Wilco "The Complete Singles: 1994-2002"

Whenever someone asks me to cite my favorite Wilco record, which is usually just me asking myself 7-8 times per day, I usually go with Being There. It was the Wilco album that turned Wilco from one of my five favorite bands to a band that could alter my way of thinking, feeling, looking at things and so on. I guess they became my favorite band. I mean, Springsteen is responsible for making music my greatest love, but it was Wilco who I sort of partnered with as I began to mature. (Yes, I also find that hilarious.)

When I first saw Wilco perform before about fifty people in Somerville, MA in December of 1994, I can honestly say that part of me shifted. I very clearly recall driving back to campus in my piece of crap Mazda thinking that something was just beginning. And it wasn't just the band, but something in myself. I will reserve the rest of the story for my third memoir, Campbell & Wilco: The Hot Tub Years, but let's get back to the subject line.

Unlike Springsteen and Dylan, I don't think Wilco have a masterpiece. Bruce and Dylan each have a bunch. But with Wilco, it's always been about something bigger than just a single record. I guess it's the whole experience: songs, lyrics, shows, artwork, cool hair, etc. Which leads me to the collection that I listen to most, and it's not one of their records. Three or four years ago, someone told me to seek out The Complete Singles: 1994-2002 online. And once I found it, I poured over the songs and even the perfect sequencing for days and days. Now years later, it's still the collection I listen to most. I love every Wilco record (fine, maybe I don't *love* the most recent one, but it's pretty good), but it's this unreal collection, which, despite the title, has nothing to do with "singles," that I turn to most often. There are alternate takes of their songs, b-sides, incredible live renditions, covers, songs sung by Golden Smog, Billy Bragg and all sorts of various goods.

If you're a fan of life, I highly recommend finding this. And I really hope Nonesuch packages all these rarities into a nice 22-record collection and releases it someday. And they're free to call it The Hot Tub Years.

Wilco The Complete Singles: 1994-2002

1. The TB Is Whipping Me (Ernest Tubb cover)
2. Childlike & Evergreen
3. Someone Else’s Song
4. Passenger Side
5. Burned (Buffalo Springfield cover)
6. I Am Not Willin’ (Moby Grape cover)
7. Casino Queen
8. Who Were You Thinking Of (Sir Douglas Quintet cover)
9. Box Full of Letters
10. Box Full of Letters
11. I Must Be High
12. Prison Wife
13. Monday
14. Thirteen (Big Star cover)
15. Blasting Fonda
16. Outtasite (Outta Mind)
17. Outtasite (Outta Mind)
18. Outta Mind (Outta Sight)
19. No More Poetry
20. East Virginia Blues (Carter Family cover)
21. Sugar Baby (Dock Boggs cover/traditional)
22. James Alley Blues (Richard "Rabbit" Brown cover)
23. Someone Else’s Song
24. Promising
25. Kingpin
26. I Got You
27. Don’t You Honey Me
28. Passenger Side
29. The Lonely 1
30. California Stars
31. My Thirty Thousand
32. Bugeye Jim
33. At My Window Sad & Lonely
34. Seven Year Ache (Rosanne Cash cover)
35. Love and Mercy (Brian Wilson cover)
36. Radio King
37. Red Eyed & Blue
38. Box Full of Letters
39. Don’t Forget The Flowers
40. Sunken Treasure
41. Student Loan Stereo
42. Tried and True
43. Sunken Treasure
44. I’m Always In Love
45. ELT
46. True Love Will Find You in the End (Daniel Johnston cover)
47. Via Chicago
48. She’s a Jar
49. She’s a Jar
50. Can’t Stand It
51. 100 Years From Now (Gram Parsons cover)
52. Airline To Heaven
53. When The Roses Bloom Again (traditional)
54. Any Major Dude Will Tell You (Steely Dan cover)
55. The Good Part
56. I’m The Man Who Loves You
57. On The Beach (Neil Young cover)
58. At My Window Sad and Lonely
59. Farewell My Darling