Wilco, C or D? S + D?

Listen To "Summerteeth". It's far better than YHF.

bloody classic. ten seconds of any tune off YHF will confirm this, they should change the national anthem to 'I am Trying to Break your Heart'. the only other 'alt-country' that comes close is Vic Chesnutt's 'The Salesman and Bernadette', Chesnutt is a hell of a lyricist and Lambchop isn't too shabby as a backup band (its scary how much the last song foreshadows the new Wilco.)

I haven't heard YHF but Summerteeth is a brilliant record. Tweedy = v. good songwriter for damn sure

YHF is excellent, Summerteeth is brighter for the most part which makes me like YHF better myself. Then again I consider Wilco a rock band and have since disc 1 of Being There. Oh and get that one too, though I usually dont get to the country (but still GRATE) disc 2.
And check it out 8 injuries and the Leafs still win.

You might also want to check out Whiskeytown's Pneumonia, even through it doesn't sound like YHF. I love Mirror Mirror (it's a great little pop song), and Don't Wanna Know Why. Actually, even the poorer songs on the album are pretty good- there aren't any that I consistently skip over. I just got Faithless Street, and on the first listen it seems pretty good.

The latest Lambchop "Is a Woman" is excellent. A little jazzy and calm, sounds like impressionist classical music in places, definitely a grower. Lambchop's preceding album "Nixon" is great as well. A totally different lush sound. Very melodic and soulful.

never really got wilco, but for similarish bands, maybe radar brothers, or lullaby for the working class might be worth checking out?

Wilco all their albulms are great, first albulm while overblown as a double disk still has more than its share of gems,'misunderstood', man I love that tune. Dont know why folks round here dont seem to love The Eels I think theyre bloody good, or as some guy wrote 'this shit is biblical'.

As for Lambchop, well the crtics luv them,

Nixon is really rather good, Alex's line 'definitely a grower' has become the staple comment on their latest albulm, here a few bits and pieces from various reviews I got from somewhere So there's a fortysomething guy sat on his porch with a laptop and some cigarettes. His days are filled watching the birds and insects in his yard, waiting for his wife to come home, and keying in a few lyrics. Pretty idyllic, by the sounds of it. Welcome to a world where heartache and regret are your best friends. Welcome to a world where songs are best served with a neat whiskey and a cigarette. Welcome to a world where you work out how to stop a table from wobbling by placing a matchbox under the leg. Welcome, in short, to the wonderful, weird world of Lampchop. Kurt Wagner, reclined on his sunsoaked Nashville porch for this one, has re- emerged for 2002 as a walking-talking songwriting enigma.

His lyrics delve deeply and provocatively into the natural world, the psychology of relationships, the mapping of our lives, the wispy interventions of the supernatural domain... and they're truly wonderful. All the songs here are just accompanied with piano, a quietly strumming guitar and the merest hint of percussion. It's all topped up with Wagner's heartbreakingly fragile falsetto, giving the impression of a man who has lived, loved, and lost, even when he's intoning lyrics such as "I have “#$%$ on the hillside" that marvellous voice keeps these songs on just the right side of poignancy. Minimal and huge at the same time, desperately sad in places , thought-provoking and ethereal in others this is an incredible milestone of a record.Is A Woman over time proves a creative masterstroke. The subtleties and nuances of texture combine with the entrancing narratives to provide a listening experience that really has no equal. Nashville's idiosyncratic Lambchop continues to impress with each effort, and has reached a plateau all its own on this, its sixth album

wooo sounds good eh?

O'Rourke's 'Roeg' trilogy - 'Bad Timing', 'Eureka' and 'Insignificance' (plus the essential 'Halfway to a Threeway' EP, and to some extent 'Camofleur' by Gastr Del Sol) - moves from Faheyesque Americana to indie boogie rock, via orch pop symphonies and post-rock experimentalism. The three recs work together v. well as a journey through certain pop styles of the last thirty years, and all of them are superbly played/arranged. I also like the fact that his 'pop' and 'experimental' styles seem to feed into each other in odd but interesting ways. O'Rourke's recent Mego rec - 'I am Happy And I'm Singing...' - is prob. the best 'laptop' alb I've heard, and 'Happy Days' on Revenant is one long drone piece that needs to be played ULTRA LOUD for maximum pleasure/disruption.

Haven't heard YHF yet, but the previous Wilco recs I've listened to seemed like midly pleasant Big Star rips, and I just don't get the appeal of Lambchop at all, so perhaps I'm not the most reliable 'counselor' here.

I have a battered old tape copy of summerteeth and it is outrageously excellent. My brother got YHF recently but my workload is such that I havn't bent my ear in its direction yet. When summer arrives I'll give it a good going-over, as I have heard many good things. Wilco = classic (what I've heard, anyway)

Nice post kiwi, couldn't have said it better concerning Lambchop. Just one small correction: I didn't hear Wagner sing in his (slightly irritating) falsetto on "Is a Woman". He did on Nixon. But on Nixon Lambchop were travelling to different lands. Nixon was much more orchestral, a very warm sound somewhere between soul and country. Strange thing is I don't like those two genres but I liked Nixon. The new one is more subtle, more intimate, more quiet. The melodies are less catchy than on Nixon but their half-life period is longer. Stripped-down to the essentials.
Actually if I think of it. Wilco and Lambchop are quite different. I only know YHF from Wilco which sounds very much like an American "Revolver", the Beatles must have been an inspiration for Tweedy. The experimental chaotic endings of the songs are very close to some Beatles stuff around Sgt. Pepper's and Abbey Road.
Another band which fits in here more or less. Giant Sand. A good starting point is "Chore of Enchantment". A dusty desert sound plus gorgeous tunes, Howe Gelb's suiting baritone and good lyrics.

