to do.)

The Jacksons -- I can feel it

The Jacksons -- Can You Feel It

Can You Feel It

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More Jackson Five -- the deeper you go, the shallower it gets

The age-old chicken-egg question was laid to rest sometime in the 1970's (it's the egg, you dumb motherF%%ker; no lizard ever became a chicken all of a sudden) to be replaced by an equally confusing question, "How funky is your chicken?" Like, what do you mean, what chicken are you referring to? Are you talking about my girl? Like, she's sort of funky, fairly coordinated and all, but umm....and so it went. Points to Michael Jackson and the rest of the Jackson who (cares) for tackling this brain-buster. Are you picking up my sarcasm?? It's been laid upon you dear reader pretty thick; day 3 of the media onslaught i'm getting a wee bit tired of the incessant coverage. Great pop star? yes. Greatest pop star?? Quit possibly, only the death of Paul McCartney or just maybe Madonna will get this much exposure when the time comes. But at some point, i draw the line. You've read my previous posts; you know how much i idolize the man, the myth, the legend...but there's a point where I fall short of making him the equivalent of Mother Theresa or Thomas Edison or President Obama. In my mind (only), his talent is less than that of Stevie Wonder (1960's and 70's albums only) or Paul McCartney or Elvis Costello or even Jeff Tweedy. His pop icon status outshines all of them except McCartney. No one danced like Michael circa 1984. By 2009, his crotch grabbing, bite the lower lip, awkward robotic arm movements followed by still show-stopping moonwalk was the merest fraction of his former self. Neil Young was right, sadly: "It's better to burn out, then it is to rust." And despite his attempts to stay youthful (which, frankly, I find to be unsettling)--each album he looked physically different (note to every pop star out there: that is really f&^king twisted and extremely unappealing)--MJ rusted and his cloistered environment produced a man-child that got all the weirder, far less appealling and far less effective songwriter as he grew older. Let's face facts for the past decade, MJ's music has been poor. His genre-hopping pop success in the 1980's and early 1990's became disturbingly formulaic and lame-o. I stopped listening and just focused on Off the Wall and Jackson 5 Ultimate Collection to console myself. Sorry to speak the truth.

Anyways what's interesting about the Jackson 5 is that most of their albums remain out of print and have been replaced with a vast array of compilations. From what I've heard, their non-hits are far fewer in number. "How funky is your chicken" and "Maria" are albums are pretty good. And that, led by Michael, the Jackson 5 and their later selves the Jacksons get better with age. Disco was a good stylistic template for Michael, and it allowed him to tweak that genre to produced his own brand of pop music that rocked the world. To me, the Jackson 5 , the Jacksons and Off the Wall (and of course Thriller) hold up much better than Bad and everything after. If fame had not corroded the soul of Michael Jackson by Thriller, the seeds of his undoing started with Bad (itself not a bad album, pardon the pun, but not a great album either; a stylistic retread of Thriller that he would try to recreate increasingly less successfully as time wore on).

"Maria" is a pretty good non-hit song for the Jackson 5, and a pretty amazing showcase for Michael's young adolescent voice. MJ's voice would be become more feminine as time wore on, but initially his strong, almost aggressive young voice is what capitivated audiences. That's the thing about Michael Jackson. You don't need a whole album or even a whole song or even a whole dance routine to make the realization that there is, was and never will be another Michael Jackson. And maybe that's why many of us are so sad. His life, however f%c$ed up, was all his own, extremely grandiose and ultimately distasteful, was originally an amazing thing to behold. He made everyone with a pulse kind of go ga-ga for a year or two. To capture the zeitgeist like is special and maybe won't be done again (Justin Timberlake, prove me wrong; he can dance, he can sing, he's funny, attractive and charming but can he write songs that wilt this music snob's heart again (like he did with "Rock your body"; i'm not getting gay for JT, in fact, i think he's overrated and doesn't work hard enough to make interesting music). Pop can suck it for all i care these days; not impressed. Much props to MJ but with a series of asterisks and misgivings.

Jackson 5 -- How Funky is Your Chicken?????

How Funky is Your Chicken????

