Wilco (The Album)

no artwork or title as of yet. it's expected to be released on June 30, 2009.

1. "Wilco the Song"
2. "Deeper Down"
3. "One Wing"
4. "Bull Black Nova"
5. "You and I"
6. "You Never Know"
7. "Country Disappeared"
8. "Solitaire"
9. "I'll Fight"
10. "Sunny Feeling"
11. "Everlasting"

a recent interview from Spin: http://www.spin.com/articles/jeff-tweedy-wilcos-new-album-tour

Wilco will embark on a twenty-one show tour to promote the album starting on June 21, 2009. The tour will conclude with a performance at the 10,000 Lakes Festival in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.

Really looking forward to this. Sky Blue Sky + more studiotrickery + new songwriting angles: should be very good. Now please do some regular shows in Europe and not just festivals...

they might actually keep the name (The Album)

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/wilco-returns-with-eclectic-new-album-1003969366.story

oh goody. more generic overrated indie-rock, please.

oh goody. more generic overrated indie-rock, please.

I really don't get what's 'indie' about them. Unless non-metal band with guitars = indie. Or everything made in the years 1969-1974.

wilco (the song) from the colbart show

things to notice:
1. the song is a straightforward rock thingy, and my guess the whole album will sound more or less like that
esp. cause it's the direction taken in sky blue sky.
2. you can see the guy who recorded the song from tv sitting on the right side.creepy.

Get it? He's sitting in with the band!

i still sometimes hum a wilco tune in my head, because hey, some good albums there.

but really... really? this is the most zzzzzzzz thing ever.

enjoy, dads in volvos everywhere!! and chicagoans.

enjoy, dads in volvos everywhere!!

On behalf of dads in Volvos everywhere: Thanks. Will do. Enjoy the F---k Buttons.

(I like some of the F---k Buttons, BTW, so j/k . . . sort of).

Jay Bennett is suing them, claiming they owe him money from when he was in the group.

i don't listen to Fuck Buttons... and really, it's not like i'm expecting or even wanting dads to listen to fuck buttons OR the music i like to listen to. it's just that Wilco have turned into such a bland band that it makes me sad.....

and Daniel, no personal offense. sure you're an awesome dad and that your volvo is cool.

Sure it's more of a "straightforward rock thingy" than anything on Yankee or Ghost... but I'll take this over most anything on Sky Blue Sky... okay, barely.

Sky Blue Sky was a good album... for insomniacs

Sky Blue Sky is Wilco second best album!

(False)

not for me.

well, if you like dad rock...

i like what i like. can care less what you call it.

seems I hit a nerve here

not really, i think Sky Blue Sky is vastly underrated. i felt it was an album that had Wilco hit their stride. i understand that is not like by most of their older fans but think it is their lost. it really has some of their more solid songs but most people just say that it's dad rock, so whatever.

i hated ... almost actually actively despised Wilco until 'Sky Blue Sky'. I really enjoyed that album. Now I respect the band. Wouldn't call myself a massive "fan" by any means -- I have still to this point never heard albums like YHF, or Summerteeth, or Being There, in their entirety. But damn, I did like me that 'Sky Blue Sky'. And my fave albums of ALL TIME are like Vincebus, Godbless the RC, Song for Biko, People in Sorrow, first Flipper .. crap like that, so don't gimme any 'dad rock' crap .. i still cringe at some older Wilco when i hear it but damn i think guy is getting a lot better with age

yeah i never used to give one way or another about them but "sky blue sky" is really great; i think rock sucks these days though, so what do i know

sky blue sky is good, better than ghost, summerteeth still rules over all of them though, I wish they'd do something with those kinds of pop hooks again (I know, wilco is not really a pop band, but they did such a good job with it on that album, it's like when elliot smith would break out those great poppy things).

Bring back Summerteeth's pop hooks and this Honda driving Dad will listen again.

Bring back O'Rouke and I'll be rocking this in my Saab

Cline has more more cool avant cred than Fuck Buttons

i'm not going to mount an elaborate defense for wilco here, but it's strange to me that they come in for such a bruising on ILM. If you're into folk rock, slightly psychedelic rock, Neil Young, etc., what's not to like? if you don't like that stuff, then don't bother. Is it just because they were overpraised in the days following Yankee Hotel Foxtrot? Is it because of the mythical volvo driving dad who apparently listens to them all the time?
for the record, i drive a 99 ford escort.

every band needs a self-titled song

also dad rock rules

i think? my dad liked "hot rocks" double LP by the stones, "chronicle" by CCR, and "crown of creation" by airplane

he'd totally like Wilco. i mean, honestly, the definition of dadrock has to be Stones + CCR + Neil Young, right? At least in the USA. And what in the hell is wrong with the Stones + CCR + Neil Young?

