jakobnicholas

"Up" is my favorite post-Berry record. I think Stipe took Berry's leaving very hard and didn't know if/how to go on as R.E.M. The lyrics reflect that. The record is filled with lyrics and characters who are struggling, yet also is very hopeful. And musically, Buck and Mills really treaded into some new territory, usually in a fantastic way. I saw R.E.M. on the "Up" tour and it was fanastic. "Reveal" is a bit under-rated...not great, but I think a very 'nice' summer record. "Around The Sun" is a bit of a trainwreck, though with many promising elements. "Accelerate" seemed forced to me. "Colla

A quick Google search revealed an article titled, "It's The End Of The Band As We Know It". I've a feeling the bad puns are gonna come steaming in like Box Cars.

Sounds like they'll never play together again. Like their recent albums or not, they were and still are a GREAT live band. I had hope I'd get to see them at least one more time. I'll be real curious to see what Mike and Michael do musically in the future. Stipe's voice is one of a kind, so I hope we get to hear it again. Mills will likely start or join another band of some sort. Buck will likely continue the 50+ gigs that he seems to juggle. Kinda expected, but still kind of a bummer.

That's it! To me, that nails why Being There is brilliant and great and Sky Blue Sky falls short. The unconventional jams and sounds in some songs on Sky Blue Sky might fit wonderfully on other records, but for me they stand out like sore thumbs and ruin the vibe of SBS. I believe that Sky Blue Sky was meant to be a recovery/acceptance/moving-forward record that had no studio trickery and was meant to sound natural and beautiful. I really like that this album was made and that Jeff/Wilco attempted a "pretty" record. I just wish it went further in that direction (One True Vine...a beautiful

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, for me, suffers a little bit because I've listened to it so many times. But I'll always remember the first few times I heard it when I was hearing leaked mp3's many months before the cd release. Hearing the Big Star "Kangaroo"-like drums, guitar strum, mysterious lyrics and Jeff's delivery was like crack. I couldn't stop listening to it. One Sunday Morning might be most likely new song to make a future list. Art of Almost doesn't seem to have the emotional lyrics of At Least That's What You Said, but for me it has the same attitude. I like it a lot.

PopMatters has a list of its top 10 Wilco songs (pre-The Whole Love). (http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/148218-the-10-best-wilco-songs/P0) I would have included an A.M. song (Dash 7 or Passenger Side). And I'd have included more than just 1 Summerteeth song (She's A Jar or Pieholden Suite). But I think it's a really solid list: 10. Far Far Away 9. Spiders 8. Poor Places 7. Handshake Drugs 6. At Least That's What You Said 5. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart 4. Misunderstood 3. Via Chicago 2. Ashes of American Flags 1. Radio Cure On a side note, for those who've heard the new record, how m

Jeff's quote suggests it might be an issue for HIM. All I'm saying is that if it IS an issue for him, he shouldn't have included her name in the title. And if he hadn't, none of us would have cared at all and it would have affected our like or dislike of the record and the song ZERO. This thread is about a specific song that has a person's name in the title. Dorks like me are curious about things like that. Besides Bob Dylan's Beard and Mermaid Avenue (which Jeff didn't write), it's rare to see a name in a song title. It's all VERY trivial, and does nothing to change the fact that I love

My intent is not to start a political back-and-forth. I lean right on many issues, but have NEVER let that get in the way of enjoying good music, books or films. Jeff said, " I don’t know her very well, but I have met her and her boyfriend, and I’m a little nervous about that song now because I’m hoping that it will be taken in good spirits. Having met her only once, though, I will say that I know her better than I know her work even. It’s really more about the meeting of her boyfriend, and I had a really poignant moment over dinner with him one time, so I thought it was cool to reflect tha

Woulda been easy for Jeff Tweedy to leave off "Smiley" or just reference the guy's first name. I'm curious to why he felt the need to title the song like he did. 1. Tweedy admits to not knowing her or her writing much at all, so I doubt his desire was to boost her popularity. 2. She has no relevance to the gorgeous song's lyrics or story. 3. Tweedy must expect that some fans of the band, like myself, would be curious who she was. In just minutes on Google, I found out she's not only a successful (and very good, it seems) novel writer but also someone who writes numerous essays and opinion pi

REALLY a nice-sounding song. Something about the vibe of the music that feels good listening to. I didn't know who Jane Smiley was before seeing the Wilco song title. Now that I know a little about her, I'm surprised the songs isn't about a man figuring out to tell his girlfriend he wants to see someone else.

I only listened to the weekend stream once. LOVED tracks 1 and 2. Really phenomenal and impressive stuff by the band. And I really want to hear track 12 again. Has a very nice vibe. The rest I'm not sure. Some of Jeff's lyrics and high-pitched, soulful vocal stylings at times sounded a bit too precious (Sunloathe for example), but most of Whole Love sounded exciting musically. Sounds like a record that will reveal good things on multiple listens. Dawned On Me and Born Alone sounded like okay pop, maybe nothing more.

The run between Being There and YHF truly was magical. Add in the Mermaid discs, the YHF demos, the More Like the Moon EP. Really incredible stuff.