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Jackson 5 -- Maria

Maria


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B is for Bob (NOT A CHILDREN'S ALBUM)

I'll be the first to admit that my knowledge of Bob Marley's back catalog is a little spotty. But I know a thing or two. One thing i don't know is how much of B is for Bob has been released elsewhere. But if you like Bob Marley and the Wailers before Clapton and then the rest of the world caught on and before the production got all shiny and overproduced, you might want to buy this. I mean, "Stir it Up" is a great song but sometimes Marley's hits get a little tired. And that's why I like this compilation so much because it allows me to see see his music in a new light and it reaffirms just how amazing he was as a songwriter (Third World artist; First World/Rate Talent). Some artists just can't pull this off. And I'm pretty sure this isn't a "children's album" (whatever exactly that means), but you, your kids and just about everyone else will dig B is for Bob--it's a people pleaser. Like Michael Jackson, Bob Marley died way too soon. Unlike MJ, he died at age 36, while still nearly at the apex of his career.

Bob Marley -- Stir it Up

Stir It Up

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Bob Marley -- Small Axe (B is Version)

Small Axe (B is Version)

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More New Wilco

Not sure if Wilco had in this mind when they wrote "I'll Fight" for Wilco (The Album), but thematically anyways the song is something like a sequel to "War on War" from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Whereas "War" was a glum, pessimistic response to Bush's War on Terror, "I'll Fight" is upbeat--Tweedy or the protagonist of the song wants to fight and kill "for you" (whoever that is exactly) and is ready to die on some "forgotten hill by some old forgotten mill." An affecting song. Wilco (The Album) won't be the best album of the year given always high expectations. It delivers but it's understated. Some might call this "dad rock." I don't have kids and few if any gray hairs, but Tweedy and lead guitarist, Nels Cline, rock my world.

P.S. Check out the review by Matthew Perpetua (from Fluxblog) on Pitchfork: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13237-wilco-the-album/. I might quibble with the actual numerical score (I'd give it a 7.9, whatever that means), but the review itself is spot-on.

Wilco -- War on War

War on War

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Wilco -- I'll Fight

I'll Fight

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I want the old Michael back

I don't have much to add from last night's MJ tribute. This "I Want You Back" remix is notable for pushing up the guitar lick at the beginning. After that, the remix is pretty much a complete retread of the original, and it kind of loses my interest. But the first 30 seconds makes this a real Motown artifact. This Z-trip remix comes off the Motown Remixed collection that came out a few years ago.

Jackson 5 -- I Want You Back (Z-Trip Remix)

I Want You Back (Z-Trip Remix)

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Michael Jackson -- Rest in Peace King of Pop

Anyone with a f&cking brain knows better than to dismiss Michael Jackson. In the last 20 years, his musical impact was nil and he was a social pariah to say the least. But his music from the Jackson 5 to Thriller (say what you will about Bad; i fully recognize that there were hits off that album, but it holds up rather poorly over time unlike much of his work before that) is essential pop music. In fact, it creates the mold for one of the worst stylistic trends in pop music, but MJ got it right when and where so many others couldn't really compete.

For the first 10 years of my childhood, Michael Jackson was the pop star, there was no one bigger. A music video would command a prime television audience. He was like no one else, and eventually he became the merest fraction of his former self. I don't like to dwell on what became of MJ because it's too disheartening. And it's not important. Remove the hype and what remains is one of the finest pop stars of all time. Off The Wall is my favorite MJ album.

I missed the old Michael and bemoaned what he had become, but nonetheless i'm really sad to say goodbye so soon to the King of Pop. We hardly knew ye.

Michael Jackson -- Off the Wall

Off the Wall

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Michael Jackson -- I Can't Help It

I can't help it

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Mel C a.k.a. Sporty Spice

I apologize for the lack of posts recently. But it's summer time, north of the equator anyways, and you should be outside anyways. So i'm back in my hometown of Indianapolis, staying with my parents, which means I have access to all the cd's i've collected over the years. I used to be a college rep for Virgin records waaay back in the day, and during that time I got a whole of bunch of stuff which includes Mel C. Mel C was the Spice Girl who was, arguably, the least attractive and most talented, vocally anyways. So i'm breaking out my old cd's and seeing what i've overlooked, these were some of my favorites off this pop album that was better than you might think. Not a good album but more consistent than you might want to give a former Spice Girl credit for.

