JEFF TWEEDY : LOVE IS THE KING

JEFF TWEEDY : LOVE IS THE KING

Disc One (39:22)

Love Is The King
Opaline
A Robin Or A Wren
Gwendolyn
Bad Day Lately
Even I Can See
Natural Disaster
Save It For Me
Guess Again
Troubled
Half-Asleep

Disc Two : Live Is The King (42:03)

Love Is The King
Opaline
A Robin Or A Wren
Gwendolyn
Bad Day Lately
Even I Can See
Natural Disaster
Save It For Me
Guess Again
Troubled
Half-Asleep
The Old Country Waltz

Label : DBPM Records

Release Date : October 23, 2020 / December 10, 2021 (deluxe edition)

Venue (Live Is The King) : The Loft (Wilco's studio), Chicago, Illinois USA + Constellation Club, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Recording Date (Live Is The King) : January 2021

Review (AllMusic) : It has been clear from the start that Wilco was first and foremost Jeff Tweedy's vehicle, one where he's given his collaborators plenty of space to show off their talents but ultimately in the service of his songs and his musical vision. Since Wilco is at heart whatever Jeff wants it to be, it's interesting that he's belatedly taken on a solo career, perhaps to create a separate musical identity for some of his work, or perhaps to lessen the appearance that he's Wilco's benevolent tyrant (as opposed to the strategy that led Mark E. Smith to famously say, "If it's me and your granny on bongos, it's the Fall"). In 2018, Jeff Tweedy brought out his first solo album of original material, Warm, 11 songs of comfort and compassion in the midst of difficult times, with its sibling companion piece, Warmer, arriving in 2019. 2020's Love Is the King feels like a blend of the themes and approach of Warm and Warmer with the more experimental bent of Sukierae, the 2014 album Jeff made with his son Spencer Tweedy on drums under the group name Tweedy. Love Is the King is the unofficial second Tweedy album, as Jeff and Spencer take on all the instrumental duties, while Spencer's brother Sammy contributes the occasional harmony vocal. Sukierae was built on songs about coping with tragedy, and Warm and Warmer were about looking for solace in the midst of a chaotic world; Love Is the King embraces all of that, in hope as well as fear. Created in part because Jeff and his sons were stranded at home by the COVID-19 pandemic with little to do and much to think about, Love Is the King sounds like the product of a lot of thinking while lying awake at 2 a.m., sometimes in search of soothing emotions and sometimes with the passing shadows seeming more than a bit scary. The album also invests the exploratory sound of Jeff's more adventurous compositions (suggesting a more homespun version of Big Star's third album) with flashes of Warm's homey twang, giving familiar themes a personality that comes from the head as well as the heart. It would be easy to look at Love Is the King as a holding action while waiting for fate to allow Wilco to get back to work; in some respects, that's exactly what it is, but it's also heartfelt, honest, and brave in Jeff's willingness to open up about what's good and what's frightening about life in 2020, without writing songs guaranteed to outlive their usefulness when the year is out. Like much of Jeff Tweedy's music (especially since Wilco's brief hiatus in late 2017), Love Is the King is his very personal reaction to an increasingly difficult time in America's history. He doesn't pretend to have answers, yet this music is his own kind of therapy, recognizing his emotions and working through them before they devour him, and he makes both the process and the challenges well worth hearing.