If you actively dislike Creedence Clearwater Revival, then I can never respect anything you have to say about anything.

ooops
If you actively dislike Creedence Clearwater Revival, then I can never respect anything you have to say about anything.

I think the attitude of ILM toward Wilco is basically backlash (see also: Death Cab for Cutie, the Shins) plus a preference for 1970s folk rock over later varieties. For the record, I loved these guys back in the day, went to their last show at the Lounge Ax, saw Tweedy a bunch solo around the end of the century...I've seen them live way more than I've seen any other band, and mostly by choice even. I don't think any of their records are as good as Anodyne but I think from YHF and AGIB and the EPs from these records I can make one of my favorite albums of all time. I haven't yet had the heart to listen to Sky Blue Sky, though, for stupid personal reasons (mainly, I want to hear it with an open mind), though I'm planning on doing it soon.

also I am a dad

A Ghost Is Born is their finest hour IMO. I have yet to father a child, though.

i am not a dad. lately the first one sounds pretty good, just good stonesy shit

"passenger side" is a great song about drinking and driving

mythical vulva driving dad

yeah "passenger side" is great

live versions of "Who Were You Thinking Of?" at the time of the first album were top-notch good times

i mean, i get why somebody who's steeped in more experimental/out there music might be annoyed when Wilco is described as being this really innovative, experimental and out there band. i think i was annoyed, post-YHF by that kind of thing too. i mean, essentially, they're a great classic rock band who allow themselves the room to dabble a little outside of that genre. Even though their dabbling in more out there stuff isn't anything that, say, the Beatles or Big Star hadn't already done.

yeah, like at the time of YHF reviews were comparing it to Another Green World, which doesn't really work as a comparison. But where would we be without wishful thinking?

yeah i guess.

a friend told me that a ghost is born (which i haven't heard) is basically zuma-trying-to-be-krautrock which sounds like the best thing ever

well, that would describe "Spiders" to some extent ... rest of the album, I dunno.

the krautrock thing is yeah just that one song; but the solos elsewhere on A Ghost Is Born are really expressive...Tweedy is I think a pretty bad lyricist but the solo on e.g. "Muzzle of Bees" covers for that in a way worthy of hype.

ah gotcha, i figured it was somewhat hyperbole.

but hey zuma-trying-to-be-zuma is cool w/me too

"Box Full of Letters" is my fave from the first one.. don't really love "Passenger Side".

basically it's a totally different band.

really excited to hear the new one

AGIB is an album of some average and some truly superb tracks, as I've said elsewhere

(fortunately, the longer tracks tend to be the superb ones, along with the out-of-nowhere closer)

in some ways yeah I would agree that the lyrics are the worst thing about Wilco. otherwise the songwriting (music-wise) and musicianship is top-notch

ESPECIALLY now with Nils on board ...

er, Nels ..

i mean, honestly, the definition of dadrock has to be Stones + CCR + Neil Young, right?

For the record, in my dad's case the definition is more like Beatles + Peter Frampton + Iron Butterfly + Spyro Gyra.

i've never heard spyro gyra, are they like kinda weather report-ish?

a ghost is born (which i haven't heard) is basically zuma-trying-to-be-krautrock

OTM!

not really. much lite-r. but the 'Morning Dance' lp is worth a buck, i think.

my dad's faves were -- reads like a cliche but it's no joke -- Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, CCR, and Dire Straits

see, Beatles + Peter Frampton + Iron Butterfly + Spyro Gyra could = an awesome band!

and jesus christ i'd rather listen to Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, CCR, and Dire Straits more than a lot of the bloggy bands of today. at least they all had good drum sounds.

my name is tyler and i enjoy dadrock.

we should have a dadrock thread

RFI: What is Dadrock?

this thread is sort of lame though

"Sky Blue Sky" articulates / addresses "anxiety" in ways which aren't exactly par for the course. I think that the equilibriums it *occasionally* settles upon don't sound as if they're being taken for granted.

Maybe like how Teenage Fanclub songs sometimes devolve on nuances of feeling which you don't expect to hear very often in pop - the compromise(d) blues? - and if that's dadrock, if that's taking a more imaginative approach towards the meaning and value of "compromise", then BRING IT ON, MUTHAFUCKA!

If that wouldn't be any inconvenience for you, or anything.

Yeah, Sky Blue Sky sounds like "dad-rock," and addresses some mid-life type concerns, but doesn't come off as smug or self-satisfied. Indeed, songs like Hate It Here and Please Be Patient With Me occupy a space somewhere between angst-ridden and self-loathing.