Melanie C -- Never Be the Same Again

Never Be the Same Again

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Melanie C -- Northern Star

Northern Star

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Coldplay -- Rainy Day

This song is actually appropriate as it has been raining pretty much all day. I'm not even exactly sure what Prospekts March is/was intended to be. I guess it is the b-sides accompaniment to Viva La Vida. I hadn't really thought to listen to it, but space on my iPod is running out. And I like to think that i don't really like Coldplay, but the truth is: I do, and in fact I have a lot of their music on my iPod. So today for the past couple hours, I have been playing only Coldplay. And it holds up fairly well in my opinion, but I don't recommend this experiment to anyone. My ears are getting crusty and my brain getting a lil' bored.

Coldplay -- Rainy Day

Rainy Day

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New Wilco with Feist -- Happy Days are Here Again!!!

Proof that President Obama is as cool as i think he is

A few things came to mind as I was listening to "You and I:"

1. Jeff Tweedy's voice is like a great worn-in baseball mitt. It is a little rough but soft and flexible where needed.

2. Feist is a one hell of a lady to duet with. "You and I" ain't exactly a stretch for her but she voice matches so nicely against Tweedy's. this song won't be the same in concert.

3. Wilco has been playing in the pocket for like 3 maybe 4 albums since Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and their consistency is a pretty amazing thing to behold. There was no Wilco-rap-rock album or the all acoustic Tweedy solo album (unless you count his mostly instrumental soundtrack to the highly unseen film Chelsea Walls). Their confidence in their sound and their ability to tweak things here and there so as to keep things interesting is inspiring. None of the songs I've heard thus far blow me away exactly, but not every album needs to make a dramatic statement of artistic purpose. This is high quality rock and i can dig that.

4. Chicago, after months of Blago controversy, needs something to restore its integrity. If we ignore the promising Obama Presidency for a moment, Wilco just might be that beacon of integrity.

5. I haven't heard the whole album yet, but I likes what i hear so far.

Wilco -- You and I

You and I

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Big Star

I've studied rock music like it was my job for years, and I've studied the pantheon of unsung, underground rock gods: the Velvet Underground, Can, Nick Drake, Pere Ubu and Wire and others. While i have an appreciation and affection for all of the above, to these ears there was never more accessible band like Big Star to strike out so miserably during the band's short-lived career. Taken together as one big album, #1 Record/Radio City is a little inconsistent but the album contains some of the best and least played out rock songs ever (no exaggeration). When i first came across this album back in the late 90's, I really felt like i had discovered something--an important artifact of power pop, classic rock and punk rock from the '70s. And Alex Chilton, their lead singer, guitarrist and primary songwriter seemed was devastated by the injustice being dealt him, and appropriately went off on a drug and booze bender that he's never recovered from. In the immediate aftermath, albums like Third/Sister Lovers provide a loving tribute to giving up and devoting oneself to intoxication, Kinks albums and being petulant. Unfortunately, that kind of alcohol vitriole wears itself quickly, and pretty soon Chilton became the angry drunk guy at a dingey Memphis bar bemoaning the shit on the jukebox and his lot in life. His post-Big Star work remains extremely hit-and-miss. Still, you can't listen to songs like "Thirteen" or "The Ballad of El Goodo" or "O My Soul" without recognizing that Chilton got screwed royally. In an alternative universe, Big Star would have lived up to their name and gotten more due., money, a live album and tons of bitches. Whatever the case, he left a phenomenal legacy that will be discovered and rediscovered for generations of rock nerds like myself to come. Happy hunting rock nerds out there!

Big Star -- O My Soul

O My Soul

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Tortoise -- Beacons of Ancestorship

This is about as close as Tortoise gets to playing accessible music. Tortoise along with the Sea and Cake and Wilco represent the best of Chicago's current music scene. I've seen Tortoise in concert only once (ACL '05), and it was a mind blower. But Tortoise had also gotten a little stuffy, too cerebral in the past couple years. "Prepare Your Coffin," which reads a lot more menacing than it actually sounds, is pretty damn tuneful. I have been sitting on this album for too long--living and dying by the iPod shuffle can sometimes bury a good album deserving of more attention. Better late than never.

