Uncle Tupelo recollects influential career
By BRIAN KORNMANN
Scene Music Critic
Perhaps no band in the past 10 years has had as much influence on their genre of music as Uncle Tupelo. The St. Louis threesome innovated the popular alt-country sound, which many other bands now emulate. One cannot listen to the Old 97's, Jayhawks or Whiskeytown without thinking of the revolution in sound Uncle Tupelo started in 1989.
Jay Farrar on guitar and Jeff Tweedy on bass mixed a sound consisting of punk, blues, rock and country influences that quickly gained a following in and around the Midwest.
Their first album, No Depression, mixed classic country and folk songs such as "Whiskey Bottle" and "John Hardy" with melodic guitar based tracks, "Screen Door" and twang-laced punk rock, "Graveyard Shift." The end result is an album considered by many to be the defining work of the alt-country musical movement.
As time passed, the group expanded their sound range from the hard-hitting album Still Feel Gone, to the Peter Buck (REM) produced all acoustic March 16-20. The band added members, namely Brian Hanneman, later of The Bottle Rockets, to play mandolin and acoustic guitar. The album captured a more soulful sound, and quickly became a favorite of many Tupelo fans. Following the 1992 release of March 16-20, the band began to grow apart as the style and direction of Tweedy and Farrar began to drift apart.
Despite the troubles, the band was picked up on Sire/Reprise records in late 1993 and released their last album, Anodyne. The album was a perfect accumulation of the entire scope of the bands history, capturing all aspects of Uncle Tupelo's diverse sound. The band played their last shows in a two-night set at Mississippi Nights in St. Louis.
Following the break-up, Farrar and Tweedy went their separate ways. Farrar became the lead singer/guitarist for Son Volt and Tweedy assumed the bass and vocal duties for Wilco. The band's presence lived on however, and due to popular demand, the decision was made to re-master and re-release the entire Uncle Tupelo catalog, beginning with the Anthology album. The 21-track Anthology album captures a perfect sampling of Uncle Tupelo's sound, as all of the bands albums are represented on the album in a fully re-mastered edition. Five additional songs, either unreleased, live or from obscure EP's are also included on the album. The songs on the album are represented chronologically on the album, which helps paint a picture of the way the sound and presence of the band evolved over time.
The album itself is fantastic; sound is clear and sharp and the album flows from beginning to end quickly, leaving you wanting more. Because Anthology is a greatest hits album, it is difficult to find any weak songs throughout the entire disc, however fan's of the band will probably question the inclusion/exclusion of certain songs on the album. That being said, "Screen Door," "Whiskey Bottle," "Still Be Around," "Moonshiner," "Effigy," "Chickamunga" and "New Madrid" can be considered the highlights of the album.
Taken as a whole, the album is very strong and music fans who enjoy blues, grassroots, punk, country and rock, will find this album as an ideal purchase.
(five out of five shamrocks)
Contact Brian Kornmann at bkornman@nd.edu
All Scene Stories for Tuesday, March 26, 2002
