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Posts posted by DiamondClaw
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Seconded, great album!
Thirded!
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First of all, thanks a million for your recaps on this tour, bbop. These threads are appointment reading the morning after Wilco/Tweedy shows! I've seen "On and On and On" pop up several times this tour, but no footage of it exists. I'm curious how that one sounds solo acoustic.
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New Wave Theater is listed as Having Been Is No Way To Be on the Pabst FB post. Not a fan of the show setlist for Milwaukee on their website missing 5 songs. I mean, some really cool people keep their own show statistics in an Excel spreadsheet. Think that leaves Family Ghost and Evergreen (unless Jeff reworked Childlike & Evergreen)?
What about "Drawing From Memory"? Is that accounted for here under a different title or not on the album?
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This is great news! It's been apparent at these solo shows over the past few months that Tweedy had a critical mass of new material, and the only question was whether they were on reserve for a future Wilco session or were already in the can in another form. This seems like a really good batch of songs, so I'm really excited for this!
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It's funny you picked "Nope" because it has kind of unique vocal production compared to the rest. The slap echo and doubling makes it sound kind of whimsical and Guided By Voices-ish to me. Suits the song.
Most of the other stuff has a more 'uneffected' sound (not unaffected). They seemed to have really gone for a straight at the mic sound without a lot of extra gloss on it for the last few records. I think it sounds intimate, but I can see how some might hear it as sounding flat.
Speaking of head colds, listen to 'I am Trying to Break Your Heart', that guy used to have some real sinus issues that were somehow endearing. In fact maybe the slightly brighter vocal sound on YHF is what you're missing. But I digress- sorry I'm an audio engineer so I can get really geeky on this stuff, but the important part is what connects with the listener- what they chose didn't work for you.
This is interesting. Maybe it is a slightly "brighter" vocal sound that draws me in. I really don't like the distorted/flat/fuzzy/echo thing, which I (maybe wrongly) attribute to songs like "Nope" or "The Joke Explained."
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Jeff's vocals didn't bother me so much when I was getting into it, but coming back to it lately this is probably the thing that grates the most with Schmilco - especially on the second side. I hear a similar approach on Tweedy and the quieter material on Star Wars. It works quite well with the Tweedy stuff, but by the time the Wilco releases roll around there's definitely something nagging about it. It could also be due to my opinion that some of the material on both of those Wilco releases is well below par.
Maybe that's part of it too, because I really like Sukierae. Could just be the formula was a little worn out by the time Schmilco came out. Though it is also interesting to think of Sukierae, Star Wars and Schmilco as a trilogy. Either way, I am very eager to hear what direction the next Wilco album takes. Whether you like the trilogy or not, it would be interesting to see Tweedy veer in a different sonic direction next.
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This thread is apropos of nothing, but I was just listening to Schmilco today (first time in a while), so it was on my mind. In relistening, I was reminded of my main qualm with the record when it came out: Jeff's vocals.
The songs themselves are pretty good, but for a record with such an intimate feel, Jeff's muffled vocals just don't connect. He's a great singer, with a great, honest voice, but the delivery sometimes comes off as flat on Schmilco. Not on everything, but the track "Nope" is a good example — it sounds like he has a bad head cold and is chowing down on a plate of mashed potatoes while he mutters into a microphone 40 feet away. I'm not looking for Adele or anything, just something less cold — something more like his vocal on "One Sunday Morning."
Could be the production, could be the singing itself, or a combination of the two. I wish he would have taken the echo effect off and delivered some crisp, clear vocals. It would have suited the songs better, and made the album more engaging, more accessible and ultimately more enjoyable.
Could just be me though. How has this record aged for everybody else?
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Ah, so these are not tracks from the Tweedy album? I suspected that, but I've never heard Sukirae all the way through and wasn't sure.
They're not but I wish they were! I like the Sukierae album, but "Everybody Hides" and "Why Why Why" are as good as anything on there.