Why does dads never want to rock?

http://pitchfork.com/news/35281-wilco-the-album-cover/

Sky Blue Sky is the kind of album that I think will be like a wine - I'll just appreciate it as I get older. When I heard and reviewed it initially,m though? totally bored.

:D am looking forward to this

as long as the rumours of it being a little more experimental are true

hahaha that album cover is pretty awesome

it's beautiful imo

Sky Blue Sky is the kind of album that I think will be like a wine - I'll just appreciate it as I get older. When I heard and reviewed it initially,m though? totally bored.

Curious to read yr initial review.

YHF and AGIB are solid imho

The live disc (with Nels Cline, I think) is also very solid, IMO.

i've been appreciating sky blue sky more these days -- i like how it sort of *seems* like a reversion to more straightforward songwriting, but is actually packed with weird structures/chord progressions/rhythms etc. kind of along the lines of some old Band records -- stuff that sounds sorta folksy on the surface but has a lot of layers underneath.

people never understand that The Band was an art-rock band at the end of the day.

yeah i totally agree. there are a ton of bizarre tempos, melodies, interplay on those records. those songs are *not* easy to play.

plus they are a conceptual band too, canadians projecting a weird filtered view of "real america"....i always sort of felt that levon was robbie's muse, like he was writing about what he thought levon's world was.

same way i think westerberg's replacements songs are about bob stintson in a lot of ways.

also: "the genetic method"

i actually quite liked sky blue sky when i heard it, definitely more than i was expecting to having read some reviews...i'll have to give it another go

i think you'd hate my review, i was pretty savage

it was only after it'd been published that i ever-so-slightly began to sorta dig it. granted, i haven't played it in maybe a year and a half but i think, every now and again, "you know, i'd like to spin Sky Blue Sky the next time i have free time to do so"

full disclosure: i'm a dad (though i didn't become one til after SBS came out)

no wait, I WAS a dad when it came out! by bad

As a dad, I can say definitively that the best Wilco music can be found on the Mermaid Avenue records. He jumped the musical shark when he started believing he was a poet.

'Sky Blue Sky' was basically my soundtrack to summer 2007. i played it constantly. I'm not sure if I've fallen in love with an album in that way since. the new Dylan maybe has the potential

are u a dad

jk

1) i like neil young's voice better. i can also do a spot-on impression of it, which occasionally occurs when i am drunk and in ohio.

2) i hum the melodies to 'Via Chicago' and 'Shot in the Arm' all the time in my head

3) i hated 'Ghost,' and by the time 'Sky Blue Sky' came out, i was thoroughly into noise and electronic music of all sorts. not a non-fan of rock music, just no interest any longer.

nope, not a dad!

that you know of

j/k

good point! not sure how "noise and electronic music of all sorts" and Wilco fandom is mutually exclusive. i was into that stuff for years before i ever gave a crap about Wilco. in fact going to see Peter Rehberg and Marcus Schmickler this saturday!

it isn't mutually exclusive, i just have no interest in rock music any longer unless it is old. just what happened.

is there such thing as Dadnoize?

The stuff I think of as noise, e.g. Lightning Bolt, Comets On Fire, seems pretty dad-y to me.

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/wilcothealbum.gif

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/wilcothealbum.gif

i think you'd hate my review, i was pretty savage

it was only after it'd been published that i ever-so-slightly began to sorta dig it. granted, i haven't played it in maybe a year and a half but i think, every now and again, "you know, i'd like to spin Sky Blue Sky the next time i have free time to do so"

Actually, all of this makes me even more interested in reading yr initial review. I suspect that Sky Blue Sky is more of a "grower" than most other albums referred to that way; I've read about several people who trashed the disc when they first reviewed it, and they've warmed to it over time. Not sure I can fully articulate why I feel that way. It could be because Wilco's sound walks such a fine line between independent-rock credibility and classic/dad-rock sound, and a disc like Sky Blue Sky -- which falls on the latter side of that divide and lacks some of the experimental touches of some other Wilco albums -- might provoke groans at first, but then over time, the craft and heft of the songs sink in.

Highly inarticulate/artless post on my part. Apologies.

great cover art!
one thing i like about wilco is Tweedy's sense of humour.
maybe thats what made them ,eventually, not to continue with the "serious" arty stuff of YHF,
it's just not in their genes (unlike Radiohead,for example, who should require some sense of humor and lightness imo)

btw. i'm not sure im a "real" wilco fan, cause i like more of their dadrock stuff (and Being There) than YHF

sky blue sky isn't too shabby thus far on current audition

and i'm a total art-rock yay experimentation ooh-i-heard-this-band-fucked-with-sonics non-dad

either way and side with the seeds are sweet

ok - just for daniel, here tis:

http://baltimorecitypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=11853

in retrospect, i was kind of an ass, i guess.

