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Wilco Versus Poco
This might make me a pariah in these parts, but I never got Wilco. (although I seriously love the Jayhawks.) Sky Blue Sky is perfectly pleasant, but to my ear, lacks substance, like a Blueshammer song about pickin' cotton. I learned to sing by singing along with records by Billy Joel, Elton John and Bob Seger, so the following, cut and pasted from Bob Lefsetz' blog, really hit home with me.
"I’ve Loved These Days
Meat Loaf never made it in L.A. Spin "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" and an Angeleno will be flummoxed. Who’s Phil Rizzuto? Sure, decades later we’ve heard it, but "Bat Out Of Hell" was in no one’s collection, the record got no airplay. And Billy Joel got little more.
Sure, "Piano Man" was a hit. And "The Stranger" made headway, but on the left coast Billy Joel was not a superstar. Even to this day, he might be able to sell out Yankee Stadium, but in the City of Angels he’s lucky if he can sell out an arena.
When we get nostalgic for the seventies in LaLa Land, we think about Van Halen, we wax rhapsodic about the new wave club scene. The concept of a Billy Joel radio concert on KMET is laughable. But surfing the Web over the weekend I found just that, an FM broadcast of a Billy Joel concert at Nassau Coliseum back in 1977.
Over dinner, I’ll tell you how to find these things. Then again, if you don’t already know how, the information will be useless. You’ve got to search blogs, download via RapidShare or Megaupload, and then decompress the .rar file with an application you’ve downloaded from the Web. In an era where most people who might want to hear this show don’t even know where files download on their computer, this info might as well be etched in hieroglyphics. But if you’ve got a bit of savvy, the rewards are endless.
Not everything’s a hit. That Zeppelin show from Long Beach might be straight from the soundboard, but one listen was enough. But those Rolling Stones alternative takes were magical. And this Billy Joel concert is pristine.
They’ve even got the soundcheck. It’s an aural backstage pass.
And it takes a couple of numbers to get the sound right.
But then…
I thought Billy Joel was a joke until 1981, when he released "Songs In The Attic", a live reworking of his overlooked material from the seventies. I mean who wouldn’t hate a guy posing with an instrument he didn’t play on the cover of his album? I still don’t love "52nd Street", but "Summer, Highland Falls" brings me right back to my youth, working at a camp in the Catskills. And it’s not pure nostalgia, I can’t forget where I am now.
We are always what our situations hand us
Either sadness or euphoria
Ain’t that the truth. Maybe it’s because I hate the middle of the road. But that seems to be the story of my life. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. If I fall on my face reaching for the stars, it’s a small price to pay for that warm feeling inside when I triumph.
I was high in the mountains, listening to this concert on my iPod, and I could see the history of our business in relief.
Billy Joel could certainly play. You could hear all those piano lessons. And his voice was still high and clear. And the lyrics, Billy was saying something.
Billy didn’t make it the first time out. He failed with the Hassles, his deal with Artie Ripp didn’t deliver a hit album. He ended up in L.A., playing in a bar. And ended up with a song, the aforementioned "Piano Man". And trying to follow it up, executing upon the same formula, "The Entertainer" immediately ejected serious listeners from his fan base. An artist doesn’t repeat himself, he keeps exploring.
Slow down you crazy child
You’re so ambitious for a juvenile
Today’s artists are built in a day. They buy a Mac, fire up GarageBand and record a track, post it on MySpace, immediately e-mail you an MP3, insist you pay attention. Whereas it used to be much harder to make it. You had to practice, play endless gigs, fight for a chance to get a deal. Where it still might take you multiple albums to break through.
But today it’s as if anybody who buys a ticket can play for the Yankees. And you wonder why we’ve stopped watching?
The major labels say they purvey the official merchandise. But if they’re not selling kids wet behind the ears, they’re selling safe shit like "The Entertainer". And suddenly able to have a voice, outsiders insist you listen to them, now they can broadcast their desire to be famous, even though they should be home practicing.
In other words, Billy Joel is fuckingfantastic.
And that’s a surprise three decades on. He was a niche player back then. A journeyman. And his multiple marriages and car wrecks have made him a modern joke. But at least he’s smart enough to stop recording. Oh, he can still play, but he seems to have run out of things to say.
And he used to have plenty he wanted to tell us. Especially when he still hadn’t made it, even after his first hit, when no one seemed to care.
In other words, we’re no longer getting the best and the brightest. They’re going into tech. Where you can operate unfettered and make real money. Shit, you can’t get rich in music, you can’t get enough people to pay attention. It’s not efficient. And maybe it’s this lack of efficiency, the wasted effort, that will finally deliver music worth hearing in the future.
