Wilco is Outtasite

if its recent four-star rating on the cover of Rolling Stone is any indication."It's been nice," said Tweedy, in his typically low-key fashion while downing a cup of teayesterday with Wilco bandmate Jay Bennett prior to a showcase performance at ÀC'est What?

"I mean it's feedback. You make a record and then you sit for like half a year waiting for it tocome out."

The overwhelmingly positive reviews, however, have silenced those few record company types whoweren't exactly thrilled about the prospect of a 19-track double CD from a band that's hardly ahousehold name. At least not yet.

"On a financial level was where they were concerned the most, or at least that's how theyexpressed it to us," says Tweedy, who expects Wilco to play a Toronto club next February orMarch.

"There were a few people that had some major problems with the double CD thing. Now they'reeating crow. We felt really good about the double thing especially the fact that we were able to makeit close to a single CD price. I just think it's easier to listen to in two short CDs as opposed toone long one."

Being There moves effortlessly from hardcore-country to big-band rock, not to mention five othergenres in between. You can also hear the occasional cough and spoken word of dialogue.

"We try to be spontaneous and document as many moments as we can, and that's kind of like theliteral take on Being There," says Tweedy. "We've always felt we should have really special momentshappen. We used to do that by recording things as live as possible and avoiding overdubs."

For the first time, Wilco also experimented with doing two drastically different versions of thesame song - thus, you have the rockier Outtasite (Outta Mind) versus the jangly pop of Outta Mind(Outta Sight).

"That's where we sat down and listened to Phil Spector records," said Tweedy.

Adds Bennett: "It was almost like a homework assignment."

In the end, the second version comes out sounding a lot like the theme from Sesame Street,although Tweedy claims his 11-month-old son Spencer wasn't an influence.

"Some people have made that connection; that's totally by accident. It's not exactly the samechord voicings but it is the same melody sort of. (sings) Come and play...."