jakobnicholas

I got Abbey Road and Past Masters.

The songs on Past Masters are really all the proof needed as to how great and prolific the Beatles were. Not only are their albums great, but their singles are arguably equally great.

This Boy, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, I Feel Fine, I'm Down....ALL superb. We Can Work It Out and Day Tripper were teamed up on a double-A-side single. Paperback Writer and Rain were paired up. Hey Jude and the rocked-out version of Revolution were put out together.

Their output in 7 years is truly mind-boggling.

I don't rank my Wilco albums so much as consider each of them a distinct tool to be added to my tool box. I would never, ever listen to YHF when I was in the mood for SBS, because they don't serve the same function for me - it would be like trying to clean a window with a hammer.

For me, Being There and Summerteeth are screwdrivers or pliers....I use them the most. A Ghost is Born and YHF might be the hammer or tape measure.

W(TA) is the caulking gun.

Thanks for compiling all this. It's a pretty great list.

Of the 25 songs, 20 are Wilco songs. Of the other 5:

- 2 Uncle Tupelo (Gun, New Madrid)

- 1 Golden Smog (Radio King)

- 2 Loose Fur (Laminated Cat, Chinese Apple)

That's a fair list of songs, though they're not my personal favorite Tweedy songs in those bands. (I think Wreckroom is his most INTERESTING Loose Fur song....even if maybe not as lyrically great as the 2 on the list).

Were there other non-Wilco songs that rated high?

To me, a Top 20 Tweedy song list MUST include a March, 1992 song. And I think All the Same to Me is one of his more unique songs...the lyrics don't sound much at all like a Tweedy song...but they're great. And I always loved the sound of his voice on this track.

The Big Star records are great.

Alex Chilton, rightly so, is the name most associated with the group. But Chris Bell's contribution on #1 Record is huge. Bell was supposedly fighting depression and/or a bad relationship, evidenced in emotionally strong songs like "Feel", "Don't Lie To Me" and "My Life is Right". Chilton was more sunny with songs like "The Ballad of El Goodo" and "Watch the Sunrise".

Radio City is a great pop record. Bell was supposedly devestated that #1 Record received virtually no commercial success and left the band. He also supposedly didn't like that Chilton was starting to take control of the band. I've read that Bell and Chilton got together to write a couple tracks, but Radio City is mostly Chilton (and Jody Stephens). Regardless of all that, Chilton's got some amazing songs on here. I've always loved "Daisy Glaze".

Third/Sister Lovers is perhaps my favorite. It's dark and quirkily brilliant for the most part, though "Blue Moon" is one of the prettiest songs ever recorded. "Kangaroo" is my favorite track.

ALSO....anybody who likes any of the Big Star records MUST track down Chris Bell's I Am the Cosmos. Bell died in a car crash in 1978 after never releasing his solo recordings. His brother, many years later, helped get the songs released on a disc. A few rockers could have easily fit on #1 Record. And other songs like the title track, "Speed of Sound" and "You and Your Sister" are simply beautiful.

Yes, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but come on. These Beatles albums are still better than anything and everything that has ever been put out by anyone. If and when I get tired of them, I put them down. And when I come back to them, I am forced to question why I listen to most of the schlock that I spend most of my time listening to. Part of me thinks that my voracious appetite for new music is really just a voracious appetite to find something that moves me like these Beatles albums move me. As much as I love a band like Wilco, it's not even close. I mean, not even close. And I am sure that Jeff would agree. And that's not even an insult.

It's so true.

I dug out my Beatles Anthology Vol. 1 yesterday, and even hearing their "bad" versions of songs makes me realize how truly special they were. The Anthology version of And I Love Her is AMAZING.

Sometimes I think I can listen to the Abbey Road medley 20 times a day for a whole year and never not be stunned by its brilliance.

This REALLY bothers you about YOU never know?

 

It's four repititions of two couplets of I don't care anymore x2.

 

16 times. Hardly on the scale of a live "Misunderstood".

 

It seems as though you are looking for reasons to be discontent. If they finished One Wing with a guitar freakout you would complain that guitar solos are lazy songwriting tools are you would complain that Jay could have done it better.

Yes. When actually listening to the song, it DOES really bother me.