Tortoise -- Prepare Your Coffin

Prepare Your Coffin

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More Quiet Village -- Caution: This is Disco-Soul

At first glance, this sounds like the follow-up to The Avalanches' Since I Left You--one of the finest, most enduring electronica/turntable records of the past ten years. But that comparison is pretty facile. For one, while the Avalanches gravitated towards exotica-lounge-40's radio programming, Quiet Village (the band's name comes from a song title Martin Denny, father of exotica) blends exotica with 70's soul and disco (the song i posted a week ago "Circus of Horrors" is the sole quasi-hard rock-soul number on the album). The result is something that is kind of hard to put one's finger on, stylistically, and there's something a little disturbing despite all of its smoothness.

Quiet Village -- Pacific Rhythm

Pacific Rhythm

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Scissors for Lefty --

A friend from Austin (big ups LL) had been talking up San Francisco-based Scissors for Lefty since she moved to Texas. Just yesterday, "Got Your Moments" popped up on the shuffle, and my girl LL was right--the band is pretty cool. It's a little punky, a little brit-poppy, reminding me of the Hot Hot Heat primarily but less spastic. Living in Austin, i've got a feeling that LL's first exposure to the band was a live experience, and I can imagine that this band is a lot of fun in concert.

Scissors for Lefty -- Got Your Moments

Got Your Moments

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Kings of Leon Remixed

From the looks of the reviews on iTunes, it would seems that this remix by Mark Ronson is pissing off some KOL fans. I'm ok w/ what's going on here--the horns don't seem that out of place. As the Kings seem to steadily move up the popularity ladder, i would be surprised to see more of this kind of experimentation, for better and for worse. But the minute a KOL rap-rock tune surfaces, i will never speak of the band again.

Kings of Leon -- Pistol of Fire (Mark Ronson Remix)

Pistol of Fire (Mark Ronson Remix)

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Sparklehorse -- Dark Night of the Soul

Sorry for the delay on this here post. Albums this year, fittingly enough, that start with Dark have been pretty damn good. This compilation of A-list and B-list collaborations with Mark Linkous's nom de rock Sparklehorse. Dark Night of the Soul owes much also to its producer Danger Mouse, who spearheaded the release of this album. Linkous has suffered some self-inflicted but nevertheless rough breaks over the past decade or so. On the band's first tour, Linkous passed out from a mixture of valium and anti-depressants (note to self...avoid doing that), and to make matters infinitely worse he passed out in such a way for a total of 14 hours that nearly all the blood was cut off to his legs. As a result, Linkous is now partially paralyzed from the waist down. Then he suffered through more drug addiction and depression for a bunch of years. He, however, had good friends that wanted to help him through his dark days. As a testament to the power of music, many of the artists listed above would visit and play music to inspire him--one of which was Danger Mouse's Jay Z/Beatles mash The Grey Album. The whole album doesn't quite do it for me, but Nina Persson (of the Cardigans) provides a lively performance in "Daddy's Gone" and the song with Jason Lytle sounds pretty like a Grandaddy song, that's never a bad thing imo.

Sparklehorse with Jason Lytle -- Everytime I'm With You

Everytime I'm With You

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Sparklehorse with Nina Persson -- Daddy's Gone

Daddy's Gone

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Scarlet Takes a Tumble (The Remix): I am an evil bastard for laughing at this poor woman

It's the Weekend!!!

Jason Lytle: Out on the Town (It's the Weekend!)

Jason Lytle -- It's the Weekend

It's the Weekend

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Quiet Village

For music aficionados, these are interesting times. Quiet Village provides a case in point. Today, the taste-makers are so thoroughly diffused if you aren't one of the lucky few to get radio airplay, you pretty much get free reign to indulge in just about any artistic endeavor just as long as you can get a little $$ up front. Quiet Village's album defies an easy all-encompassing description--it's funky, a little ambient, it dabbles in a bit of turntable-ism and betrays a heavy indebtedness to classic hard rock. That sounds g-dawful (shabbat shalom bitches) on paper but it sort of works.

Quiet Village -- Circus of Horror

Circus of Horror

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Another Detroit Tribute from Paul Simon

Mm------
It's carbon and monoxide
The ole Detroit perfume
It hangs on the highways
In the morning
And it lays you down by noon
Oh Papa Hobo
You can see that I'm dressed like a schoolboy
But I feel like a clown
It's a natural reaction I learned
In this basketball town

Sweep up
I been sweeping up the tips I've made
I'm living on Gatorade
Planning my getaway
Detroit, Detroit
Got a hell of a hockey team
Got a left-handed way
Of making a man sign up on that
Automotive dream, oh yeah, oh yeah
Oh, Papa Papa Hobo
Could you slip me a ride?
Well, it's just after breakfast
I'm in the road
And the weatherman lied,
Oo-------, Ah-----, Oo-------

Paul Simon -- Papa Hobo

Papa Hobo

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Phoenix -- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, dumbest Album Title of the Year?

