Wilco – More Like The Moon – EP

More Like The Moon – EP (2003)

B

1. Camera 2. Handshake Drugs (First Version) 3. Woodgrain 4. A Magazine Called Sunset 5. Bob Dylan’s 49^th Beard 6. More Like The Moon

A stopgap freebie that you don’t really need but which contains a few interesting curios nonetheless – most prominently, the probable most popular Foxtrot outtake, the impossibly lush “A Magazine Called Sunset,” which has about 39 keyboard tracks and serves as further proof that Summerteeth is Jay Bennett’s favorite Wilco album. Or was. RIP. There’s one other YHF outtake: the sludgy “electric” version of “Camera,” whose pedestrian quality relative to the album version is underscored by the proper affixing of the letter “C” to the beginning of the song title. Otherwise, More Like The Moon is comprised of the first recordings of the post-Bennett lineup, which at this point consisted of only Tweedy, Kotche, Stirratt and Leroy Bach, who was mostly handling keyboard duties. As a result of these limited means, they keep things appropriately simple; shorties “Bob Dylan’s 49^th Beard” and “Woodgrain” are just solo acoustic Tweedy, though “Woodgrain” does feature a few electronic squeaks and some delightfully meta lyrics (I hereby nominate, with the most serious of intentions, the line, “Sometimes I rhyme/Sometimes I don’t” for a Brilliant Lyrics Award). The full band tracks are pretty darn straightforward too, to their detriment; the “first version” of “Handshake Drugs” is rendered useless by the superiority of all subsequent versions, and the title track just meanders along lethargically on a stately organ part and mumbly vocals. Tweedy’s lengthy acoustic solos are pretty and brave, but can’t sustain a 6-minute running time.

Since that’s every song on the EP, can I quickly just address the fact that Rick Perry is basically the exact same person as George W. Bush, except quite possibly even stupider? And yet somehow has a chance at winning the presidential nomination? Is this a huge joke he’s playing on everyone? Can someone explain this to me?

Also, Herman Cain. My only question is this: why can’t this guy run for president? Now he knows how to make pizza.