When They Was Fab / The Album That Changed Wilco (Video Essay)

[@mainecanoe]

Jay was an amazingly talented multi instrumentalist with a very keen ear for melody, a deep knowledge of various styles and knew his way around a studio. That in combination with Jeff’s songwriting created a very fruitful run for the band. But anybody who has ever been in a band knows this is a story as old as time. Personalities clash, artistic ideas clash and the drama gets to a tipping point. These guys were spending more time together than with their own families. But even though you gain calmness and social harmony- that can detract from the push/pull dynamic that can drive the art. Not always but sometimes.

[@NeoGoldmann]

Jay experimented. A genius. He was the powerhouse of music revolution in Wilco.

[@chrisdelisle3954]

Did they tour as a quartet after this and around "A Ghost Is Born?" I saw them live around this time and loved them. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is absolutely one of my favorite records of the last 25 years. Oddly enough, I haven't really loved much of their work past "A Ghost Is Born."

[@RobertJWaco]

Sky Blue Sky had it's moments but I agree. Yankee was the pinnacle for the band and after that they never hit those heights again, although that being said Sky Blue Sky comes damn close. Than again, Wilco is at a place in their careers where they don't have to worry about hits or air play. They can do what they wish and be done with it.

[@bananastan714]

Pre and post Jay are both great.

[@msmittysmitty83]

I had Being There and 8am for a few years....then in 2024 I watched The Doc, and then I watched the Doc about Jay, then I read Tweedy's book....and now today I find your amazing essay....My year of learning a lot about Wilco continues...Thank you for making this video

[@usquebaugh1]

My entry point to Wilco was back in 2002/2003 when my best friend (also a big music fan) gifted me the I Am Trying to Break Your Heart DVD; from there I got into Yankee Foxtrot Hotel. Around that time I was playing covers in a local pub and another friend who wanted to play with me gave my 3 mix CDs (which was briefly a thing back then) that included some Uncle Tupelo. Steve Earle and a who's who of alt. country artists. I've since read Tweedy's book (a great read by the way), have accumulated several Wilco and Tweedy solo records. My favorite recent release is Cruel Country; most bands should boil there double-album down to one solid album) but Cruel Country is strong throughout and flows very well. I also picked up RSD The Whole Love RSD box set; I didn't not yet own this album...which I find underrated. Today I finally got a hold of Where Are You, Jay Bennett (2021) to consume during the holidays :)

[@braynechoblue]

The band with Jay Bennett that started YHF is not the band that that finished YHF. The YHF boxed set booklet has more details on the departure of Jay and the argument mentioned. He was trying to mix the album and the rest of the band wasn't happy. Jay was layering too many tracks and lacked experience mixing an album this complex. It's pretty clear that the songs weren't working and the band wasn't working. So I don't think the version of Wilco with Jay was Wilco at their most musically relevant. It took bringing in Jim O'Rourke in to make the songs we love today. And Jim's approach was at odds with Jay's ideas of more is more. Looking back at that album the stars really did align and there are many reasons that it came together. One is that Wilco both needed Jay for his important contributions but also needed him to leave the band to make Yankee Hotel Foxtrot the best it could be.

[@jn5122]

This is the accurate take

[@fernandoperdomomusic]

Leroy is the one playing Organ on Jesus Etc. Jay is playing Wurlitzer piano...

[@BlackStripe789]

Jay is playing the electric piano part on "Jesus, Etc.". The annoying organ is Leroy.

[@aisle_of_view]

Saw them a couple of times with Jay. The Troubadour 1996 show was phenomenal, my friends and I left the club feeling like we witnessed greatness.

[@operationzenith6030]

YHF is easily one of the most unknown and underrated albums of all time. 2002 was loaded with good albums. Interpol, Turn On the Bright Lights. Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Also YHF is a hard listen in some ways.

[@kens2328]

9:03 Jay’s last name is spelled with two t’s. Bennett.

[@Rickyjay23]

Just watched IATTBYH for the first time after being a fan of Wilco since 2006? Great film. The first album I got into from Wilco was Sky Blue Sky. Still my fav album.

