felt like we needed the other side of the coin.
with all the mentions of wilco on the “most overrated” post, i’d have to add another former uncle tupelo member to this one; jay farrar.
wilco is good, but farrar and son volt are absolutely amazing. “trace” and “straightaways” are classics, just heartbreakingly beautiful rock. not the overblown, overwrought, maudlin-ass crap that’s popular these days, but the kind of music rock was SUPPOSED to be. i think the country leanings kind of turn people off, but if you take time to really absorb the music, you’ll understand.
the afghan whigs (sadly now defunct) are/were also tragically underrated. they were always the critical darlings, but never got much radio play. it’s weird, too, because they seemed pretty accessible to me. greg dulli is a master of shaping guilt into art. at their best, the whigs made you feel dirty, depraved, but strangely proud of it. get “black love” and “gentlemen.” hell, get all their shit, you won’t be disappointed. as a side note, these guys did the best covers. i usually hate covers, especially as lead-off singles. it’s just a lazy practice. but the whigs changed the music so much, and injected so much sleaziness into the songs, they were basically unrecognizable. check out their cover of tlc’s “creep.”