Album Reviews: Jeff Tweedy “Showbiz Kids Soundtrack” / “Love is The King”
The hardest working musician during quarantine is easily Jeff Tweedy. Hands down! This was supposed to be the year that his band Wilco toured with Sleater-Kinney (how cool would that show been?) in support of last year’s excellent Wilco album Ode to Joy (read my review here). With all music tours and music venues on lockdown, that tour didn’t happen. But since April, Tweedy has been recording at his loft in Chicago with his sons Spencer and Sammy. In addition to Tweedy’s new book How to Write One Song being released this month, and a reissue of Wilco’s 1999 album Summerteeth in November, he has found time to release two albums, a soundtrack score and a solo album! I was lucky enough to review both this week.
Showbiz Kids soundtrack
album cover
Tweedy has composed several film scores, going back to Ethan Hawke’s directorial debut Chelsea Walls. For the HBO documentary film about children in show biz directed by Alex Winter, Tweedy enlisted his sons Spencer and Sammy. Back in 2008, I saw Wilco open for Neil Young at Madison Square Garden in NYC and Tweedy brought Spencer out to play drums on a song. he was only like a tween at the time and now he’s grown up - crazy! In 2014, Jeff brought Spencer in for his side project Tweedy (their song “Summer Noon” was my #9 Song of 2014).
I have not seen the doc Showbiz Kids yet, therefore I was listening to this soundtrack as its own stand-alone piece and not in relation to how it supported the subject. The soundtrack kicks off with Jeff’s song “At a Distance” and then the rest of the album is atmospheric instrumentals. Most of these tracks are very short (under 2 minutes). It doesn’t sound exactly like Wilco, but it definitely falls in with the band’s alt-country sound. It’s good instrumental music to put on in the background for sure!
For info on Showbiz Kids soundtrack: https://lnk.to/showbizkids
3.5 out of 5 stars
Spencer, Sammy and Jeff Tweedy
Love is the King
album cover
Jeff Tweedy’s new solo album will be released digitally on dBpm on Friday Oct. 23 (CD and vinyl will be released January 15, 2021). Whether it’s Wilco, solo, soundtrack or otherwise, it is always distinctly Jeff Tweedy and his sound. This album is a celebration of love. The recording (even as I listened to the stream on a laptop) is just out and out beautiful and hypnotic. This is an album that you really discover more and more each time you listen to it.
The thing that separates this from Wilco is it’s a lot more minimalist than the full band. All of the songs on this album are Jeff singing and playing with backing by his sons. Last year’s Wilco album Ode to Joy was a serious return to form for the band, their best album since Yankee Hotel Foxtrot IMHO. Now at age 53, Jeff Tweedy is entering a highly creative and prolific period as an artist! This album is an incredibly intimate singer-songwriter album that wouldn’t be out of place in the 70s, but takes on new meaning in the COVID era of the need for love even in the toughest of times. Case in point is the opening title track, in which he sings “Life isn’t fair / Love is the King”. Thank God for artists like Tweedy who are here during tough times!
For info on Love is the King: https://wilcoworld.net/love-is-the-king/
4 out of 5 stars