I know you're not suggesting You Never Know is on the level of Misunderstood. 'Cause that would really be silly. (You're not are you. )

To me, Wilco's work from A.M. to A Ghost is Born is almost unquestionable...it really seemed that with each effort (including Mermaid and b-sides and work in other bands), Jeff and the band were really striving for something great and/or special and/or thrilling and/or fun. Sky Blue Sky was a very worthy effort, though I got a tiny sense that they were taking the foot off the throttle a bit.

With W(TA), the foot is mostly off the throttle and set to cruise control. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. For me, the record kind of sounds like a sampler of Wilco's various sounds. Unfortuantely, most of the time I've heard them do better versions of these sounds.

It's funny the things fans will find to complain about:

It IS all silly. And it's a little embarrassing to spout out what I think is wrong with something...as if I know better than the artist.

But isn't that's what these forums are for? Isn't that's what's fun?

It's like seeing a movie by a favorite director, then spending the next week talking with somebody how you liked the movie but wished they did this or didn't do that.

Or watching a football game and screaming at the TV, "why the f*ck are you running on 3rd and 12....pass the ball you dipshits!".

To me, it's very similar to listening to an album. I so badly wanted One Wing to end in an orgasm-inducing musical jam. But it didn't. I wanted to love You Never Know, as it starts of so promising. Then I wonder why the f*ck Jeff has to repeat "I don't care anymore" 50 times. You and I is so damned sweet sounding, but I wish they would have added a little something more to the song. Listening to Jeff on Bull Black Nova is like the excitement of watching my team's return guy streaking down the side-line 80 yards for a touchdown. Go Jeff Go! Then listening to My Country Disappeared or Everlasting Everything is like sitting through the final 30 minutes of Dark Knight, when the Joker was off the screen and I was looking at my watch.

You're stupified that someone likes certain songs more or less than you do?

I think Tweedy's Loose Fur songs are phenomenal....especially Hey Chicken, Laminated Cat and Wreckroom.

I think Sonny Feelling is a shitty song and would rank it in the bottom 2 percent of any Wilco/Tweedy song ever.

So, yeah, I AM stupified that someone could really like a song that I think is crap. But Transformers 2 was pretty terrible, yet has made over 800 million worldwide. We all have different tastes...sometimes WAY different.

I would take Deeper Down, One Wing, Bull Black Nova, Country Disappeared, Sonny Feeling, Everlasting Everything over more than half of those.

I disagree but respect your opinion on the first 4.

But the last 2 leaves me stupified. Wow.

I feel like Tweedy could spit out a Loose Fur album in an hour.

Then I guess I prefer Tweedy when he just "spits them out".

Sorry, but W(TA) couldn't hold the jock of Tweedy's Loose Fur songs:

Hey Chicken

Laminated Cat

You Were Wrong

Wanted

The Rulling Class

An Ecunomical Matter

Wreckroom

Chinese Apple

Yeah, I hate it when bands make albums on their terms and not mine.

Stick with the formula = unimaginative

Stray from the formula = not playing to the strengths

 

Ya just can't win...

I think on W(TA), Wilco "stuck with the formula", which is why I and many others find it just kinda so-so overall. Most songs on W(TA) make me think of past Wilco songs that are much better. It sucks for Wilco, but they've created their own monster. After a long string of very rewarding, challenging, unique music, for some of us this new record sounds like treading water. That's not saying it's a bad record. It just doesn't raise the bar higher. In some cases it lowers the bar.

Bull Black Nova and Solitaire are the 2 songs that make me feel the Wilco magic. Those are the only songs where I feel Wilco strayed from thier comfort zone. Deeper Down as well, perhaps.

Wilco (The Song) comes close, but how can a Wilco fan not immediately compare it Always In Love? One Wing is beautiful, but it reminds me a bit of Impossible Germany, which I like better. I'll Fight sounds like a Mermaid Avenue song, but not good enough to make those records.

W(TA) is a nice record, nothing more. I so badly wish Tweedy and the crew would make an album that sounded like Wilcobook or some of the Loose Fur tracks. Many of those songs just sound so freaking ballsy and creative. They're capable of making another bold record, I'm just not sure if they really want to.

I bow to no one in my unabashed R.E.M. fandom, but I can say confidently that W(TA) is a better album than Reveal.

 

Again we see Wilco being criticized for merely recording an album full of "good" songs. I submit that this an achievement, not a demerit.

I would agree with you if I thought that they did, in fact, release an album FULL of good songs.

Sky Blue Sky, though maybe not a great album, sounded fresh. I didn't care much for Shake it Off or Walken, but they did have fascinating bits. And the more direct, simple songs seemed unique to Wilco because of their uplifitng lyrics.