Nah. You're too hard on yourself. It just sounds like you didn't care for the disc.

So what changed? Are you now hearing hooks that you didn't hear before? Is the sound that was "sleepy" now part of the disc's charm? (That, BTW, is my view: That "sleepy" sound hit precisely the right 70s smooth-as-glass rock-sound sweet spot for me).

I was pretty savage in my review too. Too bad it's in Portuguese.

rock para papais!

walken is the only other track i like :-/

Yeah, I think you nailed it - the sleepy, laidback vibe's just more appealing now. Not that I don't dig on lotsa noise/hard stuff, but there's always a time and place for cozy, slower stuff.

I'm on my second listen to the new album right now.

"Wilco the Song" immediately became maybe my favorite Wilco song ever since I heard it on The Colbert Report. But srsly, this album is amazingly fantastical in every way. Immediate love affair here. It's really compact, for lack of a better word. The songs move in just the ways they should, as if you can kind of anticipate where they're going and then revel in it when they do. Nothing overstays its welcome at all. I mean, it's Wilco...so describing the sound isn't worth the trouble. It sounds like Wilco. But Tweedy is righteous and inspired and generally upbeat through the whole thing. "Bull Black Nova" is the only track over 5 mins, and it needs all 5:39 to make it work with the Steely Dan-ish instrumental breaks. The remainder works mostly in the 3-4 min range, with no fat.

Dunno when it will leak wide, but I can't imagine anyone being disappointed by it.

re: Sky Blue Sky. I never came around.

I feel such a HUGE disconnect between:

"re: Sky Blue Sky. I never came around."

"Dunno when it will leak wide, but I can't imagine anyone being disappointed by it."

not trying to be a dick, i jus seriously can't process the response at all. r u just saying that u hated SBS but like the new one? what are yr reasons?

(and I only ask this as a fan, who will not hear this until I can buy the LP)

Sky Blue Sky was just so thoroughly "AM Gold" that I can't really extract the heart of the songs from behind the sheen. Maybe I just always choose the wrong day to listen to it, but it always seems like it's work to do instead of music to play.

Wilco (The Album) is the band unmasked and direct and it sounds like it could've been recorded in 1979 or 2009 or 2039. There's no time for artifice.

^^^

I'm completely aware it sounds like I'm an asshole. Still a victim to the hyperbole this album inspires right now.

eh, whatever .. glad to learn that the new one is great!! but despised the sort of "AM Gold" thing about the last one and actively distrust anybody who drops that kinda crud. so left not sure how to feel about new one,..

did you see them at all since 2007? I saw the Millennium Park show in late 2007, the Lollapalooza show in summer 2008 , and then their opening slot on the Neil Young tour in December 2008.

they killed it all 3 times

I've only seen them once, between YHF and AGIB. Great show, tho.

I tend to favor the 90s albums over the 00s albums in general, btw. So that's where I'm coming from.

ok, that makes sense! it's kinda a totally different band, with Nels in there now (not to totally denigrate the earlier vers, but it's true)

Yeah. Nels is notably playing on these songs, but they're more in the same vein as the first three records.

" I can't imagine anyone being disappointed by it."

YOU MADE ME JEALOUS, JOHNNY!

and yeah, they are one of the best,most entertaining, great sounded live shows ever

leaking...downloading now!

ok... 94%...

'You and I' is really beautiful

George Harrison in 'You Never Know'!

not sure after first listen and liked the second half better. pretty much know this will not top Sky Blue Sky.

I actually went back and relistened to Sky Blue Sky after getting this last Saturday just to compare...ugh, that album is still so labored and boring. This one goes down so easy.

keep listening, it's a grower and doesn't revel itself until it is fully absorbed.

I gave up on it 2007. This was its last chance.

imo, why waste time I could be listening to the new one I liked immediately with trying to make myself like boring ol' Sky Blue Sky?

everyone is their own person, but for me Sky Blue Sky has been the album that has spoken to me more than any other Wilco release. just wish more see what i see in that wonderful album...

I'm on Johnny's side. Since I hated SBS the new one sounds much more vivid for me.

"Hate it Here" is my favorite, what a perfect song!

And it is not very good. I am not a big Wilco fan but this one may just be the worst thing they have done.