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Always wanted to chime in on this thread. Here's my top 10 from 2017:
1. Spoon – Hot Thoughts
2. The War on Drugs – A Deeper Understanding
3. Ryan Adams – Prisoner
4. Bash & Pop – Anything Could Happen
5. GospelbeacH – Another Summer of Love
6. Son Volt – Notes of Blue
7. Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile – Lotta Sea Lice
8. Real Estate – In Mind
9. Beck – Colors
10. St. Vincent – Masseduction
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Yep, same old boring setlist. I've said it before, but with a catalog of songs like he has and one of the most seasoned and road-tested rock 'n' roll bands on the planet, its a colossal shame and waste that he does shows like this, IMO. A lot of my disappointment is that I have been such a fan for so long and I know what they are capable of.
If they can't rock for 2 hours anymore, maybe its time for that all acoustic, sit down and play, theater tour. But then all the mainstream fans they've pandered to for the past two decades would complain.
As a diehard Heartbreakers fan myself, this hits the nail on the head. On the bright side, they did add "Swingin'" from the long-forgotten Echo album to the set last night. First time it had been played in 18 years. Who knows if it'll stick, but that's definitely a very welcome breath of fresh air.
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Bumping this. 2 tickets still available for tonight. Great seats too! Just looking for face (OBO). Email me if interested.
mdepilla at gmail dot com.
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Something just came up with the family and I won't be able to make Wednesday's show at the Chicago Theatre, so I am just looking for face value for this pair. The seats are in the mezzanine box section - Row Q2. I've seen shows here before and I love the vantage point and ambiance. $200 for the pair, and they're hard tickets. Message me if you're interested. Thanks!
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So Wilco starts their fall Midwest tour in two days. Do you think they will
a. "Leak" and/or stream Schmilco in the next couple of days?
b. Perform some new tracks without the album being out there?
c. Stick with the Star Wars tour setlists for the time being?
It would be a very Wilco thing to do to have Schmilco appear on their website before this week is over...
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So, what do you think would have been good album titles? Too early to speculate on Schmilco, but how about the other releases?
I always thought "Dark Neon" would have been a cool album title (and probably would have made for some cool art). I also think that album would have been better if that track was included — I never did understand how it "didn't fit" when the rest of the songs on WTA were very different from one another to begin with.
For Star Wars, no idea. Pickled Ginger, Alien Ache, Knitting the Divide, Flame Creator are each cool nuggets of imagery.
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While it is ultimately completely unimportant and unrelated to the quality and enjoyment of the music itself, I do have to admit a slight preference for album titles (and art) that have something to do with the collection of songs they represent. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost is Born, Sky Blue Sky, even The Whole Love all seem to capture those particular albums to me in some thematic way. Wilco the Album, Star Wars, Schmilco, yeah they're lazy or cutesy or whatever, but the main thing is they're not evocative to me in any way. (Though to reiterate, in the end it is the music that matters.)
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Right On!...and... Right On! I've given up trying to rank them, but I'm still a huge champion of the severely underrated "Wilco (The Album)". When I saw Jeff solo, at the all-request benefit show a year or two ago, the person I was standing next to in line & I compared notes & both of our top requests were for "Everlasting Everything". When Jeff played it he noted that none other than Bill Fay had told him that he thought it was the best song he'd ever written.
I also agree that "Solitaire" is one of his greatest songs ever. And let me put in a word for "Deeper Down" here as well, since it's one that neither of you mentioned. Jeff did it, solo acoustic, at the Tweedy Washington D.C. show (it was my WilcoWorld request that night) & it was jaw dropping- a total fave. That covers almost the whole album now... So what's left out- "You Never Know", "Sonny Feeling" & "I'll Fight" & I have to say I don't hear a weak track amongst those either...and... I totally dig "Dark Neon"- especially the recent live takes on it.
Ranking the albums is an impossible task for me, but I wanted to chime in on the underrated WTA. I also think it's far better than people give it credit for. The one thing that's always baffled me is why the heck they left "Dark Neon" off the album. It's not like the album had a cohesive feel that "Dark Neon" wouldn't fit — the album was a "little from here, little from there" anyway, and "Dark Neon" would have added some color and punch, especially to the post-"Country Disappeared" stretch. I'm not saying WTA is Wilco's finest album — even as a fan I don't like the arrangements on some of the songs toward the end — but I think including "Dark Neon" would have changed the album's public perception a bit.
