Roger Wilco

Wilco
Album: Sky Blue Sky
Song: Side With The Seeds

There are bands, and there are guitarists.  Most bands suck, and most guitarists suck.  Some bands don't suck, but their guitarists suck.  Some bands suck, but their guitarists don't suck.

And then there's Wilco and Nels Cline.

I revisit Wilco's music regularly, mostly because I greatly admire the songwriting abilities of lead singer and guitarist, Jeff Tweedy.  Tweedy's interesting musical and lyrical perspective helped Wilco stand apart from its alt-country peers over the last decade: he could turn a sweet phrase, and under his artistic influence the band was willing to explore atypical musical territory.  Elements of jazz, hard rock, and experimental music found their way into the music.  But even given all of these attributes, it wasn't until the band added lead guitarist Nels Cline on its sixth studio album, Sky Blue Sky, that it reached its artistic potential.

There's nothing worse than a musician more interested in masturbatory excess than in meeting the needs of the song.  I've always admired Charlie Watts (Rolling Stones drummer), for example, for his tasteful work.  You rarely notice him, but his playing always complements the music beautifully.  On the other hand, if you've ever had the misfortune of listening to Paginini's Violin Concerto, I feel your pain.  Ridiculous double and triple stops, crazy arpeggiated motives, blindingly fast 16th note sections: it's one long finger exercise masquerading as music.  It's what makes watching American or Canadian Idol so annoying, so often: singers who believe that artistry is akin to Celine Dion-style riffing in three octaves on a simple melody.  Give me Sarah Harmer, give me someone who actually tries to connect to a song in a meaningful way, any day of the week.  (By the way, I'm completely psyched that Harmer is going to be performing at the Regina Folk Festival this year!)

My poster boy for shitty guitar wankery is Yngwie Malmsteen, considered by some the greatest guitarist alive.  And it's true, his technique is unrivaled.  Watch this:



Pretty amazing stuff, eh? Too bad the entire song exists only to give Malmsteen the opportunity to demonstrate his technical proficiency.

Now watch our song of the day, and notice in particular the way that Nels Cline's solo provides emotional depth and textural and rhythmic definition. There's no way in hell that he could match licks with dear Yngwie, but he's got more musical talent in his guitar pick than Malmsteen has in his entire, ummm, body. Excuse the dumb metaphor.