[@tmjmccormack]

Completely agree that Sky Blue Sky is #1. I’d imagine there are more of us out there but I hardly meet anyone who agrees.

[@Blakeano]

somos 3

[@dennisrocker]

Im sad for the past with all due respect but I cannot imagine an end to a story as its being so brilliantly told.

[@peteclarke3352]

I enjoyed this as a counterpoint to the film, which I own on DVD, and have watched and rewatched numerous times, especially since Jay's sudden passing. I have enjoyed some of the Wilco output with the new lineup, especially Nels Cline who I was already a fan of (I dig all the freaky free stuff), but for me Wilco's most crucial work was with Jay. Every album had its own thing, its own personality, but the one-two punch of Summerteeth and YHF, to my ears that was their peak. And sometimes the best work a band does is during these moments of struggle and conflict. The ones they make right before they break up. Plenty of examples. The early Dinosaur Jr stuff for instance. Arguing can be a useful exercise, but it wears on you, and I've been in those rehearsal and recording sessions where the "discussion" gets heated and non-productive, because of competing visions, or auditory ideas of what is coming together. I remain a Jay Bennett fan, and as much as I admire Nels Cline's playing, he's at heart a jazzer. Jay was a rocker through and through, and they did their best work when he was in the group. Now they play their festivals and release the occasional album with far less fanfare. It's an entirely different band. I miss this one.

[@spiffy8576]

Loved A.M. and Being There. Liked Summer Teeth quite a bit, did not care much for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and haven’t bought a Wilco album since.

[@jameshunter9422]

I think Jay was playing the Wurlizter on that track.

[@whitmore-project]

Yea he was, I understand the point he was trying to make though

[@RandomNonsense1985]

I actually like the YHF demos and outtakes better. Leaving Not For the Season, Nothing Up My Sleeve, Venus Stop the Train, Rhythm, and Magazine Called Sunset off of the album was a criminal act.

[@paulblumberg4853]

After Jay Bennett was fired, Wilco lost that special quality that had me listening to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot over and over. Jeff Tweedy may have won control of the band, but he lost his place in musical history. Me, I listen to all the Jay Bennett Wilco albums and ignore the later bland stuff

[@ChampagneGravel]

You’re missing out if you stopped at YHF. Jeff Tweedy is Wilco.

[@jeffmccaskill9227]

Gosh I miss Jay

[@Rob954ever]

YHF, A Ghost Is Born and Sky Blue Sky are amongst the best albums ( from end to end) ever made.

[@colin-nekritz]

False. But you’re entitled to your misguided and patently wrong opinion.

[@Rob954ever]

@@colin-nekritz Sorry you're so butt hurt. I'm sure your ABBA collection is immense.😘

[@foxbor0]

@@colin-nekritz a misguided opinion? You mean one that's different to yours. Rob954ever is correct though.... they are great albums. And to suggest Wilco weren't as good without Jay is just funny. Have you seen them anytime since he left?

[@dawnrhodes6409]

❤❤❤

[@duckbrew]

Never again after Yankee were they so beloved by critics and fans?? really? Just cheakin'

[@ChampagneGravel]

They won a Grammy for AGIB….

[@Plotinus75]

"If you don't have any sonic landscape behind you, everthing turns into a folk song." Let me translate: "If Wilco doesn't have Jay Bennett, everything they record turns into a folk song."

[@NeoGoldmann]

Yes, Jeff would have been just a Bob & Dylan.

[@scottbookman]

@@NeoGoldmann and there's already one of those .

[@GrizEleven]

Great video

[@wongnaichungrd]

Interesting assessment. I find the run from AM to A Ghost is Born as good as good as it gets. Despite having a stellar line up of musicians post AGIB the albums have been patchy and to be honest many of the songs are not in Jeff’s top drawer. These days the Wilco albums sound like Jeff solo albums with a crack supporting band. Just my take

[@toddlee2571]

I don't agree at all with the sentiment of this film. Had Wilco actually been America"s Radiohead i wouldn't have liked them. You can only do the "soundscape (dissonance) as art" so long before tedium sets in (and it sure did). Sure, A Ghost Is Born is a tad too sedate being the follow-up to the much better YHF but I can't imagine a world where Sky Blue Sky didn't exist because it was too folky. I get that people were put off by the polished sound of The Whole Love and Wilco (The Album) but they were still worthy albums. I also get that there's always going to be that contingency of people who were ardent fans at the height of the indy-rock scene that want their music to be noisy, lo-fi and dissonant and in that regard Wilco progressed away from that, i.e abandoned those fans. My gain, i guess.

