WTF if it wasn't that Killsally left in a huff and vowed never to return I'd swear this guy is his doppelganger...those comments on Wilco are scarily like something killsally would post..
LOL.
I agree with all Wilco comments in this here, thread... However, I do really like "A Ghost is Born" and a spattering of tracks from each of their other records. I also love the Tweedy album... I think Nels Cline is actually the downfall of the latter Wilco era, I find his guitar style grating and all of their songs seem to follow the same exact format of throwing in a lot of guitar noise for no good reason at all.
I think Nels' guitar playing destroyed the Geraldine Fibbers, but I think it's been remarkably restrained in Wilco. At least when you compare it to his solo stuff.
I think Nels is great... a great player.. great guy.. but he's just beyond wrong for Wilco.. live he doesn't even seem to be part of the band.. its like he's the guy on the side of the stage and Tweedy looks at him and his eyes say "GO!" and Nels does his avant jam thing.. ughh..
I think what Tweedy did with respect to Jay Bennett is one of the most horrible things imaginable.... its one thing to kick someone out of a band, undervalue them, whatever... its another to make a movie with a clearly designed agenda to make the guy look like a douchebag and have the film be basically about kicking him out.. how horrible! I felt so uncomfortable watching the movie.. its like watching Tweedy castrate Bennett in front of the world.. just horrible.
A few years later we heard Bennett was suing Wilco....Wilco (ie., Tweedy) put out some horribly ungracious statement) then he died... not having healthcare didn't help...the deck was completely stacked against Bennett because Tweedy owned a lot of very influential critics of the time and with the movie and interviews and success of YHF with Jim O'Rourke production it was like Jay who?.. what is the name of that guy that wrote for the CHicago paper? Derogatis? something like that...
I think what happened is beyond sad... in the first years at the 930 Club there was no stage barrier... i remember being at the Wilco show Old 97s opened. .I think it was Summerteeth tour...one of my favorite shows ever.. we were all right next to the stage (it was a lower stage)..back then I had dozens of friends who liked to go to shows and have fun so we had quite a group..now getting them out to a show requires more planning than the Panama Canal.... we all had our beers on the stage.. I was three feet from Jay...I didn't even know much about Old 97s and they were fabulous...then Wilco played a great show... I think Jay brought so much to the band.... he was also instrumental on the Mermaid Avenue stuff.. he had a way bigger role in that than Tweedy of course...he could play dozens of instruments well.. he was into the production aspects... people forget that despite how great it was Summerteeth STIFFED and it was actually Mermaid Avenue that began the build up that culminated with YHF.. the whole story about the labels and bennett and the movie really helped break Wilco... I feel very uncomfortable about it..
unfortunately the lines between songwriting and production are so blurred..its easy to minimize the contributions of anyone..but if you look at the credits for summerteeth and mermaid avenue jay bennett's contributions are so many...
There are just to many stories of Tweedy being a dick to dismiss them so easily.. Farrar, Bennett, Billy Bragg.. compounded by issues with anxiety, prescription drugs, panic attacks and alcohol... add it all up and its not suprising..
and this is sort of a pet issue of mine.. i bought the latest wilco record and i think it completely sucks.. its just horrible..but whatever...its also horrible how it seemed so few people even batted an eyelash when bennett left... and how he left....and that he died.. i guess the world is not a very fair place but this seemed kind of harsh by any conceivable standard...I lost all respect for Tweedy and I rarely can even listen to the old stuff I like...they're still a good time live.. of course everyone just wants to hear the stuff Jay Bennett was involved in.. its like "OK if i sit through this 5 minute Nels wankfest they'll play some of the old stuff!"
