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'''Anodyne''' the fourth and final studio album by alternative country band Uncle Tupelo. The album's recording was prefaced with the addition of three new members: bassist John Stirratt, drummer Ken Coomer, and multi-instrumentalist Max Johnston. The band signed with Sire Records shortly before recording the album; ''Anodyne'' was Uncle Tupelo's only major label release until '' in 2002.
Recorded in Austin, Texas, ''Anodyne'' featured a split in songwriting credits between singers Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy. The lyrical themes were influenced by country music and – more than their preceding releases – touched on interpersonal relationships. Tensions between Farrar and Tweedy led to the breakup of Uncle Tupelo shortly after the album's release, although only after two promotional tours for the album. Well-received upon its initial release, ''Anodyne'' was remastered and re-released in 2003 by Rhino Entertainment with five bonus tracks.

Contents

Context

Recording

Promotion and reception

Track listing

Personnel

Notes

References

External links

Context

Uncle Tupelo's third album, ''March 16-20, 1992'', was released though Rockville Records on August 3, 1992. On the release, the band had eschewed the growing popularity of alternative rock by playing acoustic folk and country songs "as a big 'fuck you' to the rock scene."^[1] Drummer Mike Heidorn had a reduced role on the album; because it was an acoustic album, Heidorn added only brush-stroke percussion on a few songs. Heidorn wanted to leave the band to spend more time with his family – his girlfriend was the mother of two children. After band manager Tony Margherita announced that several major labels were interested in signing Uncle Tupelo, Heidorn decided to leave the band for good.^[2]
Rockville Records refused to pay Uncle Tupelo any royalties, even though ''No Depression'' and ''Still Feel Gone'' had sold a combined 40,000 copies. Consequently, Margherita was trying to help the band find a new recording deal.^[3] Among those interested in Uncle Tupelo was Joe McEwen, a talent scout for Sire Records. McEwen liked how the band was willing to go against trends, calling the band "an alternative to the alternative."^[4] Additionally, Gary Louris of The Jayhawks suggested to McEwen that he sign the band. Executing an out-clause in their contract with Rockville, Uncle Tupelo signed a seven-record deal with Sire in 1992. The deal guaranteed the release of at least two albums, with a $150,000 budget for the first.^[5]
Before releasing their first album with Sire, Uncle Tupelo needed a drummer. The two remaining members of the band interviewed twenty-four candidates. Farrar and Tweedy were both impressed with Ken Coomer, the former drummer of Clockhammer, but decided to give the position to Bill Belzer. Belzer toured with Uncle Tupelo as the opening act for Sugar during the European tour, but left after six months in favor of Coomer.^[6] However, he wasn't the only new member added after the tour – Uncle Tupelo sought to expand beyond a trio. They recruited Max Johnston, the brother of Michelle Shocked, as a multi-instrumentalist. The band also added John Stirratt, the band's guitar technician, as a permanent bassist. This enabled Tweedy to become a full-time guitarist on the songs that he wrote.^[7][8]

Recording

''Anodyne'' was recorded in Spring 1993 at Cedar Creek studio in Austin, Texas with Brian Paulson. Uncle Tupelo liked the studio because it "just seemed really kind of homey and small and cheap."^[9] The now-expanded lineup inspired Tweedy to spend more time with his bandmates. After he would write a song, Tweedy would play it to Stirratt, Coomer, and Johnston to get their opinions. This ired Farrar, who interpreted these practice sessions as a sign of arrogance. Verbal altercations between Tweedy and Farrar broke out during recording sessions; in one account, Tweedy recalled:^[10]
The album was recorded live in the studio, and each song was recorded in only one take. As a result, the recording sessions for ''Anodyne'' were completed in two weeks.^[11][12] ''Anodyne'' was the only Uncle Tupelo album to completely lack overdubbing.^[13] Sire was pleased with the album; according to McEwen, "everybody [at the label] considered it a step up from what they'd done before."^[14] Farrar wrote six of the songs on the album and Tweedy wrote five. Also, Farrar invited Doug Sahm (of the Sir Douglas Quintet and Texas Tornados) to join the band on a cover of Sahm's "Give Back the Key to My Heart".^[15]
The lyrics of ''Anodyne'' were influenced by 1950s and 1960s country music, particularly Ernest Tubb, Buck Owens, and Lefty Frizzell and included a paean on Acuff-Rose music publishers written by Tweedy. His song "New Madrid", named after New Madrid, Missouri, was about Iben Browning's prediction of an apocolyptic earthquake which never was fulfilled. "We've Been Had" was about "a mistrust of anything, like rock'n'roll in general." It was intended to chastise bands like Nirvana and The Clash who were "all just show biz." Farrar is less comfortable discussing the albums lyrics, claiming that the songs frequently change their meanings. Like other Uncle Tupelo albums, Farrar and Tweedy wrote their own lyrics, and played them for each other a week before the recording sessions.

