Being There [Bonus CD] (Vinyl - 1996)

Wilco: Jeff Tweedy (vocals, guitar, bass, radio); Jay Bennett (vocals, guitar, lap steel guitar, harmonica, accordion, piano, organ, drums); Ken Coomer (vocals, guitar, drums, percussion); Max Johnston (vocals, banjo, dobro, mandolin, fiddle); John Stirratt (vocals, violin, piano, bass).

Additional personnel: Bob Egan (National steel guitar, pedal steel guitar); Greg Leisz (pedal steel guitar); Jesse Greene (violin); Dan Higgins (tenor & baritone saxophones); Larry Williams (tenor saxophone); Jerry Hey, Gary Grant (trumpet).

Engineers include: Chris Sheppard, Martin Stebbing, Jim Rondinelli.

Recorded at Chicago Recording Co. and Warzone Recorders, Chicago, Illinois; The Studio, Springfield, Missouri; Moonshine Studios, Atlanta, Georgia.

Wilco's second album is a sprawling collection of songs--19 of them on 2 CDs--about the rock and roll life and the price you pay to live it. A second album may seem a bit early to be getting into this sort of thing, but Wilco knows the life well; singer-songwriter Jeff Tweedy and most of his bandmates had been on the road for years before with their underground country band Uncle Tupelo. Wilco rocks harder than Uncle Tupelo, and Tweedy's songs, which continue a theme previously explored by road warriors from Grand Funk Railroad to Paul Westerberg, offer a variety of characters and scenarios from that road.

From the struggling Floridian rocker who can't figure out why no one will come to hear his band (the Stones-inspired "Monday") to the lonely fan who lives through his idol's exploits (the gorgeous "The Lonely 1"), to that first taste of star treatment ("Hotel Arizona"), Tweedy captures these stories with grace and elegance. Despite all this introspection, Wilco hasn't forgotten how to rock. "Monday" truly burns, and "I Got You (At The End Of The Century)" has the guitar-driven, big rock sound of Wilco's debut. There's also plenty of the country-rock that put Uncle Tupelo on the map. The smooth lilt of "Far, Far Away" and "Someday Soon" offer quite a contrast to the thrashing, distortion-laden songs that precede them. minimize