Jeff Tweedy certainly puts a decent shift in. Following on from his recent impressive debut with Tweedy, the band he formed with teenage son Spencer, he returns to the day job with these two collections.
The first is a four-CD (77 tracks) trawl through Wilco’s rarities, live shows and offcuts, while the second is a 38-track chronological selection of “essential tracks”. The double wheeze marks the 20th anniversary of Wilco, the band he formed after the acrimonious demise of alt.country kingpins Uncle Tupelo.
In that time Chicago-based Tweedy, now 47, has emerged as one of the most interesting and creative forces working in rock, stretching out beyond his country and punk instincts, and writing what seems like an endless stream of beguiling, brilliantly brutal and often beautiful songs.
Although Wilco has grown to be more than just a vehicle for Tweedy’s existential angst –- guitarist Nels Cline is a remarkable player in his own right – his songs and his weary, weathered voice remain at the heart of everything they do.
Alpha Mike Foxtrot maps how Wilco got from there to here, with demos, live tracks, first versions of classics like Handshake Drugs, dreamy folk, twangy rock 'n' roll and ear-splitting thrashes.
Even allowing for Tweedy's nerdy interest in music, who would have expected Wilco to breeze through Steely Dan's Any Major Dude Will Tell You? At 77 tracks, it might seem aimed squarely at anoraks, but it is fascinating and fun hearing a band this good finding their feet.
What's Your 20? is a selection of38 tracks culled from their eight studio albums. For the uninitiated this is a good place to start, with diamonds aplenty, but the real treasure lies in immersing yourself in the albums. It is not for nothing that the band's website is named wilcoworld.
