On "Being There," Wilco's second album, singer/songwriter Jeff Tweedy takes his audience on tour, offering a unique and intensely personal window to the life of a rock star. In a sprawling 75 minutes of music - 19 songs spread over two CDs - the journey covers vast terrain. It is a record about love and longing, disconnection and disaffection, ego and the drug of stardom.
The range of emotions and themes explored are equalled by the array of influences: Echoes of the "Sticky Fingers"-era Rolling Stones; old-time country and bluegrass in "Someday Soon" and "Forget the Flowers"; Beatlesque experimentation a la the white album; harmonies reminiscent of the Beach Boys; Tweedy's unpolished and desperately honest vocal style that at times recalls Neil Young or Paul Westerberg but is ultimately all his own.
Perhaps most interesting, one hears only shades of the "alternative country" sounds of Tweedy's former band, Uncle Tupelo, the cult favorite and critics' darling that splintered in two: Tweedy, drummer Ken Coomer and multi-instrumentalist Max Johnston (since replaced by Bob Egan of Freakwater), formed Wilco with guitarist/pianist Jay Bennett and bassist John Stirratt; the departed Jay Farrar formed Son Volt. In the interim, Wilco has traded Uncle Tupelo's pedal steel, mandolin, and fiddle for organ and piano; the plains, hills, and small towns for bright lights and big cities; it even seems, at times, as if they've swapped roots for schlock.
The album's first track, "Misunderstood," begins with a nearly unlistenable cacophony of dissonance and feedback that serves as a stick of dynamite to destroy anyone's preconceptions for the record before slowly fading into a soft, melodic verse: "When you're back in your old neighborhood / the cigarettes taste so good / but you're so misunderstood." The second CD begins on a similar note, with Tweedy even more pointedly addressing those fans who would call him the Messiah of the "alternative country" movement: "There is no sunken treasure / rumored to be / wrapped inside my ribs." Later in the seven-minute magnum opus of catharsis he sings, "Music is my savior / but I was named by rock 'n' roll," before the song explodes into a barely controlled climax.
Tweedy's journey is long and winding, and ultimately for the listener, richly rewarding. "Being There" is a truly accomplished artistic statement and a testament to Tweedy's undeniable claim as a leading songwriter. "Being There" is one of the most engaging, intelligent, and ambitious records in recent memory.
- Anders Smith-Lindall
Wilco's "Being There" is another great record for the country-rock band.