RIP Jay Bennett

[hugman]

http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/05/former-wilco-me.html

What a tragic tale is the life and early death of Jay Bennett (my spellcheck knows the correct spelling for Jay Bennett??).  For my money, all post-Bennett Wilco is mostly pretentious garbage.  As troubled as he was, it's pretty lame how they shit on him in I Am Trying To Break Your Heart.  Bennett's eccentricities were destructive and unmanageable but Tweedy's were/are adorable, I guess.   Maybe this goes in the two way ties for last thread.  But I do love the first three Wilco albums.

[fonpr]

http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/05/former-wilco-me.html

 But I do love the first three Wilco albums.

Seconded.  Hasten to point out though, he's not on the first record.

Brian Henneman of Bottle Rockets (fame?) takes care of the lead playing as I recall.

Sad about Jay though.

[bachwards]

http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/05/former-wilco-me.html

What a tragic tale is the life and early death of Jay Bennett (my spellcheck knows the correct spelling for Jay Bennett??).  For my money, all post-Bennett Wilco is mostly pretentious garbage.  As troubled as he was, it's pretty lame how they shit on him in I Am Trying To Break Your Heart.  Bennett's eccentricities were destructive and unmanageable but Tweedy's were/are adorable, I guess.   Maybe this goes in the two way ties for last thread.  But I do love the first three Wilco albums.

Yeah I always appreciated how Tom kind of stuck up for him in the Wilco unfair record review.

[hugman]

http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/05/former-wilco-me.html

 But I do love the first three Wilco albums.

Seconded.  Hasten to point out though, he's not on the first record.

Brian Henneman of Bottle Rockets (fame?) takes care of the lead playing as I recall.

Sad about Jay though.

He doesn't play on it, but he was involved in the band even before that record was released (He gets a "very special thanks" in the liner notes. I have a tape of Jeff and Jay playing a bunch of songs from AM at McCabes from just before AM came out.

And I am a HUGE Bottle Rockets fan as well (although ever since Brian got sober [and freakishly skinny a la Robert William "Buck" Thornton] they've been on a downward slide).

[akaJudge]

you guys know which show had the Wilco unfair record review?  I'd like to listen to that one.

[bachwards]

you guys know which show had the Wilco unfair record review?  I'd like to listen to that one.

7/20/04.  Starts at about the 37 minute mark.

[akaJudge]

you guys know which show had the Wilco unfair record review?  I'd like to listen to that one.

7/20/04.  Starts at about the 37 minute mark.

My hero!  Thanks.

[daveB from Oakland]

Jay Bennett struck me as being very Phillip Seymour Hoffman-esque in "I am Trying to Break your Heart", both in his looks and his demeanor. Sort of a lovable loser type.

[Matt]

Not a fan, but best wishes to his family.

But seriously, it's a fact that Wilco would be nowhere near where they are now (both artistically and popularity-wise) without Jay Bennett. He was a supertalented guy and it's a shame he's gone.

[crumbum]

Not a fan, but best wishes to his family.

Nice -- you made me very angry there for a moment.

For me Summerteeth is definitely the band's finest moment, and I'm kind of ashamed to admit that until I started reading the obits today I didn't know what a big part Jay Bennett played in it.

[chrisfoll577]

I second everything hugman et al. have said.  Jay Bennett was and remains my favorite member of Wilco.  His contributions to summerteeth and yhf are basically what I love about Wilco and what separated them from the rest of the alt country genre.  

A ghost is born is a good album but everything they've done since has paled in comparison to what they put out when he was with the band (especially their most recent album, which I still believe is an unmitigated piece of garbage).  Nils Cline's 'shredding' is a pretty shitty replacement for Jay's stellar contributions.