Strat wrote:Kevin Davis wrote:I like all of their albums. "YHF" and "Ghost" are my favorites and after that I find them pretty impossible to rank-- they're all varying shades of good, some marginally stronger than others but in my mind they don't fall that way. The early albums have a joie-de-vivre to them that is gradually turns to wisdom as the catalog evolves, but I don't think any of that is necessarily tied to Jay Bennett, and I think that people who think that the many rote rockers on their first few albums are inherently superior to the rote rockers on their later albums are kidding themselves.
i dont know if they are "better" or not, but i certainly like a majority of them a lot more.
AM through A Ghost is Born is all top notch. I actually enjoy Tweedy's lead guitar playing more than anyone else who has rolled through the group. Thats why I love a ghost is born. Dirty madness.
Agreed on Jeff's guitar playing; I really love it. Spiders live is a treasure.
As for their records, for me I'd say Summerteeth through A Ghost is Born is the high point, but I certainly disagree with the (what seems to be) common viewpoint that they kind of fell off a cliff to a degree afterwards. They've been consistently making really good work since the mid-90s, I'd say. Only the S/T record leaves me a bit cold, and that still has some of their best songs on it, IMO.
I really like the last two albums, and along with the Tweedy record, definitely feel of a piece. They feel the closest to Neil Young records that Tweedy has ever done, not necessarily in terms of sound, but more that the record is meant to be a snapshot of a moment in time for the group rather than a self-concisious attempt at a Great Album. As I get older, I love those types of records more and more.