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My quick take: I like the album, and I love the fact that Wilco is both able to make albums like this and albums like The Whole Love. Star Wars is jagged, fuzzy and jarring. The Whole Love is lush, warm and poppy. I can't really rank one vs. the other and I don't consider one style "better" than the other — I think the versatility Wilco shows in nailing both is the most impressive thing of all.
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Just popping in to note that, on 3/14/15, Jeff failed to capitalize on the opportunity to play "Pecan Pie" at this show.
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1. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
2. Casino Queen
3. Spiders
4. Bull Black Nova
5. Side with the Seeds
6. Ashes of American Flags
7. I Got You (at the end of the century)
8. Capitol City
9. Pot Kettle Black
10. Walken
11. Reservations
12. One Sunday Morning
13. Summerteeth
I played this playlist while I was working today (with one substitution- "Say You Miss Me" for "Walken"), and I have to say it is awesome! What a great mix of Wilco.
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I would say the current lineup has done some pretty great arrangements over the past couple records. 'I'll Fight' stands out to me as the best, air-tight, minimal-playing arrangement where every single instrument in the band is fitting in to a really distinct role. It fits together like a machine (see also the instrumental break on "Bull Black Nova). It's really a tightly woven groove with each instrument working together seamlessly. Sometimes I think it's a rare case where the arrangement is actually better than the song itself (and it's a well written song).
Funny, for me "I'll Fight" is an example of the exact opposite: a case of too MUCH playing, too many cooks in the kitchen. I think this song would benefit from stripping away a layer or two, even if it meant a member or two of the band wasn't on this track. Probably why I like the song better when Jeff plays it solo. The lyric to "I'll Fight" is great.
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I think the more mainstream, almost syrupy songwriting of "I'll Fight" and "You and I" could have been offset by some rougher production. They seem almost pedestrian and the arrangement exposes the weakness of the songwriting. "My Darling" is a song of a similar ilk, yet because of the arrangement and instrumentation, it creates an ethereal atmosphere that detract (in a good way) from the almost insipid lyric.
I don't think the songwriting on "I'll Fight" is syrupy or weak at all. In fact, I think they are some of the most biting lyrics Jeff has ever written, when you look beneath the surface of the cheesy "I'll go, I'll go..." part. And I think that's the point of the song- I find it very clever. I do agree the arrangement could use some work, personally I just think it is a case of too many cooks in the kitchen. The acoustic riff is great, but maybe the stripped down Jeff/John/Leroy/Glenn era Wilco would have delivered a less polished, more gritty performance of this song. But from a lyrical point of view, I think it is stellar.
Check out both versions of "Spiders (Kidsmoke)". There really isn't to much going on with the actual melody: an "A" part, four lines of simple melody, and cryptic lyric, a "B" part that doesn't appear until the end, but there still isn't much going on there: a melody confined to four notes, and no "lift", and no real chorus. And yet, and I totally dig both versions of the song, as do most of you, from what I can discern. But the arrangements in both versions aren't mainstream pop. One is Krautrock, the other folk. Both are a little polarizing, in the best possible way: it forces you to react. I think the disappointment in some of W(TA) is that it doesn't challenge the listener, and most Wilco fans want the challenge. I don't have to react to "You and I". I can listen to it while I do the dishes. And maybe that's the problem.I love the original version of Spiders, and really like the AGIB version, and I agree with your descriptions- the arrangements make that song (both versions) by being creative and evocative. However, a song like "You and I" can still carry meaning and be enjoyable even if it isn't as "challenging". I like the challenging stuff, but I don't expect Jeff to write an entire album of wall to wall challenging material, especially if it's naturally/organically not forming that way.
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Or the guitar line being pretty close to this:
Throwing a big guitar freak out/noise ending is a pretty cliched way for Wilco to end a song, I'm glad they chose differently for One Wing.
