Billy Bragg And Wilco
Mermaid Avenue Vol. II
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Billy Bragg
Mermaid Avenue Vol. II
Elektra, 2000
RiYL: Wilco, Woody Guthrie, Billy Bragg |
Anyway, it appears that Hollywood has invaded the music business because Wilco and Billy Bragg decided that one go-round of their critically-acclaimed, Grammy-nominated Mermaid Avenue wasn't enough. So a mere two years later, the guys came back together to deliver its sequel, appropriately titled Mermaid Avenue, Vol. II. And like most sequels, save "Superman II" and "Empire Strikes Back," this latest version of archived Woody Guthrie lyrics set to modern music doesn't quite match the intensity and uniqueness of its predecessor.
Of course, that's not to say Vol. II is a bad, or even mediocre record. In fact, far from it. Vol. II has a rawer, looser feel than the first installment. Some of the best songs are better than anything on Vol. 1. But the problem is that it doesn't have the same chemistry and cohesiveness that its earlier incarnation. The songs are much more of a hodgepodge, both musically and lyrically, and that tends to take away the focus from Guthrie -- who wrote most of these words lying in his deathbed in Brooklyn -- and on the music. And seeing how Guthrie was never one for slick production and carefully choreographed choruses, Vol. II appears much more as a showcase for Wilco and Bragg than any type of tribute to the man who wrote the lyrics.
That said, most of the songs are damn good. Vol. II begins with the rollicking, hillbilly number "Airline To Heaven." The track, penned by Wilco, seems a little out of place at first, mainly because it sounds more like an out-take from the first Traveling Wilburies album. But once you get over Wilco frontman doing his best Tom Petty impression, the tune is pretty durned catchy.
Other highlights include the darkly perverse, but subtly hilarious "Hot Rod Hotel," about a bellhop who gets canned after refusing to clean up after an orgy, the political endorsement of "Stetson Kennedy," and the bluesy rave up "Against Th' Law," the catchiest number on the album, written by Bragg but sung by Charlottesville, VA, native Corey Harris. Natalie Merchant returns from her brief appearance in Vol. I and churns out the hokey lullaby "I Was Born."
Bragg's influence on Vol. II is not are far-reaching as it was on the first version, though. And maybe the biggest difference between Vol. I and II is the role Wilco plays on each record. Vol. I was much more Bragg's baby, and the British songwriter controlled the pace and tempo of the record. However, Vol. II contains some of Wilco's best work to date, and their touch is felt throughout the album.
The centerpiece of the album, "Do You Remember The Mountain Bed," is a nearly seven-minute epic worthy of such renowned balladers as Ian Hunter and Bob Dylan. Tweedy himself could never write lyrics for a song that long on his own, and his songs that are that long are generally neatly packaged around feedback and distorted guitars. However, on "Mountain Bed," Tweedy and Guthrie both struck a chord:
I learned the reason why man must work and how to dream big dreams / To conquer time and space and fight the rivers and the seas / I stand here filled with my emptiness now and look at the city and land / And I know why farms and cities are built by hot, warm, nervous hands.
Interestingly, for a band like Wilco -- which has been running from its alt.country past faster than Metallica from Napster -- Vol. II is truly a return to form. A modern folk record of there ever was one, Vol. II is more of a catharsis for Jeff Tweedy and company than it is for Guthrie.
But Bragg is still in the director's chair, as he does check in with the most songs and gets, again, to write the liner notes. And while Vol. II lacks the same spirit and substance of its pre-quel, it's still a damn good record.
RODEO ROB | An expert on all things "alt," Rob spends his days covering the energy industry and his nights covering the DC-area bars. Raise yer glass especially high to this man, for he has contributed to this site constantly since its creation four years ago.