There are no shortcuts. You aren’t born being able to program in C++, nor can a three year old play the piano. And those thirteen or fourteen, even seventeen or eighteen, haven’t lived enough to have anything worth listening to. It’s the rough edges, the hard life, that makes your stories interesting. Billy Joel ran away from his record label and played in a piano bar to survive. Today’s kids quit the soccer team and cut a record on their computer and now they’re ready for world domination. Huh?
They say that these are not the best of times
But they’re the only times I’ve ever known
That’s the problem, we baby boomers lived through the sixties and seventies. And today’s generation, our brethren purveying pabulum, want us to forget this golden age. An alternative take of "Gimmie Shelter" came over my iPod and I got goosebumps. I remembered hearing it for the first time in my buddy’s bedroom and being transfixed. Hate to tell you, nothing Wilco’s ever done is close.
Get pissed off. But as good as Wilco might be, bands of that caliber never made it in years past. Wilco was Poco. A good band that had fans, but not superstars. I’m waiting for superstars to return."
What do you think?
"I’ve Loved These Days
Meat Loaf never made it in L.A. Spin "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" and an Angeleno will be flummoxed. Who’s Phil Rizzuto? Sure, decades later we’ve heard it, but "Bat Out Of Hell" was in no one’s collection, the record got no airplay. And Billy Joel got little more.
Sure, "Piano Man" was a hit. And "The Stranger" made headway, but on the left coast Billy Joel was not a superstar. Even to this day, he might be able to sell out Yankee Stadium, but in the City of Angels he’s lucky if he can sell out an arena.
When we get nostalgic for the seventies in LaLa Land, we think about Van Halen, we wax rhapsodic about the new wave club scene. The concept of a Billy Joel radio concert on KMET is laughable. But surfing the Web over the weekend I found just that, an FM broadcast of a Billy Joel concert at Nassau Coliseum back in 1977.
Over dinner, I’ll tell you how to find these things. Then again, if you don’t already know how, the information will be useless. You’ve got to search blogs, download via RapidShare or Megaupload, and then decompress the .rar file with an application you’ve downloaded from the Web. In an era where most people who might want to hear this show don’t even know where files download on their computer, this info might as well be etched in hieroglyphics. But if you’ve got a bit of savvy, the rewards are endless.
Not everything’s a hit. That Zeppelin show from Long Beach might be straight from the soundboard, but one listen was enough. But those Rolling Stones alternative takes were magical. And this Billy Joel concert is pristine.
They’ve even got the soundcheck. It’s an aural backstage pass.
And it takes a couple of numbers to get the sound right.
But then…
I thought Billy Joel was a joke until 1981, when he released "Songs In The Attic", a live reworking of his overlooked material from the seventies. I mean who wouldn’t hate a guy posing with an instrument he didn’t play on the cover of his album? I still don’t love "52nd Street", but "Summer, Highland Falls" brings me right back to my youth, working at a camp in the Catskills. And it’s not pure nostalgia, I can’t forget where I am now.
We are always what our situations hand us
Either sadness or euphoria
Ain’t that the truth. Maybe it’s because I hate the middle of the road. But that seems to be the story of my life. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. If I fall on my face reaching for the stars, it’s a small price to pay for that warm feeling inside when I triumph.
I was high in the mountains, listening to this concert on my iPod, and I could see the history of our business in relief.
Billy Joel could certainly play. You could hear all those piano lessons. And his voice was still high and clear. And the lyrics, Billy was saying something.
Billy didn’t make it the first time out. He failed with the Hassles, his deal with Artie Ripp didn’t deliver a hit album. He ended up in L.A., playing in a bar. And ended up with a song, the aforementioned "Piano Man". And trying to follow it up, executing upon the same formula, "The Entertainer" immediately ejected serious listeners from his fan base. An artist doesn’t repeat himself, he keeps exploring.
Slow down you crazy child
You’re so ambitious for a juvenile
Today’s artists are built in a day. They buy a Mac, fire up GarageBand and record a track, post it on MySpace, immediately e-mail you an MP3, insist you pay attention. Whereas it used to be much harder to make it. You had to practice, play endless gigs, fight for a chance to get a deal. Where it still might take you multiple albums to break through.
But today it’s as if anybody who buys a ticket can play for the Yankees. And you wonder why we’ve stopped watching?
