I love gimmicks. I love novelties. I love when a "serious" singer finds a way to lighten the load and have some fun. I love when a band can break out of their expectant role and do something weird. Whether it's the Cure deciding to write little pop ditties, Metallica deciding to be a Misfits cover band, or Henry Rollins deciding to be a stand-up comedian, I like it when they take a chance.
Billy Bragg is one of those commie-pinko singer-songwriters who can sing "I've got a socialism of the heart" and make it sound both sincere and catchy. In one sense it was only natural that he take the unrecorded songs of Woody Guthrie --another ol' time commie-pinko (in the best sense of the slur)--and put them to music. Wilco, being an alt-country band looking to prove its Americana mettle, signed on as well, and the first volume had critics salivating like you'd just said 'Harry Smith's Smithsonian Folkways Anthology' 10 times fast.
Now it's round two. Wilco emulate Tom Petty ("Airline to Heaven") and the Byrds (in the surprisingly powerpop "Secret of the Sea"), and succeed best on moody pieces ("Remember The Mountain Bed," "Someday Some Morning Sometime"). Bragg sings the less melodically interesting tunes and Natalie Merchant sounds like she's ready to record an album of her own mountain ballads. Allegedly, Guthrie left behind hundreds of these unfinished tunes. Only a matter of time then before Volume Three.
All recordings courtesy of Elektra Records. ΓÇ£All You FascistsΓÇ¥ and ΓÇ£My Flying SaucerΓÇ¥ written by S. W. Bragg, W. Guthrie; courtesy of BMG Songs, Inc. (ASCAP)/Woody Guthrie Publications (BMI). ΓÇ£Secret Of The SeaΓÇ¥ written by W. Guthrie, J. Bennett, J. Tweedy; courtesy of Woody Guthrie Publications (BMI)/2000 Titanic Majesties Music (ASCAP), administered by Bug/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp./Words Ampersand Music (BMI).
