While Wilco's debut, A.M., spread its wings in an expectedly country-rock fashion, their sophomore effort, Being There, is the group's great leap forward, a masterful, wildly eclectic collection shot through with ambitions and ideas. Although a few songs remain rooted in their signature sound, here Jeff Tweedy and band are as fascinated by their music's possibilities as its origins, and they push the songs which make up this sprawling two-disc set down consistently surprising paths and byways. For starters, the opening "Misunderstood" is majestic psychedelia, built on studio trickery and string flourishes, while "I Got You (At the End of the Century)" is virtual power pop, right down to the handclaps. The lovely "Someone Else's Song" borrows heavily from the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood," while the R&B-influenced boogie of "Monday" wouldn't sound at all out of place on Exile on Main Street; and on and on. The remarkable thing is how fresh all of these seeming clichés sound when reimagined with so much love and conviction; even the most traditional songs take unexpected twists and turns, never once sinking into mere imitation. "Music is my savior/I was named by ock & roll/I was maimed by ock & roll/I was tamed by ock & roll/I got my name from ock & roll," Tweedy sings on "Sunken Treasure," the opener of the second disc, and throughout the course of these 19 songs he explores ock as though he were tracing his family genealogy, fervently seeking to discover not only where he came from but also where he's going. With Being There, he finds what he's been looking for.
Any Wilco set that opens and closes with Being There tracks is worth your time (and bandwith), but the band's Lollapalooza gig also found them dropping a hot new tune, "One Wing." Download the gig track by track at You Ain't No Picasso or via Megaupload on Mystic Chords of Memory . (Wilco @ Lollapalooza 2006* photo by 5500 ) *corrected~~
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So, I'm still absolutely diggin on the iTunes shuffle songs action. The best thing about is being exposed to music I haven't listened to in a while. Case in point: Wilco's Was I in Your Dreams from disk two of Being There. I bought this album a while back bust never really got around to listening to it. I guess I just wasn't in the mood for Wilco at that time. Since then, through Richmond Fonta...
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when i broke up with my last serious boyfriend, and by that i mean was crushed by the way he fell out of love with me rapidly over the course of a month and took off screaming, it took me a while to find a new apartment. i didn't have any money, and he'd spent all of what we'd had, collectively, on insane trips up and down the coast to see bands that i should have been seeing with someone else,...
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Concerts are a test of ones patience. Waiting for the actual day of, waiting in line, waiting for the openers to play, and then waiting for what seems like an eternity for your band to come on. It doesn't end there, oh no, because no matter what artist you have gone to see there is always one song in the back of your head that you have hoped they would play. One song that would completely make ...
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Concerts are a test of ones patience. Waiting for the actual day of, waiting in line, waiting for the openers to play, and then waiting for what seems like an eternity for your band to come on. It doesn't end there, oh no, because no matter what artist you have gone to see there is always one song in the back of your head that you have hoped they would play. One song that would completely make ...
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When in doubt, I listen to Wilco. They always have a song for every occasion.
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Wow...Cracker rocked the roof of our little neighborhood bar last night!! It was SO cool of those guys to play there! Seeing big bands in intimate venues is killer, which got me to wondering....If you could see ONE band in their prime at ANY venue...who would you see and where?I am going to say 'The Who' circa 1969 @ The Treehouse in Columbus! That would be rock n roll heaven...
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I came across a clip of the band tearing their way through 'Monday', one of my absolute concert favorites, from the 'Ashes of American Flags' DVD. The collection, due out on April 18th, was recorded on the road last summer, and it's release will coincide with Record Store Day.
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Misunderstood -- What a fun night! Rocking the hometown crowdHope they release this on a DVD!!!!!
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http://panicstream.com/nonwsp.htm5-10-97 at the Fillmore in SF, a show i saw when Wilco was one of my favs( still love them of course). it was on the heels of the glorious 2 dics Being There masterpiece. the sound on this stream only show, which is part of the great widespread panic fan site(http://www.panicstream.com/), is awesome!though i am not sure if this gets you to only the non WSP show ...
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when i broke up with my last serious boyfriend, and by that i mean was crushed by the way he fell out of love with me rapidly over the course of a month and took off screaming, it took me a while to find a new apartment. i didn't have any money, and he'd spent all of what we'd had, collectively, on insane trips up and down the coast to see bands that i should have been seeing with someone else,...
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It always flips me out when self-important politicians think they can just steal songwriters' music and use it for their campaigns. Not surprisingly, while I was running Reprise it was always the Democratic politicians who would call up and ask if they could use our artists' music. Clinton/Gore were eager to use Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow," but they were only going to d...
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Any Wilco set that opens and closes with Being There tracks is worth your time (and bandwith), but the band's Lollapalooza gig also found them dropping a hot new tune, "One Wing." Download the gig track by track at You Ain't No Picasso or via Megaupload on Mystic Chords of Memory . (Wilco @ Lollapalooza 2006* photo by 5500 ) *corrected~~
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I just think that "Being There" is a brilliant album. actually went and watched their movie in an avante garde theater in downtown Dallas(Big D!) good stuff. I think the setting couldn't have been better. I can just imagine(all the people) hitting the highway, never looking back, to my life soundtrack orchestrated by Wilco. Enjoy Kids!
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So, I'm still absolutely diggin on the iTunes shuffle songs action. The best thing about is being exposed to music I haven't listened to in a while. Case in point: Wilco's Was I in Your Dreams from disk two of Being There. I bought this album a while back bust never really got around to listening to it. I guess I just wasn't in the mood for Wilco at that time. Since then, through Richmond Fonta...
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 "Being There")