I mean the new one.

production:9
songwriting:6.5-7
playing:8.5

maybe it's a grower, i'm not sure.
lokks like it's as good as Sky Blue Sky is - which means some good songs, some mediocre.

i wish more songs were like Deeper Down.
tracks 1 and 2 are great
3 and 4 - good
and than it just goes downhill
i miss the ENERGY...

i mean, they sound kinda tired,unenthusiastic.

Weird. I get the polar opposite vibe. Sounds to me like they were really turned on by the idea of making music again.

Streaming now: http://wilcoworld.net/discs/thealbum/

Everytime I think I'm bored and done with Wilco, their new album gets under my skin. I was driving a rental car in Arizona and had stupidly forgotten to bring any music. Out of desperation I picked up Sky Blue Sky at friggen Walmart. It was perfect for desert drivin'.

Streaming it now. I like this a lot on first listen.

Streaming it today. Is You Never Know the obvious standout? It's certainly the one that keeps catching my attention, mostly for the lingering vocal harmonies on the chorus.

Also, is Nels Cline more restrained on this disc? I haven't heard a showcase moment for him like there was on, say, Impossible Germany.

i miss the times (not so long ago) that Tweedy wrote really great,classic songs.no such thing in this one and in SBS.
he is not in the pick of his songwriting power imo.

some good moments here,esp. in the first half, but not enough.

"Impossible Germany" may be my favorite Wilco song, and no, there's nothing like it here, sadly. "Bull Black Nova" is my favorite so far.

I never -- ever -- get tired of this song:

Especially Cline's solo, starting at about the 3:00 mark. So bluesy and lyrical.

deeper down is the "experimental" track of the album,with all that "finish and start again" parts,and the result is nice.

so far this isn't bad

After two listens I've liked this more than anything they've done in ten years. They write songs that mean what they say, and harnessed all the expensive sonics and ugly guitars so that the songs take unexpected twists in the manner of Richard Lloyd-Robert Quine era Matthew Sweet.

I find YHF a total snooze, so what do I know.

im not sure, but wasnt Impossible Germany actually written (and plyed live) in the Ghost Is Born Period?

xpost

I find YHF a total snooze, so what do I know.

Poptimist.

I think impossible germany is the best thing this band has ever done. liking this new album.

If that piano line was dragged up to the front of the mix and everything else crammed down or nearly silenced, I think Bull Black Nova would capture some of the same feel as Spoon's The Ghost Of You Lingers.

4 tracks, 4 big thumbs-ups so far. Having looked at the reviews, I don't expect this to continue. Deeper Down and Bull Black Nova are *really* quite something.

What reviews? Links, plz.

These songs are sneaky, both trickier than they let alone and simpler than they let on. It's an odd balance to strike, almost unique these days. Not "masterpiece" unique or anything, but unique enough to frustrate listeners with overly high expectations for a band that's never sounded the same on two albums in a row. Some people put off by this seem a bit like "A.M." fans put off by "Being There," or "Summerteeth" fans put off by "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," or "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" fans put off by "Sky Blue Sky."

yeah, there are some songs here that resemble the Spoon sound
xpost

Well, the Billboard one linked upthread and the testimonials of ILXors here

x-post to me

Trickier than they let ON ..

I have a feeling this disc will receive a warmer critical reception than Sky Blue Sky. We'll see. I've been wrong before . . . often.

(xp)

Well, it's a good heap better than SBS on the evidence thus far.

this record to Wilco is like The Eternal to Sonic Youth

That's interesting. Why do you say that?

(I haven't heard the new Sonic Youth, fwiw)

both resemble a previous,much better and sharper work of the band.
both i'd recommend for long time fans only.
both are ok but nuch more than that. (if i wont change my mind and this album will be a grower)
oh, and both were had Orourke with them before, for better records...

sorry for the misspellimg and the mess...

There's a three-step decending staircase of guitar chords in You Never Know that appears just after Tweedy sings "It's a feel to transcend/and we're here, at the end" and just before the chorus, and it's reminding me very strongly of a 70s rock song that I think I love (at least for nostalgic reasons). Can't place the 70s song yet, tho.

Or maybe I'm just on dope. Or maybe senile. Or dumb.

It's a George Harrison song, the title of which escapes me presently.

YES.

Yeah, isn't it "My Sweet Lord?"

Just as ponderous as Sky Blue Sky.

OK, my verdict: first four tracks really good, rest average

I wasn't big on Sky Blue Sky, especially after A Ghost Is Born, which is my favorite Wilco album.

But on first listen, this new one is really grabbing me. Excellent arrangements, stunning guitar tones, and lots of keeper melodies.

