Loose Fur

Loose Fur | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 28, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Drag City
• ASIN: B00007L9NJ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,880 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #85 in Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > General

Track Listings

1. Laminated Cat

2. Elegant Transaction

3. So Long

4. You Were Wrong

5. Liquidation Totale

6. Chinese Apple

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

As supergroups go, this one--featuring Jeff Tweedy, Jim O'Rourke, and Glenn Kotche--is almost as good as Rockpile, on par with Blind Faith, and a whole lot better than Ciccone Youth. It's also a project that makes sonic sense, in a twain-shall-meet way. Wunderkind experimental guitarist-producer O'Rourke has been creating warped Americana since the late '90s, while on 2002's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Tweedy and company finely deconstructed the alt-country rock they'd worked so hard to create in the first place. The two major problems that afflict projects of this sort--overindulgent twaddle and ill-suited explorations--surface here, but they only hold sway over a third of the album. The tunes that work the best are the Tweedy-fronted ones, especially "Laminated Cat" and "Chinese Apple," both of which are seven-plus minutes of gorgeously subtle guitar, weird background noises, poly-limbed percussion, and oblique lyrics delivered by a melodic-minded mumble mouth. --Mike McGonigal

Product Description

The debut album from this new supergroup comprised of WILCO's JEFF TWEEDY and GLENN KOTCHE, along with JIM O'ROURKE (now of SONIC YOUTH). A six-track, forty-minute blend of all kinds of music for all kinds of people, expertly crafted into some of the hottest pop sounds to hit the streets in years. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The lost Wilco album, October 5, 2005

By 

Mike Smith (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Loose Fur (Audio CD)

The vocals, songwriting, and guitar of Jeff Tweedy. The drums and percussion of Glen Kotche. And the vocals, guitar, and songwriting of Jim O'Rourke.
That should be review enough. That should tell you: buy this!
If it's not, let me just tell you that if you're a Wilco fan, you've heard Loose Fur before. On "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot." On that Wilco album there's a moment in--I believe it's the song "Poor Places," where Wilco becomes Loose Fur. Jeff Tweedy and Glen Kotche are in both bands, and Jim O'Rourke has produced (and contributed to) two Wilco albums, and it just happened that way.
And, not to insult any other members of Wilco (John, you rock!), but sometimes that three's all you need.
This is a stripped down, more experimental Wilco, with a hearty dose of Jim O'Rourke thrown in. Its jams are about as good as "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" on Wilco's "A Ghost is Born" album, its lyrics are heartfelt and unique ("You were wrong to believe...in me," "If I said I loved you, I was talking to myself.), and it is always interesting and fun to listen to.
The songs include a word-sample from Wilco's "Heavy Metal Drummer," a long shambling chain of lalalalala's reminscent of Bob Dylan's "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" soundtrack, wild mercury drums that sound as if Kotche just threw his sticks into a clothesdryer and recorded them, and some excellent experimental noise rock.
I highly recommend this to any Wilco fans that were with it enough to make the transition with Wilco from "Summerteeth" to "Yankee Hotel" and from "Yankee Hotel" to "A Ghost is Born." This may take a few listens to get used to, but you may discover it's a classic.
I know I did.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The genesis seed for YHF, May 15, 2008

By 

Hazel Motes (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Loose Fur (Audio CD)

Maybe calling Loose Fur a supergroup is a bit reaching, especially since none of its participants, aside from maybe Jeff Tweedy, has actually helmed a major act in the traditional sense. In other words, Traveling Wilburys this ain't...which is probably a good thing, if truth be known. Yet like the Wilburys, there is a casual nay "loose" quality to the six songs on this album that are nothing if not charming and well arranged, with the three Tweedy sung compositions being the highlights.

What's more intriguing about this album is in hearing the stylistic seeds of what would become Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. As such, a song on the Loose Fur debut like "Laminated Cat" hails from an earlier YHF outtake called "Not For The Season," and while the Loose Fur debut was released in 2003, it was recorded in the summer of 2000 and, in fact, corresponds somewhat with the YHF sessions; to the point that both Jim O'Rourke and Glenn Kotche from the Loose Fur trio would end up replacing members of Wilco, with O'Rourke taking on a significant role as co-producer of YHF. Adding to the cross-pollenation, as producer and remixer, O'Rourke removed many of the previous contributions of other Wilco members so that several YHF songs would only feature the music of Tweedy, Kotche, and himself, i.e. Loose Fur.

All in all, though, this album stands on its own. Fun, interesting, and well worth the price of admission. But for those who hanker for the wonder that is Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, this album stands as both a precursory and taster for what was already cooking in Jeff Tweedy's brain in the warmer months of 2000.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great side project..., April 11, 2003

By 

RK "graphic designer/musician" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Loose Fur (Audio CD)

This album does not quite stand up to Wilco and O'Rourke's previous works, nor does it aspire to. This album feels first and foremost like a side project. And that's what's great about it. It sounds as if these lads bunkered up in a studio and just had some good fun. Some say it's a logical progression from YHF, but I think that's too simplistic. It's not an evolution, it's an outlet of where these guys are.