I find much of W(TA) to be just be mediocre. You Never Know, Sonny Feeling and I'll Fight are very mediocre and unremarkable "rockers" when compared to past Wilco rockers. The uplifting and 'pretty' songs (You and I, Everlasting Everything) are OK, but sound a step-down from the ones on Sky Blue Sky (Either Way, On and On On).

That's not to say it's a bad album. It's just an un-interesting album with a handful of great songs.

It was the worst kind of cheap shot -- one thrown by a guy who didn't have the stones to throw a real block so he pussed out and went low. He knew what he was doing.

You oviously hate Brett Favre and/or hate his prima donna-like perception and/or hate all the offseason back and forths he's had with his not retiring then retiring then not retiring again. That's all fair.

But Favre's not a cheap-shot kind of player. He found himself in a bad spot, and did what he thought would help protect himself. It was more of "oh, shit, I'm gonna get pummeled so I better twist my body to take the hit as safely as possible" than "I'm goonn hit that guy in his knees".

Wouldn't be surprised if the NFL drops a little fine on him to send a message.

The story isn't the block. The story is why the f*ck would Minnesota's coach line up Favre to block in a pre-season game? It's begging the Texans' defenders to rough Favre up. INCREDIBLY STUPID!!

"I'll Fight" is another tune that suffers from lack of melody. Just a one-note sledgehammer. Pretty painful. And this from the group that did "How to Fight Loneliness," which is in the same key and has a lot of musical similarity. Except "How to Fight Loneliness" has a much more discernible melody and the song actually takes you somewhere, instead of singing "I'll fight, I'll fight, I'll fight" over and over again.

I agree with all that.

Bull Black Nova and Solitaire, to me, are the only songs where it SOUNDS like Wilco really attempted something special. Too much of the rest are mostly pleasant songs, but have a safe-ness about them that I can't really explain. One Wing is a very good song, but comes up a little short. Wilco (The Song) is a very good rocker with very solid lyrics, but it's hard not think they weren't doing a 2009 version of a Summerteeth rocker.

I found an old review of R.E.M.'s "Reveal" that was written by a critic named Scott Wilson. He defended "Reveal" in his review...not saying it was great, but that it was a respectable R.E.M. album. He finished his review with this:

"You can't accuse them of greed or contractual obligation; the simple fact is that people need to keep working. And should. That work won't always be indisputably great, though it could be again. But the listener's part of the contract isn't to wowed every time but to be fascinated. And R.E.M.'s work, pretty or pretty good, remains uniquely fascinating."

I like the phrase "remains uniquely fascinating". I think that should be the #1 requirement asked by fans of their favorite band. It's not asking too much, I don't think.

And Wilco, for me, was "uniquely fascinating" all the way up to A Ghost is Born. And I'd even say the same about Sky Blue Sky. But Wilco (The Album) might be the first I can't say that about.

Yup, that crackback block was bullshit. I only watched a few minutes of that game, but I saw that happen live, and had to wonder what Favre would be saying if someone had done that to him and messed up his consecutive-starts streak.

The play was WAY over-blown by the announcers. Favre looked clueless as to how to actually block a guy. He was waist level, and to avoid getting hit on his throwing shoulder, he kind of twisted and dropped to make it appear worse than it actually was. Favre didn't look like he was purposely cheap-shotting the guy.

The bigger question is why the hell did the Vikings call a play to have their Hall of Fame, $12 million quarterback BLOCK....in a freakin' pre-season game?! Dumb!

I didn't think Orton was bad last night. He completed 75% of his passes. And you have to remember that since the last Super Bowl, Shanahan had only led the Broncos to the playoffs 4 times in 10 years with just one playoff win.

 

The verdict is still out on McDaniels since he hasn't even coached a regular season game yet, regardless of what he wears on the sideline. That's a pretty weak division, so anything can happen (especially if San Diego underachieves yet again).

I think Denver made the right move to get rid of Shanahan. BUT....hind-sight 20/20, I'd think most Denver fans would rather have Shanahan/Cutler/Marshall. McDaniels has a lot of work to do.

Orton just looks like most NFL QB's. Cutler has the look of a franchise QB. Time will tell.

San Diego WILL under-achieve, but will almost surely win the West. I'd be shocked if Denver, KC or Oakland got to 9 wins.

