You Can Be The Stone

So Nels can play a few songs from 10 years ago good, but good enough; he still is amazing at the new material, which is where the band's main priorities are at right now, able to re-invent it, and is probably a more effective creative and collaborative contributor, moreso than Jay's master plan of alienating himself from the group by fiddling with pro tools 'till 6 AM, and trying to make Summerteeth II instead of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Sorry, I left it kind of open to interpretation when I quoted Kidsmoke. I didn't use those quotes to be condescending, or bash the lyrics or something, I just used them as an example of the most abstract lyrics Tweedy has ever pulled off; I was trying to say that I don't know which lyrics are better, but Tweedy has done plenty of evocative poetry, and I'm sure there's a conscious decision to what he's doing, and with his experience, there might be something valid to it. And simplifying the lyrics doesn't have to simultaneously mean dumbing them down. "Either Way" and "What Light" are pretty si

Who cares about "Forget the Flowers"?

It means that Nels is out to do whatever works for the song; which I'd much rather have than it being the Nels Cline show featuring Wilco (Although the Nels Cline show featuring Wilco would still be awesome) As for a poster above; yes, perhaps Nels is subpar compared to Jay on "Someday Soon"; but the trade-off is Nels probably helps the group dynamic much more; Plus, he takes YHF and Ghost to entirely new levels

Are you objectively blaming Wilco's decline on your subjective dislike of the piano? And I don't get all of these "Tweedy's lyrics are subpar" threads; You've distinguished the difference between the new lyrics, and the "Ghost" lyrics stylistically, but not whether one is better than the other. I'm not saying these lyrics are a godsend, but let's not forget all of the shock-value non-sequiturs Tweedy ripped off from Henry Miller to create Summerteeth, and the pastoral, but ultimately bland and esoteric meanderings of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I'm sure the man who wrote "I invented a sister, I p

True. I've already said I'd have axed Hummingbird, Company In My Back, Late Greats and Handshake Drugs from AGIB, that kind of leadership and vision takes balls the size of coconuts. >> Company in my Back, perhaps, but the other three are pretty much integral to the context and color of the album. I don't like "On The Run", or "Any Color You Like", but why ruin the sequence of "Dark Side of the Moon" over a few songs? {/quote]The biggest difference to me with the new songs is the lyrics seem pretty sub-par compared to what we're used to from Jeff. Maybe as lyricists get older, the

Are there any other people like me who can equally drool over "Ghost", yet equally drool over the new material?

I think Bennett was pivotal in the early years of Wilco. I think I'd consider Summerteeth to be Bennett's masterpiece, rather than Tweedy's. However, without O'Rourke and Glenn being added into the mix, and based on what I've read in Greg Kot's book, Wilco would've probably spent far too long in trying to make Summerteeth II instead of maturing onto new things. There are valuable parts of the music that went away with Bennett, but I think they've gained many more things as well. Plus, between Hummingbird, Just A Kid, Theologians, Late Greats, and Thanks I Get, infectious pop melodies certainly

I thought that hands down, the William and Mary and Charlottesville duo were w/o a doubt the two tightest shows I will ever see.

The review above was entirely accurate. The setlist was almost Wilco parodying itself, but holy crap, they rocked the house. While it was definately the worst setlist, this show will probably be the one that had the best energy. There was a constant sing-alone going on if you listened hard enough. They were just going effing crazy during the first part of "At Least That's What You Said". Also, the Kingpin primal scream therapy probably had one of the best Nels Cline moments of all time. I wonder if the crew's picking the setlist for this last one, or if they'll do the easy rockers for the