Wilco Demos - A.M.

I’m getting excited for the Wilco show at McCarren Pool in Brooklyn just 2 short weeks from now. I haven’t been to an outdoor show such as this yet this summer, though I also plan to take in the Pool Party this coming Sunday (Deerhunter, King Khan, Black Lips). Large outdoor empty pool, lots of sunshine (fingers crossed), beer, and friends - you can’t beat that. Leading up to the day I’ll be posting an assortment of Wilco rarities from my collection, starting off with these 2 ultra-rare A.M. demos.

Though left off the album for obvious reasons (they are pretty clear throw-aways), both show a primitive side of Jeff Tweedy’s early songwriting - especially “Let’s Hear It For Rock”, a song whose unabashedly straightforward lyrics about a man’s love for rawk music would probably make him cringe today. Listening to these songs again makes me wonder why some of his better Uncle Tupelo tracks like “Black Eye” and “New Madrid” were so much more lyrically complex and poetic (precursors to what he’d do again later) than the songs on A.M. - maybe he was rushed to throw songs together to beat Farrar to the punch? Regardless, the sound quality is pretty rough on these, but completists will certainly enjoy.

MP3 :: Let’s Hear It For Rock
MP3 :: Gone
(from Wilco A.M. demos)
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Now that I’m listening again, the song “Gone” may be called “I Am Willing”, or something - it sounds familiar. Damn, should’ve held onto those old Kazaa downloads from back in the day.
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