The major labels say they purvey the official merchandise. But if they’re not selling kids wet behind the ears, they’re selling safe shit like "The Entertainer". And suddenly able to have a voice, outsiders insist you listen to them, now they can broadcast their desire to be famous, even though they should be home practicing.
In other words, Billy Joel is fuckingfantastic.
And that’s a surprise three decades on. He was a niche player back then. A journeyman. And his multiple marriages and car wrecks have made him a modern joke. But at least he’s smart enough to stop recording. Oh, he can still play, but he seems to have run out of things to say.
And he used to have plenty he wanted to tell us. Especially when he still hadn’t made it, even after his first hit, when no one seemed to care.
In other words, we’re no longer getting the best and the brightest. They’re going into tech. Where you can operate unfettered and make real money. Shit, you can’t get rich in music, you can’t get enough people to pay attention. It’s not efficient. And maybe it’s this lack of efficiency, the wasted effort, that will finally deliver music worth hearing in the future.
There are no shortcuts. You aren’t born being able to program in C++, nor can a three year old play the piano. And those thirteen or fourteen, even seventeen or eighteen, haven’t lived enough to have anything worth listening to. It’s the rough edges, the hard life, that makes your stories interesting. Billy Joel ran away from his record label and played in a piano bar to survive. Today’s kids quit the soccer team and cut a record on their computer and now they’re ready for world domination. Huh?
They say that these are not the best of times
But they’re the only times I’ve ever known
That’s the problem, we baby boomers lived through the sixties and seventies. And today’s generation, our brethren purveying pabulum, want us to forget this golden age. An alternative take of "Gimmie Shelter" came over my iPod and I got goosebumps. I remembered hearing it for the first time in my buddy’s bedroom and being transfixed. Hate to tell you, nothing Wilco’s ever done is close.
Get pissed off. But as good as Wilco might be, bands of that caliber never made it in years past. Wilco was Poco. A good band that had fans, but not superstars. I’m waiting for superstars to return."
What do you think?
Views: 41
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by DublinBlues on
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To me, Wilco is one of those bands I love live in concert, but never really cared much for their studio stuff. I saw them do a show two years ago, and was completely blown away. I feel the same way about Gov't Mule - love 'em live, but that's about it.
I thought "Sky Blue Sky" was OK, and their latest one does nothing for me. I'm sure folks are sick of comparisons between Tweedy and his old compadre, Jay Farrar, but Son Volt's new one IMO, has it all over the new Wilco.
Ahhh..Poco. Man do I miss them. Live or on vinyl - I couldn't get enough of those guys!
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Permalink Reply by Michael Connor on -
Talk about false advertising... I thought I was going to see some discussion of Poco - a great band. And I have to wade through a bunch of B.S. about Billy Joel, a minor artist where the only way the word "great" could apply would be in reference to the fact that he is a "great" wast of your time.
Back to Poco. Most bands today can't conjure up one tenth of the joyous energy that Poco could. The Jayhawks come extremely close.
Let's just say that Poco is an unheralded band and a secret source of beauty and joy for those who were lucky enough to be aware of them in the years f '69 to '75 or thereabouts ( when they became washed-out). Poco vs. Wilco? Don't even bother with the comparison. There is no comparison.
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Permalink Reply by declan culliton on -
Interesting discussion......Everyone to their own tastes. Billy Joel, Poco, Bob Segar,Elton John ( with the exception of The Yellow Brick Road album) never did it for me. All very popular acts with huge followings. Wonder if they would have made the cover of No Depression Magazine. Iwould have thought Rolling Stone more likely.
I'm always confused by the attitude that if you like Son Volt then you must not be into Wilco!!! Personally I find them both excellent bands.. some of their output is excellent and some is average but at least they are still both producing good music. Wilco are brilliant live at present with probably their strongest line up. Uncle Tupelo were a breath of fresh air in their early days and introduced a lot of listeners ( particularly younger audiences) to an alternative type of music.
P.S Jayhawks were (are?) criminally under rated!!
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Gilbert on -
For me, Poco and Wilco have one thing in common: Upon first hearing, their stuff sounded great to me, but it simply doesn't hold up over time. Back in the day, I loved Poco. But when I listen to them now, they grate on my nerves. And as time goes by, I find it increasingly difficult to listen to Wilco stuff that I liked at first.
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Permalink Reply by Rod Ames on -
I don't know. I'm a big fan of Wilco's and am surprised they're not bigger than they are. I happen to like how they have evolved but have retained their very own style and sound. I love A.M. but love Sky Blue Sky and their latest release, Wilco, too.
I am a baby-boomer as well and was/am a big fan of Poco's. They were a great band. In fact, I believe they are back together again. I'm not sure if any of the originals are all there but....
