As Wilco’s European tour continues, the vinyl reissue of the band's catalog is now complete with today's release of Being There, the band's second studio album. Upon its original release, The Independent's Andy Gill compared it favorably to the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street. Today, Gill praises Wilco's recent London show, which closed with a special take of a song off Being There, "a magical, moving conclusion to one of the best gigs of the year, by one of the best bands in the world."
As Wilco’s European tour continues on the Continent this week, the vinyl reissue of the band's catalog is now complete with today's release of Being There, the band's second studio album, on 12", 180-gram vinyl. Upon the original release of this double album, in 1996, The Independent's Andy Gill compared it favorably to the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street. “Like them," said Gill in his album review, "Wilco have the precious gift of being able to render a blend of styles—in their case, primarily country-rock and raggedy-ass American punk—with a bar-room warmth and conviction that's entirely beguiling.”
Earlier today, Gill and The Independent found much to praise in Wilco's live, sold-out set at the Forum in London last week. The paper gives the show a perfect five stars, with the reviewer citing the all-audience-sung rendition of "the lovely 'Jesus, Etc.'" as an early high point, calling it "word-perfect and indefinably moving, as charming and poignant a moment as I've experienced at any concert this year."
Elsewhere, with the band in full effect, the set showcases a sound that's "thrilling," says Gill, and "seems to yoke together the styles and histories of East and West Coast American music, culminating in all three guitarists pawing the stage, heads down, in classic Neil Young mode. It is impossible not to acknowledge that Wilco are the Great American Band of their era."
As the set builds to ever higher crescendos, with the audience demanding one encore after another and the band happy to oblige. "Wilco are so good, the audience won't let them stop," Gill reports. And yet, before the packed crowd or the band is ready to call it a night, the sound goes out and would seem to force the issue. Not so, though, as Jeff Tweedy adds one more, singing an all-acoustic, solo rendition of "Someone Else's Song" off of Being There. As Gill concludes: "It is a magical, moving conclusion to one of the best gigs of the year, by one of the best bands in the world."
Read the complete concert review at independent.co.uk. To order your copy of Being There on vinyl with the complete album on CD and an instant download of the album MP3s at no additional charge, visit the Nonesuch Store.
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