Now, we could say that Tweed is a bad boy, who in Middle School used to spit the moistest pellets from the tube of his ballpoint pen onto the classmates sitting next to him. But that's not the case. His proverbial kindness may become tiresome. Professionalism and inventiveness in the profession of the musician, like that of the storyteller, are not held in high regard today. But the bard, former adventurer Uncle Tupelo with his comrade Jay Farrar, is destined soon for either commendation or oblivion. His poetics (rural, streetwise and dreamlike, acoustic and electric, oriented as much to the past as to the future, made of delicate tremors, rarefied lyricism, but also of sharp guitars and solid styles) has few rivals in contemporary times. Alternative country and experimental folk exist in a versatility that also ecumenically passes through pop and art rock.
So, La Tempesta by Giorgione aptly describes, at a glance, what awaits you in this four-disc set. At first glance, the storm never arrives, but it is always about to come, so that the scene is always serene and unsettling at the same time, as rural and familiar as it is threatening and formidable. A matter outside the world, yet like the heart of the world, in a space always on the verge of being shaken or collapsing, and yet Edenic, simultaneously known and unknown. If La Tempesta remains as inspiration but becomes Il Concerto campestre by Titian (?), La colazione sull’erba by Manet, and Le déjeuner sur l’herbe by pop artist Alain Jacquet, in a mutable present rushing towards pacification, this album then tells us how the tracks throb on a living weave, are part of a living fabric. Thus, being able to listen to these songs is no longer a superfluous act. And, if superfluous, necessary.
Unpublished, demos, live recordings, alternate versions, covers, music composed for soundtracks, B-sides exist in a clump of terrible beauty, approaching five hours, to cover a span of twenty years, to celebrate the joy of being musicians and swimming in the soul seeking a mooring in music. An appointed revolution, a joke this collection or the natural course of things? It may even appear a “The Best Of”, certainly alternative and idiosyncratic, with at the center that very “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” which Reprise “greatly refused” and at the extremity “Wilco (The Album)”.
This is why, then, this collection appears nothing but enticing. Not condescending, not opportunistic, not useless. Not self-indulgent. Least of all disorganized. The treats follow in succession as in a fantastic counter of artisanal sweets, where the eye dreams of taste and the scent expands into hearing. Behind the counter, an affable pastry chef, in all her rounded grace, upright yet humble, grants us a long wait full of questions and desire.
One can lose themselves, one can find themselves in these pieces. Superb live performances (they are magnificent and creative on stage, as the good @[Flo] always notes, listen to Impossible Germany or the hyperkinetic and pissed-off hardcore version of Passenger Side), also highly inspired in the simplicity of impromptu home recordings (Childlike and Evergreen and Someone Else's Song on guitar, complete with self-immortalized rec button press and Tweed’s sneezes), heartfelt and passionate covers (see Thirteen by Big Star, True Love Will Find You in the End by Daniel Johnston, and One Hundred Years From Now by the Byrds). Not to mention notable guests like Roger McGuinn, Fleet Foxes, Syd Straw, and Feist, nor the kraut experiments on Nels Cline's guitar embroideries (see the 10 minutes of Spiders) and alternate versions (like Hummingbird and Camera) that compete in beauty with the versions on the official albums. Also noteworthy are adrenaline-pumping pieces à la Replacements like the unreleased Student Loan Stereo and the breathtaking triptych A Shoot in The Arm - ELT - Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway, respectively David Kahne remix- King size demo- David Kahne remix (the latter track disavowed by Tweed for being too radio-friendly).
I wouldn't have bet anything on “Alpha Mike Foxtrot: Rare Tracks 1994-2014”, but, in good measure, I can no longer do without it. And you can add the interjection "Damn!" in a holophrastic use.
Loading comments slowly