Looking forward to a Wilco album I can like again; SBS bored me snoozy - altho boots of shows on the SBS tour show the band (and especially those songs) in a brilliant new light. Could be awesome.

this is much better than SBS which was snoozy

"snoozy" shouldn't nec. be a pejorative. I think SBS was very good at being snoozy!

my god, you guys are getting me stoked for this thing, will have to check out the stream sometime today

"Bull Black Nova" is quite something, but the whole record is pretty solid.

this is actually pretty nice so far (three songs in) but wtf at these riffs? "wilco (the song)" sounds just like "round and down" by the bats and "one wing" jacks its shit straight from third eye blind's "never let you go"

wait did you guys who said first four tracks = good not listen to the fifth track?? "you and i" is lovely

lol this album is seriously like some deja vu shit...the chorus to "you never know" reminds me of that gbv song "little whirl"

"You and I" is def one of the best tracks here. xp

"Wilco [the song]" sounds like a "Werewolves of London" w/ Joey Santiago

http://preorderwilcothealbum.kungfustore.com/pages/wilco_contest_rules

When you pre-order a copy of Wilco (the album) from the Wilco Pre-Order store between now and June 30, you will automatically become eligible to win prizes in a weekly drawing...

oh boy this is dull dull dull. why are all the edges rounded off? f dad rock, this is spoon rock.

" this is spoon rock."
a spoon rock wannabe maybe

Haha. Predictably, I love it.

I wonder if the people with negative opinions on this also dislike the first 2 (or 3) Wilco albums.

admittedly, i've had it in for this band ever since my arch-dad-rock-loving friend told me that yhf 'taught him to appreciate experimental rock music.' it's not wilco's fault how much daftness has been written about them, but i do think it's ruined the band nonetheless. just one man's opinion, etc

@Johnny Fever -- me, i loved the first two albums, no problem with the the third though liked it somewhat less. I think ultimately, I just don't have six albums or whatever interest in what jeff tweedy has to say.

for me:
being there>summerteeth>>>>>a.m (the inly one of the 3 i don't like)

but the problem with the new one,imo, is not the "dadrock" thing or the production, (though you can argue about the quality of it as well) but the songs themselves:
theres nothing in here as moving and great as shot in the arm,via chicago,monday,red-eyed and blue etc...

admittedly, i've had it in for this band ever since my arch-dad-rock-loving friend told me that yhf 'taught him to appreciate experimental rock music.'

I think I'm open to a lot of music, including "experimental" rock. I don't consider Wilco experimental at all. That's not why I seek out their music. I like Wilco for their songwriting, arrangements, musicianship and craft. And I love them to bits, even more for the newer albums.

Also: I'm a 41 year-old dad, so I guess I'm Wilco's target demographic. FWIW, I like the F--k Buttons, too, and I don't think I'm their target demographic.

Yeah, Wilco has never been and never will be an experimental band. Blame rock crits with limited knowledge and poor vocabularies for that widespread misconception. YHF and AGIB were opaque compared to the earlier stuff, but it was just a case of Tweedy taking the scenic route to get to the same place. SBS is really the only Wilco album I can't embrace for whatever reason (mostly because it simmers forever without once reaching a boil).

Part of why I like this one so much is that the songs ("Bull Black Nova" excepted) pretty much go directly from A to B. Tweedy doesn't get distracted by his own ideas.

I think Impossible Germany reaches an incredible boil (the Nels Cline guitar solo). I've got to go back and spend more time with Summerteeth and Being There.

really, I basically agree with Zeno, I just don't think wilco have the tunes. to hugley overgeneralize, there's a flatness to so many of their songs, and it's not just his flat voice. I think that's why I lost interest.

Well, in terms of having "hooks," I think I agree, at least with respect to the last two discs. What overcomes the lack of hooks for me is (a) the vibe of the songs (which is where I think the "dadrock" claim is valid, since the songs hit me in a 70s certain-kind-of-rock sweet spot), (b) the arrangements, which I think are nuanced and layered and inventive and (c) the performace and craft, which I just think is top-notch, especially since Cline joined as the ace guitarist (and he is certainly that).

fair enough. i have a friend, non-ilxor, whose taste i trust completely, who is flipped for the new one. just not working for me

not just the lack of hooks, but also the lack of emotion:
i think tweedy is the sort of artist who write his best songs when he suffers.
now he seems quite happy.(and i wish him all the best...)

Sometimes a suffering artist is best. I'm curious: What Wilco songs do you think fit that description?

shot in the arm, via chicago, red eyed and blue,why would you wanna live,handshake drugs...so many more...

lol . . . I've been listening to Handshake Drugs all day long. And while I love the acoustic guitar strumming (I think it's a pretty simple chord progression, but sounds so good), it's when Nels Cline begins soloing that the song takes flight.

