[.ca] Being There

Un Essentiel amazon.fr:
Dès ce deuxième (double) album, Wilco s'installe dans l'histoire. Un disque puissant, sincère, crédible, et sans racolage. Wilco fait ici une oeuvre durable, étalant sur plus d'une heure et quart de musique sa vision du rock'n'roll mutant de cette fin de XXe siècle. C'est Jeff Tweedy, le cerveau de la bande, qui avance en première ligne, avec un regard très personnel sur l'existence. Il affectionne des tempos plutôt légers, et on sent bien que le format choisi - double, donc - n'est pas que par coïncidence, identique à celui du "Exile On Main Street" des Rolling Stones. Wilco, catalogué dès sa création dans le genre country alternative, ne rejette pas totalement cette étiquette non plus. Des chansons comme "Someday Seven" ou "Far Far Away" ne cachent d'ailleurs rien de leurs parfums campagnards. On s'y promène en compagnie de violons, de pedal-steel et de dobro de facture authentique. Mais lorsque Tweedy et les siens tournent le bouton de volume, l'illusion de plages oubliées des Stones est totale. Surtout quand montent les cuivres et que s'élève la slide guitare ("Outta Mind"). Being There est également pour Tweedy prétexte à quelques expériences sonores décoiffantes et à laisser aller son penchant pour les harmonies vocales à la Beatles. Les Beatles, les Stones, la country, peut-on espérer auspices plus engageants pour cet album de référence ? --José Ruiz

From Amazon.co.uk:
Wilco's follow-up to A.M. impresses first with its size: 19 tunes fill the double-album package, and the packaging unfolds like a larger-than-life 1970s-era gatefold album cover. But the love affair with the artwork is short-lived, fading as the music takes center stage, making plain the band's overwhelming stretch into innumerable styles. Jeff Tweedy's love of pop and the mechanics of making pop albums is clear almost immediately, as he and his cohort utilize the studio to create and manipulate undertows and snaky recorded elements throughout many of their tunes (a keyboard touch, a guitar's flair, a cymbal's unexpected crash). There are the plainspoken acoustic numbers, recalling Tweedy's tenure in Uncle Tupelo, and there are also unwinding swoops of tinted, guitar-heavy rock--one of which collapses into chromatic jabs at a piano only to resolve in silence on "Sunken Treasure." Oodles of influences fill Wilco's collective mind, and they're perfectly content to pile the trace elements atop each other and make scrambled pop perfection. --Andrew Bartlett

Amazon.com essential recording:
Wilco's follow-up to A.M. impresses first with its size: 19 tunes fill the double-CD package, and the packaging unfolds like a larger-than-life 1970s-era gatefold album cover. But the love affair with the artwork is short-lived, fading as the music takes center stage, making plain the band's overwhelming stretch into innumerable styles. Jeff Tweedy's love of pop and the mechanics of making pop albums is clear almost immediately, as he and his cohort utilize the studio to create and manipulate undertows and snaky recorded elements throughout many of their tunes (a keyboard touch, a guitar's flair, a cymbal's unexpected crash). There are the plainspoken acoustic numbers, recalling Tweedy's tenure in Uncle Tupelo, and there are also unwinding swoops of tinted, guitar-heavy rock--one of which collapses into chromatic jabs at a piano only to resolve in silence on "Sunken Treasure." Oodles of influences fill Wilco's collective mind, and they're perfectly content to pile the trace elements atop each other and make scrambled pop perfection. --Andrew Bartlett

The lows are low, but the highs are staggering:
This was a fairly staggering conception, warts and all, and it wouldn't be until the next release that Wilco truly become masters of the artform, but it's quite a worthy, powerful ride for what it is. The record, for the first place, should have been on one CD and trimmed a bit. There are some half-songs ("Red Eyed and Blue," "I've Got You," which while peppy has some pretty dumb lyrics, and "Kingpin") and it gets a bit mired in its own moroseness towards the end (though "(Was I) In Your Dreams," Why Would You Want to Live," and "The Lonely 1" are all lovely songs in their own respects, it's a bit punishing to have them back to back to back), but there are such dizzying moments of transcendence on this record that you can mostly forgive it for its faults. The two focal points of the record, "Misunderstood" and "Sunken Treasure," are powerful, emotionally geared epics that set the course for the whole record- themes of loss, betrayal, and distance. The whole record throbs with an organic closeness- the songs feel like they're no more than a few inches from reach. "Far Far Away" sounds like the band's encircling you in the studio, Jeff Tweedy in front of you strumming an aching melody. "Dreamer In My Dreams" is like a racous live take (hoe-down, even?), with some frenetic violin playing and an improvised feel with Tweedy's hoarse vocal. One could say the record throbs with pain, as well- the sonic equivalent of pain and trying to be ambivalent about it. It's the band's most intimate recorded performance, and though they will aim for and achieve higher, this will hold a special place in any fan's heart too.