[@mainecanoe]

It’s not that complicated. The older songs were just better crafted songwriting. Better melodies and more engaging lyrics.

[@patriciagrandjean8205]

*eyeroll* They're still fab. Jay was talented, but he was alienating the rest of the band, and it wasn't HIS band. I've gotten really tired of YHF worship, too. All worthwhile bands grow and change and they make missteps along the way. Look at Dylan. He's made his share of bad records, but anyone who looks at his great work and says any one album was THE great album sounds like a narrow-minded fool. So it is with any other artists of significance you can name.

[@Plotinus75]

Take three albums: Being There, Summerteeth, YHF. Those three are better than the other albums.

[@mainecanoe]

Their last great album was Sky Blue Sky. Everything since then is very clearly not at the same level. I have been a fan of Jeff and the band since seeing them the first time in 1997 but there is a reason that run up the A Ghost is Born is revered.

[@denz180]

​@@Plotinus75everyone has an opinion. My favourite wilco is sky blue sky

[@JRMoonTube]

Jeff was jealous of Farrar and of Bennett. He ran on fumes for GIB & SBS, but they’ve never come close to what they were in the years approaching and including YHF. Too bad.

[@ChampagneGravel]

AGIB won a Grammy. You’re confusing your opinion with facts.

[@JRMoonTube]

@ I’m not sure a Grammy is the brass ring you think it is. AGIB had some GREAT moments, I saw them 2x when they toured it. Just sad for what they could have been. Different strokes.

[@kens2328]

I've been a Wilco fan for 25+ years. The quality of music since YHF and Bennett leaving the band has steadily declined to the point that their last 4-5 albums are absolute trash. Tweedy's ego has made them irrelevant for the last 15 years. You only have to hear his ultra- liberal rants onstage to know he ran out of good ideas a long time ago. When 1/3 of the concert is his political views, there must not be much musically-interesting ideas left, and he just enjoys hearing himself drone on about anything. Too bad. They were once a great rock 'n roll band. Now they're just coasting on previous glory until retirement.

[@LovelyMagpie]

This is a great assessment. Wilco was my favorite band then. I love the album but I really missed Jay on that tour. (though I did kinda like Leroy). I never really liked the band’s direction after that (I can’t stand Nils Cline) and haven’t really followed them since.

[@annanutherthing4373]

Maybe not good to have film crews in while still trying to do real recordings!!

[@timcaffrey2931]

I simply don't like the tone of this video essay. It comes off as a sort of reality TV show where someone is a big winner and someone is a big loser. If you are going to make an "essay," be more professional and less provocative in your comments and conclusions.

[@gracelarey3841]

Jay is Girlbossing

[@colin-nekritz]

No, he’s bringing brilliant ideas up against the petulant manchild that is pre-bloated 300 pound Tweedy

[@NeoGoldmann]

Just understand this, chances are that Wilco would have been just an alt country band if it wasn’t for Jay Bennett. Jeff writes the songs but it is Jay that layers the magic we hear on YHF. He got kicked out of the band but without him what material would they have to mix ? This documentary fucked up Wilco forever in my opinion.

[@Eman-e9u9e]

There better than ever post Jay.Awards and all

[@cmzeman]

Keep your day job.

[@illusionxmuta]

It such a shame that so much time and effort is spent on such mediocre music

[@curly_wyn]

This album is one of the most boring and bland and lame and vanilla that I’ve ever heard. It’s as beige as its album cover. Jeff Tweedy can’t sing for shit, and it all most variates from alt-country softness to sometimes rocking out (very briefly), and then some radio static noises. I’m sorry, I do not this album at all, nor most of this band’s shit. I don’t get why anybody cares.