Damn I love this album.
And so should you.
I've always thought that Summerteeth was the "Revolver" to Wilco's "Sgt. Pepper", Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I always sort of assumed that as time went on, the critics would clue in and remember that Wilco made some good stuff before YHF. Well, that doesn't seem to be happening, and as it stands, Summerteeth has been relegated to footnote status, the dreaded "hinting at the greatness that was to come" album. So I'm going to take it upon myself and my PageRank of 3 to tell the world that damn, this is a good album.
Maybe I'm biased. After all, this is the record that built up Jeff Tweedy in my mind as an infallible hero. He could do no wrong: he was turning out great songs left, right, and centre, and here was his masterstroke. There wasn't a single thing that he wrote that wasn't better than what he was writing a year before, and the sky was the limit. I don't know if the same can be said about him anymore, or if I can really say he's my biggest musical hero.
Still, this album makes me forget all that. It takes me back to a time when Jeff Tweedy was the saviour of alternative music, when he was the promising new thing, when he was Ryan Adams before Ryan Adams. Maybe there is an element of hero worship in this album for me, but that doesn't change the fact that I can't not bob my head along with "I'm Always In Love" or "Pieholden Suite". Anyway I can't say anything about it that wouldn't be better conveyed by just listening to it, so listen to it. DO IT.
Anyway, if a guy with a PageRank of 3 says so, it must be true.
Current Music: Wilco - Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway(again)
2 comments:
I've been meaning to tell you that you're right. This is my favorite Wilco album too. As Wilco's track record has gotten a little spotty as of late, you can really appreciate what Jay Bennett brought to the band, particularly on this album.
Before he left, I was always under the assumption that Tweedy wrote all the songs and Bennett dressed them up to make them sonically interesting. Now I'm not so sure.
From the reviews I've read of Jay Bennett's solo work, it seems like each of them could really have used the other. I'm not nearly familiar enough with Pink Floyd to make this comparison, but perhaps Bennett was the David Gilmour to Tweedy's Roger Waters.
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