I'm much more enthused about W(TA) than most, apparently. It can't match up to the Being There/YHF/AGIB trio in my mind, but I rank it just below those, and above A.M., Summerteeth, and SBS. This is actually their only one besides YHF with no songs that I dislike.

Jay Bennett just rolled over.

Well, of course Kyle Orton isn't close to Jay Cutler's level. There's a reason he was traded with a bunch of draft picks.

Uh....yeah, I know.

It seemed like a HUGE mistake by McDaniels then, and after last night, it seems 10 times HUGER (is that a word?)

Looking like a little kid in a Bill Belichek uniform surely can't help the perception that he's in over his head. Denver got tired of Shanahan's controlling ways, but might it be better to have Shanahan and Cutler (and a happy Brandon Marshall), than an inexperienced coach, a mediocre-at-best QB and a pissed off all-pro reviever?

(As a Chiefs fan, I'm loving all of it. Kansas City will probably suck this year. But Denver may suck worse.)

Josh McDaniels looks like a kid dressing up as Bill Belichek for Halloween.

I understand he likes wearing sweatshirts, but why must he look like mini-B?

None of this matters, of course, but he's surely under a microscope in Denver after the Jay Cutler debacle. Orton DID NOT look close to the level of Jay Cutler last night.

For me, W(TA) has some great Wilco songs...Wilco (The Song), One Wing, Bull Black Nova and Solitaire. But much of the rest is just so-so.

SBS was fairly similar...I'd put its best songs with some of Wilco's best (Either Way, Impossible Germany, Sky Blue Sky, On and On and On). But as a whole, it leaves me kinda flat.

I was wondering the same thing about Target (I don't go near Walmart). Mainly, if they would have the mono set for sale. I know it's supposed to be limited, but does that mean limited to online? Best Buy, Borders, and Barnes and Noble only? Or will all these stores get some?

 

I'm looking forward to hearing them all in mono.

I found this at Beatlesnews.com:

With only two weeks to go now before the Beatles Remastered hits store shelves, we have now heard from many readers, and have confirmed, that the Beatles Remastered Mono Box Set, which will be available in limited quantities, is no longer available for pre-order on the web sites of Best Buy, Costco and Wal-Mart.

We do see that Best Buy is now listing the Mono Box as being available as an "Import", however, it is listed with a retail price of $703.98 and a sale price of $563.18. (The final Amazon price for the Mono Box set was $229.49.) In addition, Best Buy is listing delivery date for this import as 9/15, about a week after the Remasters' delivery date of 09/09/09.

It is unknown whether or not these retailers have separate allotments of the Mono Box for their "brick and mortar" stores, and if they will have copies in their stores of the box sets even though they are no longer selling them on their web sites.

I avoid Walmart also, but frankly, I might start asking all retailers (Walmart included) if they'll have box sets for sale in the store. It may be the same as scoring a cabbage patch doll or Wii system. This might be nuts.

Which specific albums are you all most wanting to hear remastered?

The mono Sgt. Pepper's would be AWESOME to hear. I'll be buying a new Abbey Road for sure.

You think Walmarts and Targets will sell-out the sets on the first day? Will they have mono sets in-store?

As much shit as McCartney gets, Rod Stewart went way further off the track of respectability.

 

--Mike

Well, he DID do that stellar cover of Waits' "Downbound Train".

(That was a joke... )

I found a funny blurb I liked from the Beatles Songwriting Database website. This is Paul talking about the Rubber Soul song 'Girl':

PAUL circa-1994: "It was John's original idea, but it was very much co-written. I remember writing 'the pain and pleasure,' and 'a man must break his back.' ...It was amusing to see if we could get a naughty word on the record. The Beach Boys had a song out where they'd done 'la la la la' and we loved the innocence of that and wanted to copy it but not use the same phrase. So we were looking around for another phrase-- 'dit dit dit dit,' which we decided to change it in our waggishness to 'tit tit tit tit.' And it gave us a laugh. It was good to get some light relief in the middle of this real big career that we were forging. If we could put in something that was a little bit subversive then we would. George Martin would say, 'Was that dit-dit or tit-tit you were singing?' 'Oh! dit-dit George, but it does sound a bit like that, doesn't it?' Then we'd get in the car and break down laughing."

"Henry-Portrait of a Serial Killer" I saw that when it came out. I wont watch that again.

Bingo. It was TOO real for me. Creeped me out big time.