Wilco « The Listomania

4Mar/109

73. Wilco – Hummingbird

"Remember to remember me/Standing still in your past/floating past like a hummingbird"? "His goal in life was to be an echo"? Jeff Tweedy is the fucking Poet Laureate of the underground. Seriously, I don't think anyone in music today is writing words like this man, meaningful and powerful and lyrical and thought-provoking, cryptic but not obtuse, intelligent but not indulgent, witty but not facetious. An integral reason for Wilco being considered a noteworthy act outside of alternative music, ever pressing against the walls of mainstream culture.

And on "Hummingbird" from 2004's A Ghost is Born, Tweedy and co. go for their most naturally classic pop song to date, doing a dead-on Fab Four impersonation replete with chugging outro and McCartney voice strains. Seriously, this is Lennon/Macca for a new generation, except it's coming from one man and the band is tighter. For proof positive, listen to Tweedy's elastic voice streeeetttttttch up and then down for the hesitant, playful notes at 1:55. Listen to "Count them." That is Paul McCartney reborn. Or, well, that can't be. I forget that the Beatles are actually dying in coolness order. Ringo will live to be 117.

At 2:35, the band shakes off the song's slow-rolling rust and stomps through the most blatantly obvious 30-second ELO rip-off of all time. But guess what? This song is better than anything Jeff Lynne ever wrote. And that's an important distinction that maybe Wilco alone shares among their contemporary indie rock peers. They show their influences with pride and reverence, but often they improve on their own history. I'm not saying they're better than the Beatles. But they do more with this Beatle-esque ditty than any other band in the world could. They make something fresh and beautiful and moving from the ashes of a sound that is burned to the ground every day by less deserving bands. Also, hold on to your butts (Samuel L. voice). We aren't through with the boys from Chi-town just yet.

Tagged as: ELO is Lame, Jurassic Park References, Top Songs, Wilco 9 Comments

20Nov/096

129. Wilco – Impossible Germany

This is the sound of America’s strongest band getting better. After a handful of lineup changes throughout Wilco’s history, including the loss of the (Late) Great Jay Bennett, the group had been stripped down to the bare-bones original members of Jeff Tweedy and bass player John Stirratt, with hired guns that had been picked up at various points. Tweedy became the dominant sound in the band for a decade, up until 2007’s Sky Blue Sky. And then for the first time in years, the album’s sound was driven by someone else – guitar virtuoso Nels Cline.

I have a lot more to say about Wilco. A LOT. But that will (SPOILERS) come later on in the list. This song is all about Nels. And the fact that it is a better Eagles song than anything Henley ever wrote. That is a triple guitar attack right there, with Tweedy playing the loping Joe Walsh. Other formations of the band would never be able to do this – the songwriting, the style, the brilliant instrumentation was always there, but the technical skill just wasn’t.

It’s kind of like Jeff Tweedy got an awesome new toy, a new Xbox for Christmas. One of the decade’s greatest songwriters (avoiding blowback by not calling him THE greatest) just got a dominant guitar player at his disposal. But Cline isn’t just a good guitar player. He’s got soul. He’s got personality. He’s got jazz chops, the sign of a real deal musician. And he downright shreds.

The song is well-written. It is Wilco. But for the first time, for me at least, on this song the pure technical musicianship overtakes the traditional strengths of the band. Just listen to 3:00 on. No explanation needed, right? Right. With the guitars piled high and Cline’s spindly, spikey sound careening over the top of a newly stomping outfit, Wilco managed to reinvent their sound on “Impossible Germany” and maybe, just maybe, become an even better band.