Thanks Alex.Yeah no doubt about the Beatles thing going on, while we are talking delicate stuff I just started(5 mins ago) to read the bible and came across these lines, Luke 12:6, stay with me here Im not bible bashing...

"Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet none of them is forgotten in Gods presence. And the hairs on your head are all counted. Have no fear you are worth more than flocks of sparrows"

So what you are asking.. well just that Mark Linkous borrowed from it "and every hair on your head is counted...you are worth hundreds of sparrows". Anyway it just reminded me of the grate SparkleHorse and their country tinged music.

Others who are rather 'nice' in my humble opinion: Ryan Adams/Whiskeytown, Josh Rouse, Granddady, Ron Sexsmith also spring to mind as worth a listen.. as is Elliot Smith.

One can't go wrong with any Wilco album; no two records are alike. I also recommend both Mermaid Avenue albums (done with Billy Bragg and friends).

Those who enjoy rock bands with a little country in them might want to check out Blue Rodeo as well. Blue Rodeo singer-guitarist Jim Cuddy's solo disc, "All In Time" features a duet with Jeff Tweedy (Jay Bennett plays on that track, to boot). Another Wilco-Blue Rodeo connection: Bob Egan, a former touring member of Wilco, is currently Blue Rodeo's steel guitar player.

agreed ... that first mermaid avenue album is the shit! when i first heard that i was a total indie rock snob but it impressed the hell out of me. still like it a lot.

I liked a.m. best. Still do. YHF is still pretty good...second favourite of the batch. Never did understand the lauding Summerteeth got, really.

I also don't understand why everyone is creaming over the latest Lambchop either. It's certainly very nice, but it's got no dynamics at all--every song sounds the same, from instrumentation to tempo, and even key. I loved both Nixon and What Another Man Spills, but this one is just too...unvaried.

Just saw Wilco on Jools Holland, which was the usual 'Effort/Reward' fare once again. Can we please get this boring old Bluesman / Albarn's Malian collective / Mary J Blige off the screen and have more Wilco and The Von Bondies, I repeatedly shouted. Classic, for sure.

YHF is getting better every time I listen to it. All other albums very good. I suggest The Waco Brothers' Electric Waco Chair to anyone who enjoys Wilco.

Yes yes please get rid of blues and African music and r&b and replace it with more rock thankyou Jules!

What, Wilco were on Jools Holland last night? Shite!

Anyway, can I suggest a few things? Firstly, YHF is a superb record, but you all seem to know that anyway. Also a few others worth checking out - Golden Smog, which is a strange collaborative effort between Jeff Tweedy and various members of the Jayhawks plus a few others (like ex-Big Star members) thrown in for good measure, both their albums are excellent sort of country shit kicking rock. Crap description, but don't let it put you off - check them out anyway. Ditto the more recent Jayhawks LPs "Sound of lies" and "Smile", especially the former which is one of the best albums of recent years (is it five years old now? I feel old). Doesn't anyone else here like them?

Only got 'tommorow the green grass' does it get better or worse after that? What about Victoria Williams or is she just twee?

no no no no! post olson the jayhawks are terrible soft rock crap! stop at "tomorrow the green grass" and go back to "the blue earth" and especially "hollywood town hall" and avoid "smile" and "the sound of lies" like the ruddy plague. awful tosh

victoria williams: hmm. i think she's amazing but she can be seen by many as mannered and twee. i just think she's incredibly open and honest and wears her emotions on her sleeve. plus live she's an incredibly emotional experience - putting so much in while so obviously in pain from the illness. i'd recommed the original harmony creekdippers as a foot in the water. beautiful records...

Hmmm... well I wouldn't exactly say that "Smile" was brilliant, it has its moments, but to slag off "Sound of lies" as soft rock tosh... we'll agree to disagree on that one.

maybe i'm a little harsh on "the sound of lies" but "smile" is overproduced gook from what i've heard. i just had heard "the sound of lies" was going to be an out and out classic and found it was very lacking in anything i would call memorable tunes or interesting ideas. going back from it now, i was obviously an olson fan all along as the solo stuff hits the spot for me much more than the jayhawks or the fun but not earth shattering golden smog do. maybe i'm missing something, but i found "the sound of lies" sorely dissapointing. if you can give me any pointers as to why i'm wrong then i'd be most happy to give it a go again...

Sound of Lies was, indeed, totally disappointing. There were certainly flashes of inspiration (I really liked "Big Star", myself), but it was starting the downward slide to overproduced pop. Smile was a fucking tragedy...totally worthless, even after the usual several listens to try to give it the ol' fair chance. They really need to regroup (which I think they have, member-wise) and try to figure out what it was people found so compelling about the Jayhawks in the first place. I think it was the ragged glory, so to speak: when they were a bit more rough around the edges they were more authentic, and their songwriting (especially Louris', as we've come to realize) didn't really lend itself to slick production. I've decided that though I like Tomorrow the Green Grass, my fave is Hollywood Town Hall. I suppose that's predictable, though. Me = yawn.

I went back and played both "SOL" and "Smile" over the weekend, and while "SOL" still stands up to my ears, "Smile" is merely a pale shadow of the previous album. I'd not heard it for a while and it just made me sad, it is overproduced and yucky (and didn't Radio 2 really love "I'm gonna make you love me" and play it to death?) and seems to fall between too many stools. But "SOL"... maybe it's me, but the songs are very emotional for me, I don't care about the production being a bit slick in places, just the combination of words and music seem to hit a spot with me like little else. I think it may have something to do with a big emotional breakup that happened at the time I was listening to it a lot, it seemed to mirror what was going on in my life, and for that reason I might be too attached to it to be objective. But even now, it's a record I turn to for solace and comfort and a little joy as well.