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Wilco
Kicking Television: Live in Chicago
Nonesuch
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Article
written by Phil O
Dec 15, 2005.
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Live albums, generally speaking, tend to be a bit of a thorny prospect and usually fall into two basic categories
1) a tiresome and ever-so-slightly pointless note-perfect rendition of all the band's hits interspersed with audience noise or 2) Some of the band's best tunes imaginatively re-jigged and played with a bit of invention and gusto. Luckily this sprawling two disc effort, recorded over Wilco's four night residency at their hometown's Vic Theatre, falls into the latter category.
It's easy to forget how much top-notch material Wilco have, and hearing many of their finest tunes collected here, one begins to suspect that leader Jeff Tweedy is a bit of an understated genius. The band long ago confused those who had them pegged as alt-country with the diversity of 2002's 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot', and their exploratory live sound goes even further to shaking off that restrictive tag. The playing on this album is consistently flawless and Tweedy is in fine voice, his cracked intonations taking on a Springsteen-like fervour against the balls-to-the-wall performance of the band. Just when you think they're drifting into a fairly faithful, conventional live take on one of their tunes, they'll throw in some off-key piano, a few cheeky stabs of synth and some abrupt percussion clatter.
Aside from a couple of tunes from their Woody Guthrie-inspired 'Mermaid Avenue' project with Billy Bragg, the material is mostly pulled from their last two records, with a couple of tracks from ‘Summerteeth’ and a solitary, yet beautifully performed, single track from 'Being There' ('Misunderstood'). At the risk of sounding like a beard-stroking muso, credit must be given to Nels Cline’s guitar-playing which often strays into bizarre and awesome psychedelic freakouts. In places, he appears to be taking an electric egg whisk to the strings with gleeful abandon. Songs such as 'Company in my Back' and the moving 'Ashes of American Flags' are injected with new muscle and virtually surpass their studio counterparts, fizzing with a revelatory energy. One of the highlights is a stunning version of 'Via Chicago' with Tweedy singing in a heartbreaking shattered croak, "I dreamed about killing you again last night/And it felt alright to me...Buried you alive in a fireworks display" as if the weight of the world could crush him at any moment.
Ultimately, it's the sheer diversity and downright class of Wilco's catalogue that make this a highly enjoyable experience through its mammoth running time. If you're looking for a superb, classic-laden summary of Wilco's recent career and a clear insight into the huge progressions in their sound and songwriting, then look no further.
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