"In Evening Air" impressed me last year. Now I anticipate "On The Water", out in October. They combine 80's synths and sounds with a Jack Black meets Tom Waits meets Billy Idol vocalist. They've added many tour dates that go into November and seem like an almost must-see. You can get a good taste of the band from the Amoeba records website, and a recent small set on KEXP where they play a few songs off "On The Water". Good stuff. http://www.amoeba.com/live-shows/videos/future-islands.html http://www.kexp.org/live/liveperformance.aspx?rId=33593

Solitaire, Bull Black Nova and One Wing are GREAT. My Country Disappeared is very good. The rest, to me, is pretty mediocre for Wilco. And I'm sticking up for Leave Me Like You Found Me. I like everything about it...one of the stand-out tracks on Sky Blue Sky.

Of course this is all very subjective. But to me, Loose Fur's "Wreckroom" is an example of a train-wreck of a song that is beautiful and wonderful, while "Shake it Off" is just an irritating train-wreck.

I like that Sky Blue Sky is personal and hopeful, and that it seemed to very much reflect some of the struggles Tweedy was dealing with at the time. Anybody who's ever been thrown for a loop and/or into a funk for any reason can surely relate to a LOT of this record. I sense that some Wilco fans are turned off by its sometimes "wussy-ish" or adult-contemporary sound and lyrics. And I can understand that. But MY gripe with Sky Blue Sky is that Wilco didn't go ALL THE WAY in making a soulful, hopeful, beautiful record. I agree with Shakespeare that Tracks 1-5 are fantastic....maybe as good a

I miss the days of seemingly everybody not being able to hear a record until release day. It was like a holiday when R.E.M. had a new album on the shelves. Part of me thinks Wilco wants to build up that anticipation. But in today's world that's impossible. It will leak widespread soon, and Wilco will be forced to stream at least a good portion of it on their website. I remember Jeff saying he doesn't like the thought of internet hacks deciding when his music gets heard. Once it's out, he'd just assume WILCO be the ones who put it out for everybody....at least that way they can encourage list

1. Summerteeth 2. Being There 3. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 4. A.M. 5. AGIB 6. Sky Blue Sky 7. Wilco (The Album)

Streams can be found FOW's Facebook site and Minnesota's 89.3. The album will be in stores Aug. 2nd. Fans of Fountains of Wayne won't be disappointed. It's pretty much like all FOW records: full of well-written pop songs that makes you feel good when listening to it. I sense a more mature and/or melancholy tone in the record...mostly from the lryics. And the music is less "power pop", stripping out some of the guitars and synthesizers. The record is largely mid-tempo, but it works for me because of the songwriting. Songs like "Action Hero", "Cold Comfort Flowers" and "Road Song" have a melan

Been listening to the NPR stream a few times the last few days. Really liking it and WILL be buying the disc next week. "Laid back" & "beautiful" is how I'd describe it now. Haven't absorbed it fully yet, but has a nice cohesiveness sound start to finish.

Pretty good list, though way heavy on "Since" in my opinion. I'd include a couple songs off "Impasse"...an album that many seem to think is one of his inferior records. "Impasse" was made by Buckner at his home, playing all instruments, including synthesizers, except for his wife on drums. 'Loaded at the Wrong Door', 'And The Clouds Have Lied' and 'Count Me In On This One' would all be suitable for a Buckner "Best Of." Also, Buckner has a great tune on a Bloodshot compilation. It's called 'Do You Wanna Go Somewhere'. Nice inclusion of 'The Last Ride'.....one of Buckner's absolute best.

I agree. I think Impasse ranks up there as well. And Bloomed has some incredible stuff on it. Most of it his obscure-ness is likely because of his loner personality. He usually performs solo....or with a lone person like Anders Parker. Because of his great voice, delivery, songs and guitar-playing, he's worth seeing live. But imagine how incredible a Buckner show would be with the guys from Calexico (who helped flesh out 'Devotion' and 'Hill") or if he could have access to the guys in Wilco for a few weeks to play his songs live. Buckner will get his due someday, even it's triggered by a t

Buckner's next album finally gets a release date! August 2nd. Merge Records has a blurb on the 9-song record (below). They used to have an mp3 of Track 01 "Traitor", but now do not. Aquarium Drunkard has it (link below). Anybody who likes Buckner will LOVE the new song I think. Since 2006’s Meadow, fans of Richard Buckner have been clamoring for new material and wondering what was keeping their hero from releasing the new songs he would perform on the road. Well, it’s a long story! First, there was the score to a film that never happened. Then there was a brief brush with the law over a

Rank your favorite 5 albums that have major contributions from Jeff Tweedy and/or Jay Farrar. 3 Honorable Mentions are allowed. 1) March, 1992 - Uncle Tupelo 2) Summerteeth - Wilco 3) Still Feel Gone - Uncle Tupelo 4) Being There - Wilco 5) Trace - Son Volt HM) Anodyne - Unlce Tupelo HM) Down By The Old Mainstream - Golden Smog HM) Down With Wilco - Minus 5

I'm not gonna rip on Decoration Day or Dirty South. I think they're both really good records. I happen to think Go-Go Boots DOES have some great songs (Used To Be a Cop is one), but it's more the overall vibe and feel to the whole album that I think makes it great. It's much more laid-back than the great DBT records of the past, but I don't think that should automatically make it inferior. Hood's in top form lyrically. Cooley's maybe written better songs in the past, but his 3 old-country-sounding songs fit Go-Go Boots perfectly. Shonna's 2 songs blend in well also....her vocals "Where's Ed