The MG Album Club #40: Billy Bragg and Wilco - Mermaid Avenue

[Old Uncle Toe]

Billy Bragg And Wilco - Mermaid Avenue



Sorry that this is a bit tardy. It's been some busy weeks at Casa del Toe. However, the benefit is that I didn't try to be so dancing eclectic. I have a feeling most of us have run across this album once in our lifetimes.

If you haven't, the story is that Woody Guthrie's daughter contacted these two bands and asked them to write music for some of her father's left-behind lyrics. (Again, if you're unfamiliar, those left-behinds number in the thousands and are inscribed in everything from proper notebooks to table napkins.)

Natalie Merchant sings along for a couple of songs, adding a voice that seems just right for the content.

I like Wilco a bit. I'm not a giant Billy Bragg fan. The point is that I'm not a regular listener of either, nor of Woody Guthrie for that matter. But I've listened to this album countless times and enjoyed it. I think it's the meeting in the middle of Guthrie and those bands that make it work for me.

My parents were big into folk singing. In the '60's, cocktail parties tended to become hootenannies in our house. So there's surely some nostalgia involved. But again, the songs being modernized a little makes them that much more accessible to me.

It may be a bit too plain or too slow for some listeners. I'm not offended if you don't make it through the album. Try to listen to tracks 2, 3 and 4 as they're my favorite. Then go back to your regular programming.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Very, very enjoyable. I already had this as MP3s, but I listened to it the first time in lossless and the sound quality is awesome. I swear, sometime around 2000-2003 the quality of most new albums was degraded (loudness wars, maybe something else).

The music is excellent. Kind of countryish, kind of folkish, but not really, in the British way.

 

[Nickyboy]

I recall this album got a lot of play back in the old Lala days, but I never gave it a spin. I like a lot of Billy Bragg's tunes, but only enjoyed Wilco's "Summer Teeth" album. Everyone raved about "Yankee Banana Hotel Oscar Foxtrot November Zulu" but I gave it a few spins and traded it right back out. I think that might be what kept me from listening to this one. I must have figured "everyone raves about this, but they are the same people who raved about "Taco Peter Yak Bicycle" so I think I will pass".
Well, sometimes the hive mind is correct. I am glad OUT posted this one. Like RickB said, it's a hybrid of styles with a European accent and I must say, I should have listened to this a while back.

 

[axolotl]

I loved this BITD, and I discovered that I still do.

It was the sequel (BB&W Mermaid Avenue #2) that I traded out, since it was inconsistent and did not meet the high standard of this one.

The amalgam of styles works for me. This one deserves its four stars.

 

[Ojai Sam]

This is an inspired pick, Toe.

Back when it came out, I was still firmly in the grip of the country side of alt country. Wilco's change of direction therefore didn't thrill me and I was clueless about Billy Bragg. So at the time, this record left me cold despite all the positive buzz.

Fast forward to now. From the moment I dropped the virtual needle on this one, I realized it was a work of genius. Singer and band matched the populist tone of these lost Woody Guthrie songs perfectly. I even ran out and bought the "Sessions" package.

Toe, big thanks for helping me to go back and recapture one of the many lost opportunities in my wasted life.

 

[Ojai Sam]