It's hard for me to see how one little boy got so ugly

Continuing my journey across the output of The Bard Of Barking...

Mermaid Avenue (with Wilco) (1998)

This album involves Billy and Wilco setting some of Woody Guthrie's lyrics to music and there's a lot of love out there for this - but when I listened to it, I just found it a bit boring and stompy. I'm hoping a second listen will show me I was quite wrong to dismiss it so.

1. Walt Whitman's Niece
Well - I hate to say it, but it's a bit boring and stompy.

2. California Stars
Well, this is more like it - it has a nice drawl to it.

3. Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key
I know this one because he often plays it live - and I like it. I'd forgotten that Natalie Merchant (who may well be the next artist I do an album walkthrough for) sings backing vocals on it though.

4. Ships And Birds
And she's front and centre on this one - it's another nice little melody.

5. Hoodoo Voodoo
We're back to boring and stompy, I'm afraid.

6. She Came Along To Me
I didn't mind this one without loving it - the tune really reminded me of Billy's "The Boy Done Good".

7. At My Window Sad And Lonely
This is OK I guess, but it feels a bit of a mess - I think what we're seeing here is I'm really not a fan of Wilco.

8. Ingrid Bergman
I thought Woody Guthrie was supposed to be a decent lyricist - you'd never guess it from this one.

9. Christ For President
Nope - boring and stompy.

10.  I Guess I Planted
This sounds like classic mid-period Billy - it could quite easily have been a track on William Bloke. It's OK, but pretty forgettable.

11. One By One
This is another Wilco offering, but I actually quite like it because it's got a mid-period R.E.M. feel to it - Michael Stipe would have done a good job with quite a few of these tracks.

12. Eisler On The Go
A nice enough tune, but a bit too much repetition for me. It did give me the opportunity to learn about Hanns Eisler though - he was deported from both Germany and the US in his life due to his communist sympathies.

13. Hesitating Beauty
Another Wilco offering that I didn't mind - it trundles along nicely.

14. Another Man's Done Gone
This is a bit too drawn out for me - I can't accuse it of being stompy though.

15. The Unwelcome Guest
And closing up with a Billy track - I thought this one was OK, but nothing more than that.

Overall, there was more variety on this album than I was expecting, so I have to admit it wasn't all boring and stompy - but I don't think I'd describe it as great. Picking tracks for the playlist, then I have to consider it's a Billy playlist so I'm only going to add "Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key" - I also liked "Ships And Birds" and "One By One" but their Billy content was somewhat lacking.

Wikipedia has, for a change, an interesting entry - Billy was approached by Woody Guthrie's daughter, Nora to set some of his lyrics (of which there were over a thousand sets) to music and Billy then approached Wilco to get involved. Apparently, a long time ago Woody asked Bob Dylan to approach his wife Margie to let him do something similar and Bob made the trip to set things in motion. But, when he got to the house, Margie was out so Bob went away and never came back - so that was that! Billy and Wilco's version was well received critically though (including a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Folk Album) and commercially, getting to #90 in the US. 

However, for once(!) Wikipedia doesn't have the full story because disappointingly, it no longer gives any details of the massive disagreements that Billy and Wilco during the recording of the album. There are plenty of other articles that give more information, but it wasn't the happiest of times for anyone and there was no supporting tour. They do seem to have made up now though, which is possibly why the Wikipedia entry is a lot duller than it used to be.

"Customers also listened to" Uncle Tupelo, Golden Smog, Son Volt and The Jayhawks - I can tell you nothing about any of them, but there are some fine names there! I enjoyed bits of this album but I still struggle to understand why anyone who isn't a massive Woody who care about this in the slightest because it's not a Billy album or a Wilco album and there's a good argument that the best track is actually by Natalie Merchant - it's a nice idea, but I'm not convinced by the execution.

William Bloke - better than I was expecting
Mermaid Avenue II - not good