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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk
Brian Wilson would be proud; Phil Spector too, and maybe even John Lennon would have raised the ghost of a smile. For Summerteeth is an album that wears its influences openly, yet somehow contrives to make them all sound new-minted. While fellow Uncle Tupelo alumnus Jay Farrar continues to stake out the centre ground of the alt. country scene with Son Volt, Jeff Tweedy and his Wilco cohorts have moved into altogether more eclectic territory. Tweedy's touching lyrical vignettes have the whiff of 3am whisky and cigarettes about them--"The ashtray says / You were up all night"--the time of night when disturbing thoughts surface without warning (the anti-climax of "She's A Jar" turns the whole song on its head in one devastating line). As ever, the band are a chameleon bunch, alternately providing chugging wall-of-sound riffs or sparse, fractured instrumental commentaries, all the while retaining their authentic mid-west accent (even when the production casts them in the role of a mid-60s psychedelic outfit). Occasionally erratic, sometimes frustrating, Wilco have never sounded more focused. --Mark Walker
Product Description
Shiny 1999 album features "Can't Stand It" ; "A Shot In The Arm" & "Via Chicago".
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Mr. M. J. Hulme
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Audio CD
Wilco's previous double album 'Being There', with its magpie-like borrowing from country, rock and roll and the blues, topped many critical polls and won the group a new wave of followers. Their response to this increase in popularity was to push the template out further with Summerteeth. Less country influenced, less bluesy, and more of a "conventional" rock album, Summerteeth is by turns uplifting, moving and inspiring. Replacing the acoustic guitars with effects pedals and keyboard effects, this album's musical palette is broad and at times experimental. That said, the sonic trickery never once interferes with the bedrock of quality songwriting that holds this wonderful collection together.
Jeff Tweedy's voice has never sounded more sincere or close to breaking, while the songwriting partnership of Tweedy and Jay Bennett seems to conjure songs that perfectly suit both the band's musical abilities and their lyrical preoccupations. There is nothing approaching a bad track on the album, and even the unlisted bonus tracks (Candyfloss, and an alternate take of Shot In The Arm) are of the highest quality. If 'Being There' displayed Wilco's affection for all things past, Summerteeth shows that they have the ability to record timeless rock music that owes nothing to anybody but themselves.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By The Boy
Format:Audio CD
This, the bands third album, is by far and away their best to date. Following on from the more rootsy Being There, and their disappointing debut A.M, Jeff Tweedy and co came up with the perfect album.
A dreamy blend of the Beach Boys' summer-esque pop, the perfect melodies of the Beatles, a hint of 60's psychadelia and still that ocassional nod toward Gram Parsons' country noodlings. This is just perfect from start to finish.
Each track drips with perfection. From the acoustic wonder of "Shes a Jar" the country style pop of "ELT" and the vicious "Via Chicago" it just doesnt get any better than this.
A dreamy blend of the Beach Boys' summer-esque pop, the perfect melodies of the Beatles, a hint of 60's psychadelia and still that ocassional nod toward Gram Parsons' country noodlings. This is just perfect from start to finish.
Each track drips with perfection. From the acoustic wonder of "Shes a Jar" the country style pop of "ELT" and the vicious "Via Chicago" it just doesnt get any better than this.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By J. Jenkins
Format:Audio CD
With Summerteeth Wilco plugged into a whole new jukebox, leaving behind the roots rock and Americana of old for a shiny new pop sound that has little to do with 'alt-country' of any description.
The retro elements here: Beatles-esque songwriting, Brian Wilson-esque harmonies, Phil Spector-esque production; combine with formative indications of the soundscaping they would really dive into on their next two records; using treated drums, synth effects and feedback to produce a record that sounds simultaneously classic and futuristic, ancient and modern.
Jeff Tweedy really comes into his own as a lyricist here, offsetting these summery, shimmering melodies with his darkest, most confessional lyrics to date to create a dissonance that is truly unsettling. His willingness to speak the unspeakable, ("She begs me not to hit her", "I dreamt about killing you again last night") combines with a writerly eye for detail ("The ashtray says you were up all night") and a deeply humane rendering of regret to add up to what I think is his best collection of writing to date.
Summerteeth stands alone in the Wilco catalogue in that no other album sounds quite it, although anyone checking it out after enjoying anything from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to Wilco (the album) will find it less of a jump than anyone coming from the Uncle Tupelo to Being There direction.
The retro elements here: Beatles-esque songwriting, Brian Wilson-esque harmonies, Phil Spector-esque production; combine with formative indications of the soundscaping they would really dive into on their next two records; using treated drums, synth effects and feedback to produce a record that sounds simultaneously classic and futuristic, ancient and modern.
Jeff Tweedy really comes into his own as a lyricist here, offsetting these summery, shimmering melodies with his darkest, most confessional lyrics to date to create a dissonance that is truly unsettling. His willingness to speak the unspeakable, ("She begs me not to hit her", "I dreamt about killing you again last night") combines with a writerly eye for detail ("The ashtray says you were up all night") and a deeply humane rendering of regret to add up to what I think is his best collection of writing to date.
Summerteeth stands alone in the Wilco catalogue in that no other album sounds quite it, although anyone checking it out after enjoying anything from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to Wilco (the album) will find it less of a jump than anyone coming from the Uncle Tupelo to Being There direction.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Their most consistent longplayer
I love this album. It is, with the possible exception of AM, their most consistent LP - not a single duff track. Read more
Published 14 months ago by K. K. Jakubczyk
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wilco In Their Stride
Wilco's third album almost completely lost that country twang making them sound (at the time) like a very experimental rock group. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Stalker
4.0 out of 5 stars
Can Stand It.
I had first heard of Wilco the year before this release when they collaborated with Billy Bragg on his Woody Guthrie project `Mermaid Avenue' and was so impressed by their... Read more
Published on 22 Mar 2008 by Ian Wood, Author of 'Here's 2 Absent Fathers'
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning!
just have a little time to write this review, while i take a break from thesis-writing!
this album is stunning! best thing i've heard in ages. Read more
this album is stunning! best thing i've heard in ages. Read more
Published on 17 July 2006 by Mr. Gideon D. Brody
4.0 out of 5 stars
The weird get weirder.
Arguably the band's best album, this third Wilco album was released in 1999, in between the sprawling Being There and the lauded Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Read more
Published on 13 April 2006 by dynamitekid156
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wilco
This album is the staging post between Wilco's alt-country period and the experimental Wilco of YHF and a ghost is born. Read more
Published on 12 Jun 2005 by B Moraes
4.0 out of 5 stars
Catching after the second time
First time listening it didn't do so much.
But gave it a second and a third whirl, and it SO good. It's balanced, but with lots of surprises. Read more
But gave it a second and a third whirl, and it SO good. It's balanced, but with lots of surprises. Read more
Published on 25 Jan 2005 by "thurlog"
5.0 out of 5 stars
wonderful enigmatic alt country,best album of 90,s
sumerteeth sees wilco releasing the bands best album to date,and one of the top 5 albums of the 90,s. Read more
Published on 25 Aug 2000 by eileen@martin44fsnet.co.uk
5.0 out of 5 stars
F*****g Brilliant!
I was sceptical at first about them, but i gave it one listen and it grabbed me. It's SO good! It reminds me of the Beach Boys in their more up-beat poppy moments, and a little bit... Read more
Published on 1 Jun 2000
5.0 out of 5 stars
Album Of The Year 1999
Well, it should have been. If you missed out on this, be prepared for a treat. And if you know about Wilco because of the Billy Bragg connection, this is even better than Mermaid... Read more
Published on 12 Jan 2000
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