So out come The Replacements, looking like they're all wearing some combination of clothes from a specialty shop for tall toddlers and hand-me-downs from The Clash. Fucked-up hair, spray-painted guitars, effortlessly cool in a way I'd never seen before. Fashion without even a hint of trying...
"I NEED A GODDAMN JOB, I NEED A GODDAMN JOB, I REALLY NEED A GODDAMN JOB!"
And then the chorus... "GODDAMNIT, GODDAMNIT, I NEED A GODDAMN JOB!"
By now, Paul Westerberg had already leaned so far into his microphone that he'd fallen face first off the front of the stage onto the empty dance floor. Where he remained for the rest of the song, singing and playing guitar uninterrupted in various positions: prone, balancing on his forehead with his mouth pressed against the mic, on his back, craning his neck sideways, 100 percent commitment to the bit.
Jeff Tweedy on seeing The Replacments for the first time, from his book World Within a Song
Loose Fur - The Double Door, Chicago, Illinois, May 14, 2000
Last year saw the release of that ginormous Yankee Hotel Foxtrot boxed set — I haven't made it all the way through to the end, to be honest. But I'm glad it exists!
The three jokesters pictured above (Jim O'Rourke, Glenn Kotche and Jeff Tweedy), of course, were all a part of YHF's making — and here we've got their first live appearance together during the Noise Pop festival way back in the year 2000. Not sure if they were actually called Loose Fur at this juncture, but that is what they would be called eventually. They are definitely already loose! It's an occasionally meandering performance, but the trio generates plenty of sparks, especially towards the end, when Kotche takes "Sally, Free and Easy" into the stratosphere.
Loose Fur would go on to make two LPs (not including O'Rourke's Insignificance, which features Glenn and Jeff prominently) ... and apparently there is a third album that is almost done! “When Jim and Glenn and I get in a room together, Loose Fur records just happen,” Tweedy said not too long ago. “Pure forward momentum and then a sudden realization that we’ve completed a record and it sounds like us, and not very much like anything else.” So ... how about getting in a room together and finishing it up, guys?
Space Oddity is close to being a sacred song. It’s a song you can listen to and enjoy almost every day. Wilco covers it here and nails it. I love their version as well.