(2020) Wilco - Summerteeth [Deluxe Edition]


Review:
…feature a brand-new remaster of the original album by Bob Ludwig, plus previously unreleased demos, outtakes, alternate versions and an extended, soundboard-sourced set at Colorado’s Boulder Theatre recorded on November 1, 1999. Recorded through 1997 and 1998 in Willie Nelson’s Texas recording studio and Chicago’s Kingsize Soundlabs – during which, separately, Wilco recorded and released Mermaid Avenue with Billy Bragg, consisting of unused Woody Guthrie lyrics – the follow-up to 1996’s Being There was markedly different from anything Wilco had ever released. Most of the tunes were written by Jeff Tweedy and company in the studio, and for the first time, the band achieved their desired sound with overdubs. While Summerteeth didn’t outsell Being There, it was critically lauded, making No. 8 on the Village Voice‘s annual Pazz & Jop poll that year.

***

Jeff Tweedy once blazed the trail for the American rock underground’s embrace of its country and folk roots, but as the decade drew to a close he also began spearheading the return of classic pop; simply put, what once were fiddles on Wilco records became violins — the same instrument, to be sure, but viewed with a radical shift in perception and meaning. While lacking the sheer breadth and ambition of the previous Being There, Summerteeth is the most focused Wilco effort yet, honing the lessons of the last record to forge a majestic pop sound almost completely devoid of alt-country elements. The lush string arrangements and gorgeous harmonies of tracks like “She’s a Jar” and “Pieholden Suite” suggest nothing less than a landlocked Brian Wilson, while more straightforward rockers like the opening “I Can’t Stand It” bear the influence of everything from R&B to psychedelia. Still, for all of the superficial warmth and beauty of the record’s arrangements, Tweedy’s songs are perhaps his darkest and most haunting to date, bleak domestic dramas informed by recurring themes of alienation, adultery, and abuse — even the sunniest melodies mask moments of devastating power. If Summerteeth has a precedent, it’s peak-era Band; the album not only possesses a similar pastoral sensibility, but like Robbie Robertson and company before them, Wilco seems directly connected to a kind of American musical consciousness, not only rejuvenating our collective creative mythology, but adding new chapters to the legend with each successive record.





Tracklist:

Disc One: Original Album
1.“Can’t Stand It”
2.“She’s A Jar”
3.“A Shot In The Arm”
4.“We’re Just Friends”
5.“I’m Always In Love”
6.“Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway (Again)”
7.“Pieholden Suite”
8.“How To Fight Loneliness”
9.“Via Chicago”
10.“ELT”
11.“My Darling”
12.“When You Wake Up Feeling Old”
13.“Summer Teeth”
14.“In A Future Age”
15.23 Seconds Of Silence
16.“Candyfloss”
17.“A Shot In The Arm” (Remix)

Disc Two: Outtakes/Alternates/Demos *
1.“Tried And True” (Demo)
2.“I’m Always In Love” (Demo)
3.“All I Need” (Demo)
4.“I’ll Sing It” (Demo)
5.“Two Guitars” – Instrumental (Demo)
6.“Candyfloss” (Demo)
7.“In A Future Age” (Demo)
8.“No Hurry” (Demo)
9.“She’s A Jar” (Demo)
10.“Can’t Locator It” (Guitar Riff Demo)
11.“Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway (Again)” (Demo)
12.“Summer Teeth” (Slow Rhodes Version)
13.“Pieholden Suite” (Alternate)
14.“I’m Always In Love” (Early Run Through)
15.“My Darling” (Alternate)
16.“Tried And True” (Alternate)
17.“She’s A Jar” (Alternate)
18.“Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway (Again)”
19.“Candyfloss” (Intro)
20.“Every Little Thing” (Alternate)
21.“Viking Dan” (Outtake)
22.“We’re Just Friends/Yee Haw” (10/29/99 Minneapolis Soundcheck)
23.“Summer Teeth” (Alternate)
24.“In A Future Age” (Take 3)

Disc Three: Live At The Boulder Theater, Boulder, CO (11/1/99) *
1.“Via Chicago”
2.“Candyfloss”
3.“Summer Teeth”
4.“I’m Always In Love”
5.“I Must Be High”
6.“How To Fight Loneliness”
7.“Hotel Arizona”
8.“Red-Eyed And Blue”
9.“I Got You (At The End Of The Century)”
10.“Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway (Again)”
11.“She’s A Jar”
12.“A Shot In The Arm”
13.“We’re Just Friends”
14.“Misunderstood”

Disc Four: Live At The Boulder Theater, Boulder, CO (11/1/99) *
1.“Hesitating Beauty”
2.“Christ For President”
3.“Passenger Side”
4.“Can’t Stand It”
5.“Forget The Flowers”
6.“New Madrid”
7.“California Stars”
8.“Kingpin”
9.“Casino Queen”
10.“Outta Mind (Outta Sight)”
11.“Hoodoo Voodoo”
12.“Monday”


Media Report:
Genre: alt-country, indie-pop
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits