Tweedy live in Melbourne

June 26, 2016 12:19 AM

Tweedy is Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy and his 18-year-old son Spencer. The father-son duo's debut album Sukierae, released in 2014, features 20 songs written by Jeff Tweedy with Spencer playing drums. Radio National's live music team caught Tweedy's recent Bluesfest sideshow at the Melbourne Recital Centre.

filetype: mp3 (streaming or download)
duration: 54 minutes

songs included:
Hazel
Fake Fur Coat / Diamond Light Pt 1
Honey Combed
Summer Noon
Flowering
Wait for Love
Low Key
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
Passenger Side
I'm the Man Who Loves You
California Stars
Queen Bitch [featuring Courtney Barnett]

posted by paleyellowwithorange (17 comments total)

literally dad rock
posted by entropicamericana at 5:42 AM on June 26, 2016 [3 favorites]

Tweety's not exactly a fan of that term:

Getting back to the album you did with Spencer; I know that you really dislike the term “dad rock”, but I guess working with Spencer almost baits people into thinking about that idea. Was that something that you were concerned about when you were making the record?

Not at all. I think anybody that thinks about that as a term, as a realistic term, or critical term, is an asshole, so I don’t think about it.

posted by octothorpe at 6:07 AM on June 26, 2016 [3 favorites]

Semi-related: not to derail from the Tweedy conversation, but Wilco has recently released some fantastic musical box sets: Alpha Mix Foxtrot: Rare Tracks 1994-2014 and What's Your 20? Essential Tracks 1994-2014. Lots of amazing music to dig into for the Wilco fan. The Alpha Mix Foxtrot is filled with all kinds of amazing b-sides, and outtakes from the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sessions.

Thanks for this post.
posted by Fizz at 6:32 AM on June 26, 2016 [5 favorites]

I love YHF-era Wilco, but I've never seen so many middle-aged men in socks and sandals as I have at a Wilco show.
posted by pxe2000 at 8:01 AM on June 26, 2016 [5 favorites]

Thanks for this. I saw Tweedy on the first stop on their tour in 2014 at the Georgia Theatre in Athens. Jeff mentioned that he's just come from Atlanta after a recording session with Mavis Staples, and they closed the show with a few Mavis Staples songs, and a mics off version of California Stars. The middle set with just Jeff doing acoustic versions of some Wilco and Uncle Tupelo songs was a treat for this long-time fan.

Fizz, I have those box sets and have really enjoyed them. My wife and I went to both Wilco shows at the Tabernacle in Atlanta in February of this year and I was listening to those box sets in the weeks prior to the shows and really enjoying some of the outtakes.
posted by ralan at 8:09 AM on June 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

pxe2000: it's funny because it's true. For some reason I'm attributing this line to Wanda Sykes, but I could be wrong: "....something something whiter than the audience at a Wilco concert..."
posted by ralan at 8:16 AM on June 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

Queen Latifah on a 30 Rock episode is what that was from.

I was one of a fair number of fans who liked Alpha Mike Foxtrot only because I finally got to have high-quality audio of songs I've had for years. Folks who dig this live stuff should head over to Owl & Bear, the Wilco Archive. Jeff's solo shows from 1997-2000 are amazing. And the three-night run at the Filmore in July 2000 (and the two nights in May 1997) are definitely worth the time. And YHF-era fans, Auditorium Theater in September 2003 are great.

Anyway, I like Wilco.
posted by good lorneing at 8:33 AM on June 26, 2016 [7 favorites]

I love YHF-era Wilco, but I've never seen so many middle-aged men in socks and sandals as I have at a Wilco show.

My one advice for anyone who ever attends a Wilco concert is as follows: be careful you don't fall in love with the drummer.
posted by Fizz at 8:55 AM on June 26, 2016 [3 favorites]

Ugh, that's Alpha Mike Foxtrot. Though, a remixed version of that album might be particularly jam-worthy.
posted by Fizz at 10:25 AM on June 26, 2016

The tracks off the Wilco Book CD are also worth a listen, as are the two Loose Fur records. If you're into noise-Wilco, the Chelsea Walls soundtrack is the first time Glenn and Jeff hooked up in the studio, and I'm pretty sure Jim O'Rourke plays on a lot of the tracks. Looks like it's out of print, but Amazon has CDs for $0.98 and Owl & Bear should have the demos.
posted by good lorneing at 10:47 AM on June 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

I always thought putting Wilco in the category of "Dad Rock" was really strange. While they're reasonably popular and well known now, they're not making music that people are going to be playing at their kids' baseball games; and a lot of it is pretty far outside the mainstream in terms of the amount of droning and atonality they create. Although I'm not a dad, I work with a ton of them, and I can guarantee that none of them listen to Wilco, and I;m pretty sure none of then would enjoy much of it. Hootie and Blowfish is "dad rock."
posted by jonathanhughes at 3:12 PM on June 26, 2016

Specifically Wilco is "dads who used to be in bands rock".
posted by padraigin at 5:20 PM on June 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

While they're reasonably popular and well known now, they're not making music that people are going to be playing at their kids' baseball games

The tag first came around the release of Sky Blue Sky, not least of all because they licensed five(?) songs to Volkswagen for commercials that summer, most of which featured dads...dadding. The album itself is basically drone/dissonance free and, well, not very edgy at all. (see: the Weather Channel solo on Either Way, Please Be Patient with Me, Sky Blue Sky, Leave Me Like You Found Me, On and On and...you get the idea.) Then Wilco (the Album) was pretty much more of the same plus some machine noise for 7 seconds at the start of the second track and a forced homage to Marquee Moon.

With The Whole Love and Star Wars they've obviously brought some edge and dissonance back, but for four years they were very back to school barbecue.
posted by good lorneing at 7:57 PM on June 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

With all these 90s bands like Pavement and Soundgarden reuniting in recent years for the obligatory nostalgia cashgrab, I think it's long past time for an Uncle Tupelo reunion, goddammit.
posted by entropicamericana at 7:32 AM on June 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

An Uncle Tupelo tour would be a "take my money, please" event for me but I don't think that Tweety and Farrar think much of each other.
posted by octothorpe at 11:02 AM on June 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

I would love to see Uncle Tupelo live again. It's been what, 28 years since I first saw them? The live shows were all harder, faster, punker than anything they ever put on a disc.
posted by Mo Nickels at 12:23 PM on June 27, 2016

i am willing to offer Uncle Tupelo a check for $3,000 to reunite for one performance. it's a certified check, made out to Uncle Tupelo. You divide it up any way you want. If you want to give less to Mike Heidorn, that's up to you - I'd rather not get involved
posted by entropicamericana at 1:03 PM on June 27, 2016