AF (Acoustic Foolish)
Merge
1994 / 2019
Rating: Subdued perfection.
Superchunk are easily one of my top three favorite bands of all time. “Foolish,” their fourth record released in 1994, is easily one of my top three favorite albums by Superchunk. You want to make an educated guess on how I feel about a reworked, fully acoustic version of this classic album?
Given the nature of “AF,” there’s no real reason to rehash the content, but rather what makes it different and worthwhile. First, and most importantly, it sounds goddamn fantastic - any avenue with which you choose to listen to “AF” is a perfectly cromulent choice, but do yourself a favor and ingest this with some headphones at least once. It is perfection. Second are the guests – to no surprise, many members of the Merge family show up: Jenn Wasner (Wye Oak, Flock Of Dimes) and Allison Crutchfield (Waxahatchee) add backing vocals, Owen Pallett (Arcade Fire, Hidden Cameras) provides strings here and there, Matt Douglas (Mountain Goats) does his saxophone thing, and finally none other than the legendary Peter Holsapple (The dB’s) plugs away on the piano on a couple of tracks. On top of that, many of the songs have been slightly reworked – as an example, “Saving My Ticket” is almost a bossa nova song now. Third – it’s fucking Superchunk. Don’t be an idiot, buy everything they put out, it’s the only way to live life successfully.
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