I'm going to re-listen to those other songs now.

handshake drugs is wilco's best song and they haven't followed its example nearly enough since AGIB imo

(I'm listening to the live version from Kicking Television, BTW; I'm not sure if Nels Cline was with the group when they recorded the studio version).

I just this second (before you posted that) started the live version on Spotify - this is the first time I have heard it.

The first half is their most charming music in aeons; the last half gets flaccid, despite the song that lifts Tom Petty's "Jammin' Me" wholesale. The one about how America confuses him offends me, slightly. If you admit to not understanding what's going on, then offer more than platitudes sun in an enervated voice.

L0uis J.: Post impressions of the live version, plz. Bonus points for comparing/contrasting to studio track.

I think of Wilco picking up Nels Cline like a top-notch sports team adding an oddball superstar who takes the franchise to a higher level. Can't come up with an actual anaolgy now, but a few will come to me soon.

Is You Never Know on Side A or B? In any event, it's my early favorite.

Live one is FAR more in-your-face...it's almost storming at you in the second half, raging with lysergic fury...really, really different vibe to the studio version, which got by on its laid-back, resigned, narcotic, blissful melancholy (the unfussily major-key tune only adding to the sense of dissipating anguish and musical place). Will need to listen again for a full comparison, but that live version really goddamn attacks you, losing some of what made me love the original but adding something else....

I mean, I'm not convinced by the first half of the live version at all, it's too perky, not magical enough. But by god it rips into some sort of hellfire agony.

I'm not sure the transition would have worked in such a way if the first half had been restrained and languid. It's a very interesting reading of a great song, and I am grateful they did it this way rather than slavishly copied the studio version.

*copying

That virtuoso firepower is the "superstar element" I think Cline brings to the band. Even when he's playing laid back, there's the feeling of all that power coiled-up in his playing.

I'll have to seek out the studio version.

The way the percussion speeds into double-time in the live one is also commendable, as if the band are all "fuck this let's go mental"

However, the studio version is absolute 100% subtle magic, and depends on its crisp, immaculate production (which slowly becomes subsumed in headswimming drones) to work so stunningly.

I mean, I call it my favourite Wilco, it's pretty much tied with IATTBYH and Poor Places, but all three are fucking phenomenal pieces of music.

"It" is A Ghost Is Born, I assume?

"It" = "Handshake Drugs" i suppose.

yes

lol Ashes Of American Flags gets Nels Cline-ised as well :D

this might be my favorite since summerteeth. "deeper down" sounds like they've made peace and brought jay bennett back

xp Nels Clined, surely.

Wow. Finally found someone as obsessed with Handshake Drugs as I am.

i am all things to all people

Wilco (The Album) is actually making me appreciate Sky Blue Sky - which is saying something. I mean, this new album isn't horrid but by and large it leads me to wonder why I get even a little excited when Wilco releases stuff at this poinr.

God, Summerteeth was amazing, wasn't it?

I took my dad to see Wilco a couple of years ago. I mean, I'm 34, with a family of my own, but these older fans were all, like, it's so cool you brought your dad! No one said that to me when I took him to see Tool. He liked both shows, but liked Wilco better, probably because he's a dad, right?

Probably!

all of the above true about 'you never know'; did they sample harrison on this or just do a very good approximation? I noted in another forum that I don't see how Wilco haven't gotten in trouble for this kind of thing yet; 'outta mind outta sight' borrowed 'sesame street' and 'pot kettle black' was based around 'inbetween days', and 'you never know' has that harrison riff from 'my sweet lord' and also recalls 'everyday people'.

"Always In Love" does a pretty good "Virginia Plain" too.

Still love this one. Still can't stand Sky Blue Sky. After about another month of playing them on the regular.

Stick with it, Dr. Fever! You'll love Sky Blue Sky . . . eventually.

A devoted effort 2 years ago, and then again for the past month? Probably not gonna happen.

Sky Blue Sky is my favorite from Wilco.

New album is boring. Will probably give it one more try, but I'm skeptical. Felt the same about Sky Blue Sky, the only song of which I really remember/like is Impossible Germany. I'll take people's word for Cline being a genius but I feel nothing.

YHF and Summerteeth are what I love them for.

Now off to listen to Son Volt, which is at least occasionally tuneful.

"180g double vinyl + CD version" ftw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2TxLT-Xg8c

man, this thing is really pretty grand

it's just a whole different thing from SBS, is all.

i like both

so i bought this today, remember when we got excited about buying new albums?

i have that song "Wilco (the song)" in my head all day.

