Kicking Television - Live In Chicago

A grand statement of pure artistry...

Wilco may just be my favorite band of all time. When they are good, they barely have equals. This album gives me a chance to add some songs to my Wilco collection that have a slightly different feel to them than they do on the albums. It's nice to get the different takes on them. Even though I think that I may have too many live Wilco songs at this point, can you really have enough versions of their best songs? The quality of the recording is a little weak, but still better than a lot of live recordings. But by far my biggest gripe with this album, and parts of a lot of their songs, is the annoying blend of brilliance mixed with feedback and painfully bad playing on purpose. I've always hated that tendency in some of their songs. It's what a lot of people, like Rolling Stone, have attributed to their briliance, but it's not. It's all of their actually vocal and instrumental skills. What is the purpose of playing off key and throwing in so much distortion/feedback? Parts like the last 2 minutes of Poor Places sound like five 9 year-olds playing instruments they were just given. It's just too much needless noise. I'm not impressed by the hoity toity "sonic landscape" that psuedo-intellectuals like to praise when they say they like Wilco. I like Tweedy's voice, I like Nels when he's playing in control. I like the way the band gels. I like when they play straight up rock and/or folk. This "sonic landscape" stuff is repsonsible for the demotion of so many Wilco songs by at least 1 full star rating in a lot of cases. On this album, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart suffers the worst from this. It would be a much better song without all the extra distortion. It should be called "I Am Trying to Impress WIth Feedback." It's a 4 star song without it and a 2 star song with it. Another sad victim of this was Radio Cure. They just stripped away all that was good about that song. Spiders is a total waste of 11 minutes and Comment sounds like a background song being played while a televangelist heals the sick. The ratings are still pretty solid - though weaker overall than your average Wilco studio album. There's no 5 star songs, six 4 star songs, ten 3 star songs, three 2 star songs and 5 throwaways.

Such a true representation of the band. I feel fortunate that this is a hometown band for me. For all of you that have this, check out the vinyl remastered edition. Like always, they throw a little extra in, and its always great. For those of you looking for a great live band, look no further.

It's not often that a band as acomplished as Wilco is in the studio is able to translate that to a live setting. With this recording, Wilco has gone beyond that and played the songs with more emotion as well as the precision that skilled musicians are able to hone in a studio environment. The recording is a perfect blend of the bands first seven CDs as well as the two Woody Gutherie CDs. If you are a Wiclo fan this is a must own. If you are new to the band this is an excellent compilation of some of their best material. Standouts include Misunderstood, Jesus Etc, I'm the Man who Loves You and Spiders (Kidsmoke) though in all fairness there isn't a bad song or performance in the bunch. This is even more amazing given that this was recorded in a single run in the bands home town of Chicago.  Wilco is a great live band and has been through all it's iterations.Downlaod this recording without hesitation. 

I'm a Wilco fan, but it's actually a great introduction to the band. The recording is intimate and clear, and these are innovative interpretations of many, many classic Wilco songs. One of the best live recordings I've ever heard, hands down.

Who doesn't want to relive a live show from an awesome band? These guys rock as hard as anything out there. Do yourself a favor and pick it up - if you've not heard of Wilco, let this be an introduction, you'll be buying tickets for their next tour. Rock 'n' roll.

Over the course of a bands life there are low points and high points. Wilco are a band that found thier genius in the ashes of the road, shredded relationships, addiction and record company ineptitude. While Wilco have made good records there was always a feeling of the air being sucked out of the room. On this brilliant live album Wilco captured the energy, thrilling risk taking, and bruised beauty of Jeff Tweedy's songwriting. For those not sure where to start with Wilco I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU START HERE. It will all make sense once your ears feast on this most beautiful of American bands. Wilco is your friend. Lord knows we could all use more friends. Especially ones like this.

a little uninspired, especially jeff's vocals at times, but with nels cline on board along with new keyboardist mikael jorgensen and multi-instrumentalist pat sansone adding multilayered harmonies and textures to the mix, wilco sounds re-energized and up to the task of rethinking 24 songs from their legendary catalog. kicking television is done awesomely and a great atmosphere is put into songs like company in my back and poor places. songs like spiders (kidsmoke) and muzzle of bees sound much better here than in studio form. add in some awesome guitar solos and a little humorous commentary and you've got a classic live record that you'll want to listen to many many times. obviously essential long live wilco

This is basically all of Wilco's best songs played LIVE... best album ever by Wilco

I used to hate/loath live albums. Do they really have a point? They seem to be just released as part of fulillment of record contract. I have since grown wiser and realize their importance. This album displays as Jeff Tweedy has said, the bands best line up. The second disc is one of the most important hour of music ever recorded. The version of "Via Chicago" that appears on this album is truly one of a kind (I have seen Wilco and neither times was that track faithfully reproduced as it sounds on this album, but that might be a good thing) showing how they still can show their "alt-country" roots and mix it with noise experiments. If you've never bought a wilco album this is not a bad starting place. Other track that stand out are "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" "Misunderstood" "Wishful Thinking" and the oh so quiet, even near ambient "Muzzle of Bees". Wilco is important in reviving Americana-style music. I have a feeling their albums will be listened to for many years!