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EDIT INFOUncle Tupelo - Anodyne
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Album Details
- Artist: Uncle Tupelo
- Album: Anodyne
- Label: Sire / Reprise
- Year of Release: 1993
- ME Rating: Indie Classic
- Reviewed by: dscanland on 2007-09-19
RecommendI don't think enough can be said about Uncle Tupelo and the influence they had on not just alt.country or No Depression music but indie music in general. Well the Jeff Tweedy / Jay Farrar partnership was just too good to keep going much longer than this. Anodyne was three things for Uncle Tupelo': their major label debut, their final album as Uncle Tupelo and arguably their best album. Don't get me wrong, earlier Tupelo albums were brilliant in their own right but it just seemed like Tweedy and Farrar really gelled as collaborative songwriters on Anodyne. The addition of John Stirratt, Ken Coomer and Max Johnston really helped as well, musicians that Tweedy would take with him to form Wilco.
One of the biggest highlights of Anodyne was rowdy "Give Back The Key To My Heart" with legendary Doug Sahm guesting. But my favorite is the Tweedy led "The Long Cut", a sampling of what he had up his sleeve for Wilco's debut.
Even on my least favorite, the laid back title track has charming merits even if it does come off a little repetitive. And then one of the more charming songs is the oft-forgotten "Fifteen Keys". I also like the Tweedy-led "No Sense In Lovin". And one of the best songs is left for last, Farrar's "Steal The Crumbs" just seems to encapsulate everything that Uncle Tupelo is about.
I can't think of a better road-trip album than Anodyne. Uncle Tupelo's legacy will always live on in this album.
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on 2012-01-03 CharlesMartel Said:
It takes either guts or stupidity to entitle an album " Anodyne " just in case it reminds everyone of what the album is. Jeff Tweedy, before he became the leading light in Wilco, was the leading light in Uncle Tupelo, and "Anodyne " was the band's final release before they split the following year. Now I have little abiding love for Wilco, not because they are not good as musicians but because I found them erratic and sometimes uninspiring. Now I know where they got it from. And it is no less frustrating the first time round than it is the second.
" Anodyne" is, thankfully, not an anodyne album. But it is erratic. That may have something to do with the fact that songs by Jeff Tweedy get a greater prominence than those by Jay Farrar. This is a problem because I find the Farrar songs better and think that Tweedy has less to say, and says what he says less well. He tries too hard and the result is that some of the songs can be disappointing. Especially as Farrar's voice on the album is less than impressive. Songs like "New Madrid" try hard to reach some level of poetry and imagination but fall flat. " Chickamauga" and " We've Been Had" are the two songs on the album which really stand out but even these have their faults.
At times, it sounds as if Uncle Tupelo want to be someone they are not. REM springs to mind as a band Uncle Tupelo would wish to aspire to, but there is something more to it than that. I detect a bit of Neil Young in the guitar work as well, but the influences are not overpowering enough to detract from the album. This is what is so frustrating about " Anodyne " for whenever I listen to it I always think that it could have been so much more than it actually is. At times there is some great pop there, and yet at others, which miss the mark by some degree.
The album has the feel of a final album about it, and perhaps the band knew this as they were making it. For the band who began the entire alt. country rock phenomenon this album is a surprisingly unsatisfying album on which they would end their career. I sometimes wish I could like this more than I do, but every time I try I am drawn more to the albums faults than its virtues.
Rating: 6/10
