Yesterday former Wilco member, Jay Bennett, released an acoustic solo album, Whatever Happened I Apologize. Having read the liner notes on the website first about a former relationship with a girl in school, I was already put in the mindset that it was going to be a diary of sorts. The raw, stripped down recording is appropriate as it really captures the rawness of young love. You can't help but think, though, that revisiting these emotions as a more experienced adult brings with it some regret and a realization of naivety. This theme is prevalent throughout the album but was especially evident on "I Don't Have the Time," where he basically says he's too busy to show his love for the girl.
All I previously knew of Bennett was what I saw in I am Trying to Break Your Heart, a documentary about the making of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, where he quits/is fired from the band. While he is made out to be the bad guy in the documentary, it still shows that he can be a whiner, and this highly personal album affirms that. But, an album you'd want to have on repeat through a break-up, or while reminiscing about lost love, is the perfect mode for him to express himself.
You can download the album for free on rock proper.com, a Chicago based website that distributes album-length downloads for free (with legal consent of their creators, of course).
