Day 0820 - Being There

Wilco "Being There" (1996)

Following the dissolution of his band Uncle Tupelo, Jeff Tweedy and the majority of his bandmates formed the new band Wilco.

 

Initially Wiclo carried on Uncle Tupelo's alt-country sound, but with this, their second album they branched out, both stylistically (genres) and sonically (production).   The opening track "Misunderstood" mixes mellow piano with loud, fuzzy guitar... kind of starting off by letting you know that this is going to be a different kettle of fish.  There is brash rock in "Monday" which, with its bluesy rock and sassy horns doesn't sound a million miles from the Rolling Stones.  

The album is not without its alt-country tracks though.  "What's the world got in store" is a nice bit of banjo heavy balladry.   "Red-eyed and blue" is a beautiful song with almost a sort of jazzy undertone to its mellow country.  The bridge features an atmospheric roomy sounding whistle solo (love a good a whistle solo).  

The penultimate track "The lonely 1" starts with lush strings, letting you think that the album will end on a gentle emotive tack, until the closing track "Dreamer in my Dreams" comes crashing in with its raunchy honky tonk and rocks you out to the close.

A double album and probably a bit long for me, but another one where there no songs I actively disliked and I could happily listen to this in bits and pieces (my wife has a few Wilco albums so this one might even be around the house somewhere).   Actually it'd probably be quite a good road-trip album with its mix of reflective and rocking tracks.

Day 0385 - Pacific Ocean Blue

Dennis Wilson "Pacific Ocean Blue" (1977)

 
I'm looking forward to the next run of 3 or 4 albums.  This album is one that I listened to and enjoyed when I checked out the book the first time around 2011.

Dennis was looked on as not being (according to one doco I saw) the greatest of drummers.  Some Beach Boys drum parts were completed by session musicians and other people who were not Dennis... so in some ways, it was kind of a ballsy move for him to go ahead and make a solo album.

This doesn't sound a like a "Drummer album".  This is a vocal-heavy album, but not the clean complex harmonies of a Brian Wilson production (I'm actually now listening to the Beach Boys' "Friends" album as I type this) it's more of a cathartic clamour.  That's interesting, as the music is certainly not a non-stop journey of joy.  Dennis himself struggled with alcoholism and cocaine addiction.

It was always that rather odd thing with the Beach Boys where they sang all about surfing but Dennis was the only one who surfed (It would be like if all of RHCP except the drummer were virgins, or if Motorhead were teetotallers) and he ended up drowning after a vodka binge.

The album was well received and Dennis was grateful for the recognition. He started recording a follow-up but died before he could complete it.