Can't separate the prime from the padding:
Like most double albums, this epic of ambient roots-rock has difficulty justifying its own self conscious hyperperbole (beyond, of coarse, the common excuse of "We wrote alotta stuff"). Detail production aside, Wilco connect here only when they pick up their electric instruments and go for broke; "Outta Sight (Outta Mind)", "Monday", and "At the End of the Century" set ambitions aside by basking in their own revelry. Being There is, otherwise, too padded to function as a wholely satisfying listen. Opener "Misunderstood" does happen upon a nicely lilting melody, but the remaining down-tempo material ("Hotel in Arizona", "Sunken Treasure", etc.) sacrifices hooks for light experimentation or genre integrity.

awesome:
Jeff Tweedy's first post-Uncle Tupelo venture began as all-around underwhelming substitute for hungry, belt-buckled alt-country fans: Wilco's humble debut, the twang-heavy country-pop offering A.M., contained virtually no hints of the band's potential for subtle sound-sketching. It wasn't until 1996's double-disc, the 19-track Being There, that Tweedy and company began tapping into the skittish, textured atmospherics that would-- nearly six years later-- secure them a fixed spot in the American canon. Being There is a notoriously inconsistent effort. Deeply ambitious, its missteps (see the overstated, Stones-lite faux-boogie of "Monday") were ultimately incapable of sullying the transcendence of its epic successes. Among those, opener "Misunderstood" pit 60s psychedelia (pinging strings, studio fuzz and unexpected splats of sound) against a sweet, spare piano melody, while "The Lonely 1" cemented the band's ability to eschew sentimentality without sacrificing warmth. Being There was Wilco's original coming-of-age, an occasionally awkward, ultimately profound transformation into something altogether new and beautiful.

The Beginning:
Being a longtime fan of Wilco, I love introducing people to the group. While I was first introduced to 'AM', I think they really moved to another level with 'Being There'. The album foreshadows the directions that Wilco will take in the future, while still remaining attached to their progenitors, Uncle Tupelo. From the juxtaposition of the alt-country in 'Far Far Away' with the power pop of 'Monday' to the overwhealming saddness of 'Sunken Treasure' to the sheer joy that is evident in the rousing 'Dreamer in My Dreams', Wilco is found noodling around with many different ideas. Try to name a recent album that brings to mind everything from the Beatles to the Beach Boys (yes, the Beach Boys! Listen to the harmonies on Outta Mind, Outta Sight!) 'Being There' shows the band trying on so many different styles, experimenting with so many different paths to follow that this becomes a must for anyone attempting to follow the band's rise.

Brilliant- an amazing effort:
This CD is just stupendous. Its awe inspiring almost. The 2nd CD by this amazing Chicago-based band leaves a fresh taste in your mouth. The CD manages to avoid the problem that many artists have of having all the songs sound the same. "Being There" has many different sounds to their songs, from the sweet country feel of "far, far away" to the almost Weezer-ish sound of "outta mind(outta site)"- all of which are driven by their impressive lyrics. If you like any of Wilco's other work, or if you appreciate good lyrics or slow mesmorizing melodies, you must buy this CD.

• Misunderstood
• Far, Far Away
• Monday
• Outtasite (Outta Mind)
• Forget the Flowers
• Red-Eyed and Blue
• I Got You (At the End of the Century)
• What's the World Got in Store
• Hotel Arizona
• Say You Miss Me
• Sunken Treasure
• Someday Soon
• Outta Mind (Outta Sight)
• Someone Else's Song
• Kingpin
• (Was I) In Your Dreams
• Why Would You Wanna Live
• Lonely 1
• Dreamer in My Dreams