Dusted lays on the hate (same old arguments): http://dustedmagazine.com/reviews/5120

Wow, that one almost takes joy in being particularly negative.

(though I've slammed SBS here and a few other places, so I understand the impulse)

yeah sorta sounds like the writer was beaten up once by a guy singing "heavy metal drummer" or something.

i've read a couple of that dude's pieces, he's pretty terrible

lol, I've met that dude. Apparently he's friends with erstwhile ILXor J. Blount.

jaymc mention my name to emerson next time you see him!!!!! DO NOT MENTION ILX PLZ THX. TELL HIM YOU MET ME AT TOPPERS.

― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, June 7, 2005 3:20 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

tell him i hung with emily who posts here and he dated when she was 13 and he was decidedly NOT 13 hahahahaha. and that i said 'what up!'

― j blount (papa la bas), Friday, December 23, 2005 5:07 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol

haha

yeah sorta sounds like the writer was beaten up once by a guy singing "heavy metal drummer" or something.

"Vicious, you hit me with a flower..."

haha

B-side of "You Never Know" is an alternate version of "Impossible Germany"!

Paging Daniel Esq.:
http://harmonizewithsongs.blogspot.com/2009/06/unlikely-japan.html

i have grown very fond of this album, it's much better than i thought it originally was. still like Sky Blue Sky more but this album isn't bad for a band that has been around for this long...

Jaymc, thank you! I'm on it.

I like the new one but I wish they could put a little more energy (rock) back into their sound. Their albums are starting to get a little too mid-tempo every time out. A little more variety next time please.

underrated, even though i found it a bore at the time too

first four songs are just so goddamn good

OK, my verdict: first four tracks really good, rest average

― sorry for british (country matters), Wednesday, 13 May 2009 22:24 (twelve years ago) bookmarkflaglink

cute that Brad agrees with me from 12 years ago lol

i really liked the feist feature at the time, but it is very dadrock, isn't it? honestly trying to remember much of anything about this album. i liked the camel on the cover???

(camels are cool, btw)

are we doing ILM Wilcofest in preparation for the new Big Thief album btw lol

yeah, why not? wilco is a fine band to dive into it every so often.

like Madonna

"c'mon, children. you're acting like children."

i've been listening to a lot of allman brothers band and etc. and like out of a reflexive memory of sky blue sky being a record of languid and beautiful songs and guitar solos, i listened to it for the first time in probably ten years last week and loved it more than i ever have, and the resulting discussion on that thread made me want to revisit the classic records—which were my favorite albums of all time in high school, and which i've drifted so far from since that it feels like i'm exploring the taste of a different person—as well as give late wilco more of a focused and fair shake

i really wish they'd do another live album, seen them a couple times in the last 5 years and they are really something

oh wasn't questioning it Brad! it's been really interesting to see people's reactions to this music, which is often overlooked as an influence now (on bands like Big Thief for instance)

i've been appreciating sky blue sky more these days -- i like how it sort of *seems* like a reversion to more straightforward songwriting, but is actually packed with weird structures/chord progressions/rhythms etc. kind of along the lines of some old Band records -- stuff that sounds sorta folksy on the surface but has a lot of layers underneath.

― tylerw, Friday, May 8, 2009 9:26 AM (twelve years ago) bookmarkflaglink

great old true post tylerw

jesus, i've been here too long. I'll stand by that post, though!
I think Wilco (The Album) is the worst Wilco album though.

Jesus (I've Been Here Too Long), etc is the best Wilco song

Anyone need a pink toilet? pic.twitter.com/KCbneWrkSC

— Spencer Tweedy (@spencertweedy) January 31, 2022

W(TA) was probably the most disappointed I've been in an anticipated album. I played it a few months ago and it wasn't quite so bad, but the possible bottom of the pile for me too

yep my least fav as well

this is one of their least essential, it's not bad but just doesn't have a whole lot going for it compared to most of their albums. it's not really committed to anything in particular and suffers for it.

It's not a favorite, but I don't think it's a bad album either. "Wilco (The Song)," "You and I" and "You Never Know" are good, and "Bull Black Nova" really became a monster live. (It's typically amazing, but I wonder if there's any particular concert performance that fans consider THE one to find.)

Might be starting to come round to it now. At the time I was crushed by how earnestly bland Uncut free-CD fodder it felt back then. It'll probably always be a near least fave but One Wing and I'll Fight in particular are sounding so much more appealing than in 2009/10

Here's a good one - not a different arrangement, but the studio version sounds a bit tame in comparison:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi-gwT_biME