I'm also glad they changed the key, F# minor is much nicer for this tune.
Ha! I never realized how similar the riffs are in those two songs! Also, I agree that "One Wing" sounds better in F#m.
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Reading over this thread, W(TA) gets a pretty bad rap; worse than I think it deserves. I really think there are a lot of very good songs as individuals- "Wilco (the Song)" (gimmicky, but actually a very good song), "One Wing" (masterpiece), "Bull Black Nova" (masterpiece), "Country Disappeared" (smooth and beautiful), "I'll Fight" (great lyrics)- but the general/overall impression of the album always seems to be low.
IMO, the biggest misstep they took was not including "Dark Neon". A common complaint about W(TA) is that it gets sort of slow and safe in the second half, which I understand. The first half of the album is rock solid, to me, but the second half, which still has quality songs, could use some spicing up. "Dark Neon" would fit well a lot of places on the album, but I would probably slot it between "Country Disappeared" and "Solitaire" to inject some different flavor in that section.
I've heard people say "Dark Neon" wouldn't "fit" with the rest of the album, but W{TA) already feels like a "little from here, little from there/smorgasbord" style record, even Jeff describes it that way. So I think "Dark Neon" would add a nice new dimension to the collection of songs. At 11 songs, its not like the album was over-long anyway; adding a 12th song would be fine.
The one other thing about W(TA) is the last song- "Everlasting (Everything)" feels very rushed and compressed and doesn't leave the listener with a great final taste in their mouth, which I think affects impressions of the album as a whole. It's one of the weaker songs on the album, but if they want to make it the final track they should have let it breathe much more.
There are a couple other very minor edits I would make if it were mine, purely out of personal taste (As much as I like Nels, I don't like his parts on "Sonny Feeling" at all) but otherwise I think the album is solid. Also, I think my impression of the album was aided by not listening to any of it until it was released, which kept it fresh and interesting.
Just my .02.
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I agree with a lot of what you say here, but I don't think that the arrangement problem you allude to revolves around Nels Cline necessarily. I also don't believe that Wilco is likely to shift its focus significantly from being a guitar band.
In my opinion, the arrangements could just do with being sparser and more dynamic. The precedent set by SBS, where they all sat down and recorded together, is in some ways a dangerous one, because it assumes that everyone has to be involved all the time. A band which has built such a successful live reputation, is also likely to arrange parts for all its members.
More light and shade within songs would make a big difference. They're all great players, it's just that when they're all competing for space in the aural spectrum for too long, definition and sonic identity gets lost. A lot of this could be achieved just through imaginative and/or brutal editing, which is what happened with a lot of YHF, after all.
You won't find a guitarist with more colours on his sonic palette than Nels Cline, so personally, I don't think it's a guitar problem of his making. Live, I think that some of the most exciting moments revolve around the combination of Tweedy's acoustic and Cline's electric. More of these dynamic combinations, in greater isolation and involving some of the other voices, as you suggest, would be good.
I agree with this too. While I like WTA more than most, I do think it suffers a little from the "too many cooks in the kitchen" syndrome- especially "I'll Fight" and "Sonny Feeling". To me, "I'll Fight" would have been better with a much sparser arrangement, not unlike they way they performed tracks in the early '00s, as opposed to the distracting, everybody-has-to-have-a-part circus of sound. Sonny Feeling- as much as I like Nels, I actually think that song would be better without a bunch of his overdubs.
But I guess that's the problem with a six-piece band- everybody has to have "their" part. Your idea of light and shade editing would do wonders. Would it ruffle any feathers though?
New Jeff Tweedy album November 30th (called WARM)
in Just A Fan
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Listened to it three times through now, and my first impression is it is great. "Warm" is a great title because it fits the vibe. Minus "Let's Go Rain," which I just can't get into, and the first half of "How Will I Find You," which I think is weak until the guitar gets going, this is a just a pleasure from start to finish. Highlights for me are "Some Birds," "Don't Forget" and "I Know What It's Like." And "Having Been."