Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Where have you gone, Jay Bennett?
A Wilco fan turns his lonely ears to you. Or something like that. Finally ready to weigh in on "A Ghost Is Born", or at least 11/12ths of it (one track - "Late Greats" - apparently was not leaked with the rest), having listened to it about 4 1/2 times through.
Rather than try to weave all my feelings into an integrated critique, I'm just going to list them here, in no particular order.
1. Although I haven't paid detailed attention to the lyrics, I find it virtually 100% angst-ridden and humorless. There's nothing terribly joyous or warm on it, like "Heavy Metal Drummer", for example. Only the playful, "Martha My Dear"-esque "Hummingbird" seems to have some lilt to it.
2. The arrangements are rather sparse. If not for a few bits of studio trickery here and there, I'd almost think these were demos rather than the final mastered product. I suppose they could be, but nowhere have I seen that mentioned. The difference between Ghost and YHF/Summerteeth in terms of texture is palpable. This brings me to my titular lament, the missing Jay Bennett.
3. Being a power-popper/wall-of-sound guy at heart, I particularly enjoyed Bennett's contributions to Wilco. Ghost sounds like a Tweedy solo album. I was afraid Bennett would be missed, and my fears appear to have been confirmed. Bennett may have been an asshole, as anyone who watched the excellent documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart (recommended to non-Wilco fans as well) can attest, but he was an integral part of the Wilco sound.
4. In my earlier post, I made the comment that my first impression was that Ghost sounded like the work of a jam band. This wasn't too far off the mark - several tracks start off conventionally, only to go off into minutes upon minutes of jamming. I'd say without hesitation that the ratio of Tweedy's vocals to the instrumental parts is the lowest in Wilco history on this release. In and of itself, it's not a problem, but done repeatedly, it gives off the impression that the songs themselves are kind of slight.
5. From AM to Being There to Summerteeth to YHF, there was a definite logical evolution, as both Tweedy's songs and the band's sound become more and more substantive and dense. Ghost seems like a retrenchment.
In the end, the title may be all too appropriate - the band we've known as Wilco is dead, and in its place, this "ghost" of Wilco has been born. Based on my comments above, I'm sure I've given off the impression that I dislike this album. I don't. It's not bad. But after one triumph after another (including the Mermaid albums), "not bad" isn't what I was hoping for from Wilco.
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Rather than try to weave all my feelings into an integrated critique, I'm just going to list them here, in no particular order.
1. Although I haven't paid detailed attention to the lyrics, I find it virtually 100% angst-ridden and humorless. There's nothing terribly joyous or warm on it, like "Heavy Metal Drummer", for example. Only the playful, "Martha My Dear"-esque "Hummingbird" seems to have some lilt to it.
2. The arrangements are rather sparse. If not for a few bits of studio trickery here and there, I'd almost think these were demos rather than the final mastered product. I suppose they could be, but nowhere have I seen that mentioned. The difference between Ghost and YHF/Summerteeth in terms of texture is palpable. This brings me to my titular lament, the missing Jay Bennett.
3. Being a power-popper/wall-of-sound guy at heart, I particularly enjoyed Bennett's contributions to Wilco. Ghost sounds like a Tweedy solo album. I was afraid Bennett would be missed, and my fears appear to have been confirmed. Bennett may have been an asshole, as anyone who watched the excellent documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart (recommended to non-Wilco fans as well) can attest, but he was an integral part of the Wilco sound.
4. In my earlier post, I made the comment that my first impression was that Ghost sounded like the work of a jam band. This wasn't too far off the mark - several tracks start off conventionally, only to go off into minutes upon minutes of jamming. I'd say without hesitation that the ratio of Tweedy's vocals to the instrumental parts is the lowest in Wilco history on this release. In and of itself, it's not a problem, but done repeatedly, it gives off the impression that the songs themselves are kind of slight.
5. From AM to Being There to Summerteeth to YHF, there was a definite logical evolution, as both Tweedy's songs and the band's sound become more and more substantive and dense. Ghost seems like a retrenchment.
In the end, the title may be all too appropriate - the band we've known as Wilco is dead, and in its place, this "ghost" of Wilco has been born. Based on my comments above, I'm sure I've given off the impression that I dislike this album. I don't. It's not bad. But after one triumph after another (including the Mermaid albums), "not bad" isn't what I was hoping for from Wilco.
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