Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne
After Rockville Records refused (again) to pay Uncle Tupelo any royalties for records sold, despite the popularity of March 16-20, 1992 and the two albums that preceded it, Uncle Tupelo began shopping around for a new record label. Gary Louris (singer for another midwest Alt-Country act, The Jayhawks) arranged a meeting between Uncle Tupelo and a talent scout for Sire Records, who was so taken with the band he signed them immediately.
The band snuck out of their contract with Rockville Records and agreed to a two album deal with Sire, which gave them a $150,000 budget for the first album. During these proceedings, drummer Mike Heidorn finally parted ways with the band (he had been talking about leaving to focus on his family since the Still Feel Gone days.) Ken Coomer was hired as his replacement, and the band also added two other new members. Multi-instrumentalist Max Johnston and bassist John Stirratt were added to expand the sound of the band, and, in the case of Stirratt, allow Jeff Tweedy to move permanently to guitar.
It was during this era that Jeff Tweedy really started to come into his own as a songwriter, and in fact shared about half of the songwriting credits for the album. Being very comfortable with the new members of the band, he would experiment song ideas with them, which may have been the seed for Jay Farrar's feelings that Tweedy's ego was starting to get out of control, and that he may have in fact been trying to take over control of the band. (My personal belief after watching Tweedy's musical career over the last decade and a half is that Farrar was dead on, and that Jeff Tweedy is a total control freak, and would never be happy in a band where he was sharing the spotlight.)
Anodyne was recorded in about two weeks in the late spring of 1993, each song recorded live with only one take. The band claims this was to showcase the fantastic live sound they had, though obvious personal tensions within the band tell another story.
Following the release of the album, and subsequent promotional touring, Jay Farrar eventually ended up quitting Uncle Tupelo, which ultimately signaled the end of the band in that incarnation. Koomer, Johnston, and Stirrat would join Jeff Tweedy in Wilco, and Jay Farrar would recruit Mike Heidorn and two childhood friends to form Son Volt.
Despite the tensions within the band during this era, Anodyne is a cohesive album that succinctly summarizes the Uncle Tupelo sound. Heavily influenced by '50's and '60's country music (the title track, "No Sense In Lovin'") as well as contemporary rock ("Long Cut," "We've Been Had"), it is an incredibly listenable musical experience. Lyrically, the band was taking a close look at their (still short) journey to where they were. Farrar's opening track, "Slate," sings the melancholy otherside of the indie circuit (that is so often romanticized.) "We've Been Had" is an intentional jab at underground bands capitalizing in the mainstream (Nirvana and Pearl Jam immediately come to mind.)
The prospect of mainstream success (and the modes of pursuit thereof) will be how history denotes the differences between the two bands that it splintered into, but during its tenure, Uncle Tupelo represented a unified balance between great songwriting, fantastic musicianship, traditional Americana, and underground rock. Myriad imitators later, it is clear that the vision (and true collaboration) of these two childhood friends spoke to many, many people.
Anodyne - 8 out of 10
The first video here is Jay Farrar performing "Slate" recently with Son Volt, and the second is Wilco playing "The Long Cut" in the late '90's.
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