Promotion and reception

''Anodyne'' was Uncle Tupelo's only recording to appear on ''Billboard's Heatseekers chart.^[16] Despite the lack of a single to promote the album, sales eventually surpassed 150,000 copies.^[17] A promotional tour for the album began later that year, including a sold-out show at Tramps in New York City. Most shows on the tour sold over one thousand tickets. The success of the tour encouraged the label; according to Sire executive Bill Bentley, "people here thought we were going to have platinum records from Uncle Tupelo."
Despite the label's aspirations, Jay Farrar announced his intention to leave Uncle Tupelo in January 1994. Farrar kept his reasoning secret until Fall 1995, when he claimed in an interview that "it reached a point where Jeff and I really weren't compatible."^[18] As a sign of loyalty to band manager Tony Margherita, who had acquired a three thousand dollar debt on behalf of the band, Farrar agreed to do another promotional tour.^[19] Physical altercations between Tweedy and Farrar began two weeks into the tour and continued throughout – many were due to Farrar's refusal to play on Tweedy's songs.^[20] Despite Farrar's reservations, Uncle Tupelo performed Tweedy's "The Long Cut" on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brian'', the band's only network television appearance.^[21] The band played their final concert on May 1, 1994 at Mississippi Nights in St. Louis, Missouri.^[22] The remaining members of the ''Anodyne'' sessions formed Wilco a few weeks later.^[23]
The band remastered and re-released the album in 2003. The new version included two previously unreleased songs: Farrar's "Stay True", Tweedy's "Wherever", and a cover of Waylon Jennings' "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?", with vocals by Joe Ely, previously released on the 1993 compilation ''Trademark of Quality''. Also included were live versions of "Truck Drivin' Man" and "Suzy Q".
''Anodyne'' was well-received by critics domestically and internationally. All Music Guide writer Jason Ankeny wrote, "Uncle Tupelo never struck a finer balance between rock and country than on ''Anodyne''" in a four-and-a-half star review.^[24] Mark Kemp wrote in a four star review for ''Rolling Stone'' that the band "[has] an intuitive sense of the simplicity and dynamics of a country song."^[25] According to German music periodical ''Spex'', "[t]here are two obvious comparisons which come to mind again and again: first Neil Young & the Crazy Horse of course (…), and then the Lowell George of the first Little Feat album (the singing being a case in point). The other thing that comes to mind is the impression that this particular melancholy and gravity is an element of neither rock'n'roll nor country, but clearly comes from a folk and singer/songwriter tradition."^[26] At the end of the year, ''Anodyne'' placed at number twenty-eight on ''The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics poll and at number nineteen on the ''Spex'' critics' poll.^[27][28]
In 2004, Nathan Brackett noted in ''The New Rolling Stone Album Guide'' that " the time of ''Anodyne'', Tweedy and Farrar were collaborators only for publishing purposes, taking their songs down separate roads as a prelude to their breakup the following year. Farrar delivers plaintive ballads, Tweedy the twangy pop. But the unsung star is a new addition to the band, multi-instrumentalist Max Johnston, whose battery of stringed instruments gives the potentially schizophrenic album a cohesion and consistency that make it Tupelo's finest effort."^[29]

Track listing

#"Slate" (Farrar) – 3:24
#"Acuff-Rose" (Tweedy) – 2:35
#"The Long Cut" (Tweedy) – 3:20
#"Give Back the Key to My Heart" (Sahm) – 3:26
#"Chickamauga" (Farrar) – 3:42
#"New Madrid" (Tweedy) – 3:31
#"Anodyne" (Farrar) – 4:50
#"We've Been Had" (Tweedy) – 3:26
#"Fifteen Keys" (Farrar) – 3:25
#"High Water" (Farrar) – 4:14
#"No Sense in Lovin'" (Tweedy) – 3:46
#"Steal the Crumbs" (Farrar) – 3:38
#:
#;Additional tracks on 2003 re-release
#"Stay True" (Farrar) – 3:29
#"Wherever" (Tweedy) – 3:38
#"Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?" (Jennings) – 3:01
#"Truck Drivin' Man" (Fell) – 2:13
#"Suzy Q" (Hawkins/Lewis/Broadwater) – 7:13

Personnel

★ Jay Farrar – vocals, guitar; mandolin (on "Acuff-Rose")

★ Jeff Tweedy – vocals, guitar, bass guitar

★ Ken Coomer – drums

★ Max Johnston – fiddle, lap steel guitar; banjo (on "New Madrid"); dobro (on "Fifteen Keys")

★ John Stirratt – bass guitar, guitar

★ Doug Sahm – guitar and vocals (on "Give Back the Key to My Heart")

★ Lloyd Maines – pedal steel guitar

★ Joe Ely – vocals (on "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?")

★ Brian Henneman – vocals (on "Truck Drivin' Man")

★ Brian Paulson – production, engineering, mixing

★ Scott Hull – mastering

★ Dave C. Birke – graphic design, art direction

★ Dan Corrigan – photography

Notes

1. Kot 2004. p. 66
2. Kot 2004. pp. 68–9
3. Kot 2004. p. 70
4. Kot 2004. p. 71
5. Kot 2004. pp. 72–3
6. Kot 2004. p. 73–74
7. Kot 2004. p. 75
8. Uncle Tupelo: Filling Out into a Quintet Paul Hampel
9. Uncle Tupelo Mines Rock's Country Vein Parry Gettelman
10. Kot 2004. p. 77
11. Are You Ready for the Country? Daniel Durcholz
12. Heart of the Country Jason Fine
13. Mix of Punk and Country? Say Uncle Ed Masley
14. Kot 2004. p. 79
15. ''Anodyne'' album notes (re-issued version), 2003. Sire Records.
16. Heatseekers
17. Kot 2004. p. 80
18. Jay Farrar Traces a Path Away from Uncle Tupelo Peter Blackstock Last accessed June 8, 2007.
19. Kot 2004. p. 82
20. Kot 2004. p. 83
21. Kot 2004. p. 84
22. Kot 2004. p. 85
23. Roger, Wilco Phil Sheridan
24. Anodyne (review) Last accessed August 6, 2007.
25. Anodyne (review) Mark Kemp Last accessed August 6, 2007.
26. Uncle Tupelo Anodyne Detlef Diederichsen
27. Pazz & Jop 1993 Last accessed August 10, 2007.
28. 1993 Jahresabrechnung
29. . Last accessed August 8, 2007.

References

★

External links

★ Press release for ''Anodyne'' re-release, by Rhino Records, February 21 2003.

★ Video of "Chickamauga" on YouTube, posted March 16, 2007 by Warner Bros. Records.