As I expected it would be, Jeff Tweedy's solo show at the Olympia Theatre (in Montreal) was brilliant, full to the brim of music, poetry, humour and (an under-appreciated aspect of Tweedy's art) innovative guitar-playing. Some personal highlights: "Theologians" during the first encore; "One Wing", which might be my favourite Wilco song; "Kamera", a standout on an album filled with them, their 2002 masterpiece, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I can't remember if it was said before or after his playing "Country Disappeared", but he mentioned that a video of the song had been shot in the same theatre during Wilco's last Montreal visit, in February of 2010, so I looked it up and enjoyed it very much - so here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkK4fjUlmVs. Go see this group, or Tweedy solo, if you possibly can, and listen to their records, too. They are a band that can hold the field with any other that could be named. Don't miss out.

Off to see Jeff Tweedy tonight, which should be highly entertaining. I've seen Wilco a few times now and they always surpass expectations. They're a bit like Don Mattingly, the great Yankee first baseman, in that regard (When Yogi Berra was asked if Mattingly had surpassed expectations with a particularly great season, he said, "I'd say he's done more than that"). Baseball and humour are themes that both Wilco and Tweedy have frequently explored. Wilco's summer tours have often used minor league ball parks for venues, for example - I saw them in August of 2009 at Dutchess Stadium in Wappingers Falls, New York - and Jeff Tweedy is a very funny person. He could have been a stand-up comic, probably, but I'm glad he devoted himself to music. Here's a clip that I hadn't seen before, which shows his sense of humour and his musicianship, a cover of Bob Dylan's "Simple Twist of Fate": (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRuU_IkGUyo&feature=related). And go see Tweedy (and/or Wilco) in person if you can.

Good news for rock fans in Montreal. It looks like Wilco's Jeff Tweedy has developed an affection for the place. At last year's Wilco show at the Olympia (February 27, it was), Tweedy told the crowd that they were "almost perfect". I don't know about that, but I was there and can vouch that the crowd definitely were lively and enthusiastic. (Maybe it's the venue: On the PiL website, John Lydon said that his May 8, 2010 gig at the Olympia was "one of the most uplifting experiences of my life", and that it was "bar none the best PiL concert ever": http://www.pilofficial.com/info2.html) In any event, Tweedy has included Montreal on a short list of dates for his upcoming solo tour; he'll be back at the Olympia on March 25. Maybe he'll get another near perfect audience; we'll see. But if he doesn't, he's not afraid to, um, voice his displeasure, as you can see for yourself in this clip from his 2006 solo DVD, Sunken Treasure. The second link is for the song that he plays right after the discussion/admonishment (which is very much worth listening to): 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew3AOlbJXos 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG9LZvKDEZ0&feature=related

You have to admire him, not only for how good he is, but for his honesty. How many musicians would've included an episode like this one on a DVD of their own choosing?

Steely Dan's Walter Becker is best known for his compositional skills. He has worked in tandem with Donald Fagen for over forty years in what would have to be considered one of the very greatest of songwriting teams. And just as Fagen has released sparkling solo albums (three, actually), so has Becker (with two). The first of the two albums has not received as much attention as it deserved, in my opinion, so I'll be writing about it today.

11 Tracks of Whack (1994), co-produced with Fagen, is one of my favourite records. The opening track (of twelve, despite the title), "Down in the Bottom", sets the mood and the subject matter for the rest of the record: the attempted suburban escape of drug addicts and others bearing emotional scars from earlier, faster lives. It features a powerful vocal performance by Becker, who is hugely under-rated as a vocalist. The strength of his singing comes from his deep musical experience rather than his timbre, so it requires thoughtful listening to fully appreciate - he's a bit like Wilco's Jeff Tweedy in that respect, in fact - and this song is a good place to do it: the melody is beautifully contoured and he lays it out perfectly. Becker's guitar skills are on display here as well, and they're prodigious; he's equally at home in jazz and blues, and he crosses from one to the other freely, often in the same line. The album is filled with great playing, singing, grooves, melodies and lyrics. You should hear it. Here's an interesting track ("Medical Science") that's available only on the Japanese release: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAhh2IKdd5I

Another artist that straddles the line between music and poetry is Wilco's Jeff Tweedy. He is probably the most important American songwriter of the last decade or so, because along with his brilliant band, he has explored the boundaries of both words and music in terms of creating imagery, telling stories, putting arguments forward, exploring emotion, etc. - in other words, all the things that are accomplished by poetry of the highest level. Here is an excerpt from "One Wing", from their most recent recording, Wilco (2009):

We may as well be made of stone
We can't be flown
One wing will never fly
Neither yours nor mine
I fear we can only wave goodbye

See what I mean? If you're interested in Wilco, and I think you should be, I would recommend the DVD concert documentary, Wilco Live: Ashes of American Flags (2009) where Tweedy discusses his impressionistic songwriting. I would also suggest listening to all of their albums in order from first to last to hear their astonishing growth (and some of the greatest rock music of this generation).