Review (Pitchfork) : Released in conjunction with his book How to Write One Song, the Wilco frontman's response to the pandemic is a mellow, easygoing collection of songs stressing the importance of human connection. It's conceivable that Jeff Tweedy was in a better position than most musicians to thrive creatively while sheltering in place. Locked down with his family, he could call upon his sons Spencer and Sammy for musical support, and they all could head over to the Loft, the private studio that Tweedy and Wilco built over 20 years ago and maintain to this day. In addition to having access to gear and supporting musicians, the singer-songwriter also benefited greatly from a regular, reliable writing method, one that he documents in How to Write One Song, a book published concurrently with the release of Love Is the King. Separating Love Is the King from How to Write One Song may be impossible. Tweedy began composing songs for the album while at work on his songwriting handbook, using some of his freshly minted tunes to illuminate particular points of his process. Real-time insight into the writing and recording of a new rock album is rare enough to make this book unique, but How to Write One Song is decidedly not a set of liner notes to Love Is the King. It's a manifesto advocating the power of everyday creativity, imploring the reader to look at songwriting not as divine inspiration but rather as a practical craft: Assemble the parts, learn how to use the tools at your disposal, toil away for a set amount of time on a daily basis, and it becomes feasible to finish one song; after that, perhaps one more. Love Is the King is a testament to the virtues of this creative approach. Tweedy's method is designed to sustain a songwriter through dry spells while also doubling as a journal of the moment; such a technique is surely beneficial when grappling with the existential stresses generated by a global pandemic. Love Is the King contains no attempts at grand pronouncements on the state of the world in lockdown. Rather, it's a series of vignettes, secular hymns, and snapshots, all loosely arranged around the notion of human connection. Nothing moves too fast here. "Gwendolyn" ambles along to a groove that's just a shade soulful, "Opaline" moseys ahead with a slight grin, and "Natural Disaster" is a shambling bit of country-rock that stands out not only for its rhythm but also for how its sardonic view of love cuts against the warm sentiments that flow through the record. Warmth doesn't preclude the presence of loneliness or worry. The gravity of isolation weighs down the narrator of "Bad Day Lately" and self-doubt nags at the heart of "Troubled," but there's a recurring theme of the solace and sustenance to be found within lasting love. It surfaces on the hushed "Even I Can See," whose pivotal verse hinges on finally being able to view the presence of a god through the love of his wife, and in the murmured devotions floating throughout the semi-narcotic thrum of "Half-Asleep." None of these songs demand much attention from the listener, but that mellowness is part of the record's charm. It's music sprung from the yearning desire for comfort and connection in a difficult time, music whose meaning lies in the act of the creation itself. Since it was made during a time of seclusion, not just for Tweedy but also his audience, the imagery and emotions threaded through Love Is the King can't help but contain empathetic echoes for listeners still struggling with a year spent apart from loved ones. The reason the record provides some measure of consolation is due to its modesty. Rather than a concept album about quarantine, it's a snapshot of a moment in time, one that captures the confusion, longing, and loneliness of a world set back on its heels.

Review (Het Nieuwsblad) : Net voor de feestdagen pakt Jeff Tweedy uit met een deluxe-editie van de plaat die hij vorig jaar uitbracht. Leep, denken wij dan meteen, zo'n poging om nog onder de kerstboom van elke fan te belanden. Maar dan gaan we even voorbij aan het feit dat de frontman van Wilco het niet heeft voor makkelijke binnenkoppers. En dus ging hij opnieuw aan de slag voor een liveplaat, en het resultaat is andermaal de moeite waard. Op Live is the king staan live opgenomen versies van alle nummers op de vorig jaar verschenen en bejubelde soloplaat Love is the king. Veranderingen aan de liedjes heeft Tweedy amper aangebracht, maar door ze te spelen met een vijfkoppige band - waar zijn twee zoons in meespelen - klinkt het geheel toch anders. Nog wat meer folky, wat warmer ook. En omdat de plaat niet in een studio opgenomen is maar in een café, klinkt het nog wat minder gepolijst. En Wilco-fans weten dat dat net is waarom de band live telkens weer boven zichzelf uitstijgt. Het geldt dus ook voor Tweedy solo. Verrassing op de liveplaat is Old country waltz, een Neil Young-cover die net als het origineel zweert bij warme gloed en prachtige harmonieën. De perfecte afsluiter van een erg mooie liveplaat.

Review (Rolling Stone Magazine) : Jeff Tweedy's recent solo album gets a deluxe edition with Love Is the King/Live Is the King, which features a bonus disc housing live versions of all 11 original songs from Love Is the King. The expanded package arrives digitally and on CD via dBpm Records on December 10th, and it's available for preorder. A vinyl version is slated for 2022. The bonus disc also includes a cover of Neil Young's "The Old Country Waltz," which Tweedy shared alongside the deluxe edition announcement. The accompanying video features shots from the Chicago venue the Hideout. Typically bustling with happy patrons, the intimate venue appears quiet and empty in the video, before the camera moves into the music room, where Tweedy and his band are onstage gearing up to play without an audience. It echoes the "empty hall, bouncin' off the wall" sentiments of the original song, while also resonating with the ever-evolving pandemic times we live in, which initially shuttered venues like the Hideout for months. The live renditions for the LP were tracked at the Loft, Wilco's North Side Chicago studio, and at hometown venues Constellation and the Hideout. Tweedy's sons, Sammy and Spencer, Liam Kazar, James Elkington, and Ohmme's Sima Cunningham serve as the backing band on the live set. The group, along with Macie Stewart, will join Tweedy for a string of live shows this winter. Tweedy will perform solo during his Los Angeles dates.