I just don't know if it's fair to ask Wilco or Poco. Instead, how about Wilco and Poco?
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Permalink Reply by mojobone on -
Of course, it's all subjective, and Nels Cline is a monster-I'd pay to hear him tune, but there are any number of bands that identify as Americana that don't seem to even be reaching for popularity, and maybe that's a good thing and their fans would surely turn on 'em if they tried to be Britney or MJ, but couldn't they at least shoot for say, New Riders Of The Purple Sage?
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Permalink Reply by Will James on -
"This might make me a pariah in these parts, but I never got Wilco." Gotta agree. Long Live Son Volt and Jay Farrar!
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Permalink Reply by Donerail on -
Wait, Wilco v. Poco with 9 paragraphs on Billy Joel, and only one mention of Poco?
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Permalink Reply by Jason Paul Johnston on -
Yeah, the title should really be Wilco/Poco vs. Billy Joel.
I think it so much matters time of life when we are introduced to certain bands. I've always found Billy Joel did nothing for me, good piano player for sure, but no interest. Wilco makes me smile, makes me think and at times moves me. Not every album or every song, but they do it when many others don't. Music is such personal thing. The songs of the 60's and 70's do a lot for Lefsetz and nothing much for me. I personally think we are living in the Golden age of music right now.
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Permalink Reply by Edd Hurt on
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I dunno I get exactly what you're saying here. Poco, in my world, is kind of a country-rock blip.
There was a lot of country-rock when I was growing up and I liked some of it, and perceived even then that it was basically neither country nor rock. That just comes from growing up in Middle Tennessee and hearing a lot of country music, I guess. I also don't get why you think the younger generation wants us to forget the halcyon era of circa-1970 music. Billy Joel is Tin Pan Alley all over again, an insidious tunesmith not without some talent. I tend to look at music in terms of cultural specifics: had I been from New Jersey, I might have liked Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen. But these have always seemed like artists who jam their idea of "good music" and/or "real rock 'n' roll" down my throat, I don't need that.
Wilco is a late addition to the above--I think they're skillful, not without some underlying mood of paranoia and/or neurosis that Tweedy has taken all the way to the bank; but mainly, they're formalists. Sky Blue Sky I reviewed for the magazine, and I think I got it right. What do I hear in that music? Studio-rock circa 1973. Compare to Beefheart's sell-out L.A. blooze-rock statement Moonbeams and Bluejeans (or is it the other way 'round?), to Dr. John and to the generalized arty sludge-rock of the era, like the Move circa "Hello Susie" and so forth. They update this stuff nicely. But yeah, the Stones had something to say, more or less; Wilco really doesn't. (Although there's a mood that's nice, and Tweedy is a clever man--I enjoy their stuff.)
This seems a bit richer than the general alt-country norm. A bigger musical vocabulary. So, if I had to choose I'd choose Wilco over Poco, because when it comes to country-rock, I'd rather hear the distanced, sardonic commentary on it (Brinsley Schwarz, whom I bet Wilco has listened to a few times) than the drugstore-cowboy-isms of the original impulse.
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Permalink Reply by Allan Y McDougall on -
"I think I got it right" - ah well, that's a subjective piece of journalism.
The Brinsleys were not original - they never claimed to be - but pursued a form of good-time music amidst the death throes of progressive rock and the birth pains of punk.
Wilco vs Poco? Poco never made a real dent in the UK scene.
Wilco have real imagination and variety, good voice & great players... and irony.
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Permalink Reply by David Houldcroft on -
Interesting that those of you posting don't cite early (Alt Country)Wilco. I agree that Sky Blue Sky as a stand alone would lack Alt country roots cred. In fact Wilco although it has its roots (no pun intended) in country-Folk are not an an alt country band. I guess they would be considered alt but I dislike that and any label. Good music is what you like and anything else is other. Wilco is in my opinion along with DBT among the best bands recording/touring today.
In regards to POCO vs Wilco when I saw this post I was very excited as I had been preparing for this discussion my whole life. I am a fan of POCO and for me they reintroduced me to country music as a young man.As far as a blip in the music scene perhaps they are as I rarely hear them discussed in serious musical forums. But no matter as blips can remain interesting as they never rust.Of course I am referring to the original line up.
POCO still in fact tours and if you get a chance see them when Richie (Buffalo Springfield-SHF) Furay sits in as POCO isn't POCO without Richie. Wilco tours world wide and if you only know them from Sky Blue Sky check them out live after you have listened to Being There And Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
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