Usuario:Billyrobshaw/taller
El título del álbum fue un guiño a las emisoras de radio Top 40 y las canciones tienen un sonido country rock directo.[1] Los miembros de la banda intentaban establecerse más allá del fanbase de Uncle Tupelo. Sin embargo, Tweedy luego dijo que "intentaban mantener un público
later stated that in actuality, they were "trying to tread some water with a perceived audience."[2] Tweedy wrote a song about the Uncle Tupelo breakup, but decided that he didn't want any material on that subject matter to appear on the album.[3] (It can be argued, however, that first single "Box Full of Letters", as well as "Too Far Apart" allude to the dissolution of Farrar and Tweedy's friendship and working relationship.) Critic and author Greg Kot wrote in Wilco: Learning How to Die that "Tweedy's voice and personality are as modest as the arrangements; there's little sense of drama, and virtually no hint of risk. Tweedy attributes some of the straightforwardness of the album to his abuse of marijuana at the time. Shortly after the album, Tweedy stopped smoking pot, to which he credits the introspectiveness of further albums.[4]
While Wilco was recording tracks, Jay Farrar formed a band of his own, Son Volt.[5] Son Volt signed to Warner Bros. Records and began recording their first album (also produced by Paulson), Trace, in November 1994. The fact that both Wilco and Son Volt began working on album almost immediately after the Uncle Tupelo breakup caused debate among critics, fans, and Warner Brothers about which would be the better band.[6] Joe McEwen, who originally signed Uncle Tupelo to a Warner subsidiary, felt that Wilco was taking a step backwards from the material on Anodyne. McEwen urged Richard Dodd, who had recently mixed Tom Petty's Wildflowers, to remix the album. Dodd emphasized Tweedy's vocals to increase the chances of success on radio.[7]
Wilco began touring before the album was released. Their live debut was on November 27, 1994 at Cicero's Basement Bar in St. Louis, a venue where Uncle Tupelo had first received significant media attention. The band was billed for that concert as Black Shampoo, a reference to a 1970s B-movie, and the show sold out. Wilco continued to tour for two hundred shows, culminating in show at the South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, Texas in March 1995.[8] A.M. was released on Reprise Records on March 28, 1995.
Commercial and critical reception
editar| Calificaciones | |
|---|---|
| Fuente | Calificación |
| AllMusic | |
| Chicago Tribune | |
| Christgau's Consumer Guide | {{Rating-Christgau|hm3}}[11] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+[12] |
| Rolling Stone | |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
A.M. received modest reviews from critics. Holly George-Warren of Rolling Stone called the album "one hell of a country-guts debut", praising the influence of Gram Parsons and Neil Young on the music. However, the album still received a moderate three-and-a-half star rating.[13] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic enjoyed "I Must Be High", noting that Wilco can "subvert the [alternative country] genre without losing its accessibility", but felt that the following songs were disappointing.[9] However, fellow Allmusic critic Matthew Greenwald found the album to be "brilliant and underrated."[15] Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave the album a three-star honorable mention, but called it "realist defiance grinding sadly down into realist bathos."[11] The Village Voice placed the album at position 34 on the 1995 Pazz & Jop critics poll.[16] The band was disappointed by the critical reception, since Trace was met with better reviews.[17][18] According to Henneman:[4]
The first Son Volt record was pretty fucking good. It was like watching a prize fight at that point. Wow! He slammed him there! Ouch! What a counterpunch! It was exciting being on the sidelines watching these guys. It's like Jay had something to prove with that first album, an urgency to it that none of his albums since have had. I felt he had a chip on his shoulder, and it shows up in the music. It was stunning. It was humbling. I think that kicked Jeff in the ass.
A.M. only hit number 27 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart, whereas Trace peaked at number 116 on the Billboard 200; by 1997, Trace had outsold A.M. two-to-one.[1][19][20] Wilco released "Box Full of Letters" as a single, but it received little airplay. For the only time in Wilco's career, ticket sales failed to meet expectations.[17] As of 2003, the album had sold about 150,000 copies.[21]
- ↑ a b Fricke, David (20 de marzo de 1997). «Not Just a Country Rock Band» (en inglés). Rolling Stone.
- ↑ Cameron, Keith (May 1997). «Last Twang in Town». Vox.
- ↑ Sheridan, Phil (February 1995). «Roger, Wilco». Magnet.
- ↑ a b Kot 2004. p. 96
- ↑ The band was briefly known as Grain before Trace was completed.
- ↑ Kot 2004. p. 90
- ↑ Kot 2004. p. 93
- ↑ Lanham, Tom (January 1997). «Being and Nothingness». CMJ New Music Monthly.
- ↑ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. «A.M. – Wilco». AllMusic. Consultado el August 10, 2016.
- ↑ Kot, Greg (April 27, 1995). «Feels Right». Chicago Tribune. Consultado el August 10, 2016.
- ↑ a b Christgau, Robert (2000). «Wilco: A.M.». Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-24560-2. Consultado el August 10, 2016.
- ↑ Scherman, Tony (April 7, 1995). «A.M.». Entertainment Weekly. Consultado el August 10, 2016.
- ↑ a b George-Warren, Holly (April 6, 1995). «A.M.». Rolling Stone. Consultado el August 10, 2016.
- ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. pp. 873-74. ISBN 0-743-20169-8.
- ↑ Greenwald, Matthew. «"Too Far Apart" (review)». Allmusic. Last accessed July 17, 2007.
- ↑ «The 1995 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll». The Village Voice. Last accessed July 9, 2007.
- ↑ a b Kot 2004. p. 97
- ↑ Byrne, Richard (September 20, 1995). «Here Comes the Son». Riverfront Times.
- ↑ «Heatseekers». Billboard. 15 de abril de 1995.
- ↑ «The Billboard 200». Billboard. October 7, 1995.
- ↑ Kot 2004. p. 125