I've blogged about Phoenix before. I'm pretty sure i pointed out how their French nationality betrays their clear affection for rock music more commonplace across the English Channel. And this is pop-rock--there are hooks, real drums, guitars and glossy production. I expect Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix to be a big hit amongst the hip high school girl demo. For those that need a steady diet of more stripped down blue-based rock (i.e. The Black Keys, White Stripes), Phoenix will not be your cup of tea. For those with a slightly broader sonic palate, Phoenix has made a pretty catchy album, even if the name leaves a lot to be desired.

Phoenix -- Fences

Fences

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Phoenix -- Rome

Rome

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Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Engineer Demos

R.I.P. Jay Bennett

I have always been firmly in the Tweedy camp, but reflecting on the sad early death of Jay Bennett (i got the suspicion that he wore his body out w/ drugs, alcohol and tobacco) and the Wilco documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, in which the first half focuses on the initial collaboration between Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett and the latter's abrupt dismissal in the 2nd half, i cannot help but be a little sympathetic to Bennett. At the time, Bennett's departure was viewed as a clash of artistic differences. In hindsight, given Bennett's signficant influence on Summer Teeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Tweedy's dismissal seems a bit vindictive. Then again, Wilco is not Wilco without Tweedy--he is the general in a band of very talented musicians.

Back in 2002 in the wake of 9/11, no album to me seemed quite as vital as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It remains in my opinion the very best album of the past 10 years--it's album that is incredibly hard to wear out. Someone once described it as an onion in which repeated listenings peal back to reveal layers of detail. As Tweedy himself once stated in describing his songwriting approach to making YHF, "We made it, so it's ours to destroy." What's funny is that this process of deconstruction actually produced songs of the highest calibre--the "Engineer Demos" are proof that the songs needed to be fussed with. However much shit Warner Bros. took from dumping the band, at least they gave Wilco the time to create this incredibly fine album (which they in the end could not fathom). These "engineer demos" are early versions of songs that made and did not make Yankee, and supposedly they bear a significant amount of Bennett-influence. What's amazing to me is that these are merely average songs that with major tweaks and considerable deconstruction became a truly vital album. The "Engineer demos" in no way eclipses the final product, but they are truly informative in demonstrating how YHF came to be. "Corduroy Cutoff Girl" is an early version of "Radio Cure." For Wilco geeks like myself, this makes my day. I include two versions of "Alone," a song that inexplicably didn't make YHF. The Engineer Demo version is pretty bad, while the "Alternate version" shows remarkable progression in song-writing. That Alternate version is part of later-set of YHF demos (that until i came across these Engineer demos on Aquarium Drunkard -- big ups to this blog for this post-- i thought were the only YHF demos out there). In short, YHF was a labor of blood, sweat, puke and tears, and these demos provide further evidence of the artistic genius of Jeff Tweedy.

Someday, YHF will be repackaged into a remarkable boxset, but, remember, you got it here first folks. (That is if you didn't make it to Aquarium Drunkard in time to download the Engineer demos in full.)

Wilco -- Alone (Alternate)

Alone (Alternate)

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Wilco -- Alone (Shakin Sugar)

Alone

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Wilco -- Cars Can't Escape

Cars Can't Escape

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Wilco -- Corduroy Cutoff Girl

Corduroy Cutoff Girl

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Wilco -- Nothing Up Sleeve

Nothing Up My Sleeve

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New Wilco -- Bull Black Nova

If I had to bring just one band to a desert island to live out the rest of my days, i'd take Wilco with me. Jeff Tweedy's songwriting, which sounds increasingly more collaborative, is confident enough to allow his fellow bandmates to shine, particularly his ace-in-the-hole lead guitarist, Nels Cline. My initial complaint is that this song seems to be missing a hook and Tweedy's vocals are underwhelming--the verses kind of weigh the song down imo. Nevertheless, i am excited to have another Wilco album to look forward to.

Wilco -- Bull Black Nova

Bull Black Nova

MP3 File