Maggie

I wasn't impressed on first listen, but this album is starting to grow on me. It always takes me a while to get used to Mark Olson's vocals on any particular album.

The re-released albums sound promising. My Jayhawks collection is still missing a couple albums, so I'd definitely willing to spend some money in that area.

I love A.M.. "Pick Up the Change" and "Shouldn't Be Ashamed" are a couple of my favorite Wilco songs.

When I listen to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot I tend to feel like I have to sit silently and concentrate on every second of every song. When I listen to A.M. I just relax and have a good time.

Chicago, 2/19/2008

Very nice sound on this one.

I started out with The Dirty South and it remains my favorite, followed closely by Decoration Day.

This might be my most anticipated release for the year. I love this woman.

Mr. Ward's voice bothered me when I first heard him - so much so that I waited a couple years before I finally bought one of his albums. I thought he was another sappy singer-songwriter with an acoustic guitar and a hushed, warbling voice. I was wrong.

I finally bought Post-War about a month ago and now I can't stop listening to the guy.

I tend to start out with an unfair, uninformed bias against the artists that eventually become my favorites. (It took me 8 years to finally give Wilco a fair chance).

I too ended up with a slight tear of the packaging. I just had to keep taking the CD's out to admire the art.

Very nice album. This one is certainly going to take some extending listening before it really sinks in. I can't name any standout tracks, but as a whole the record is quite pleasant to listen to.

Not only did you see a Neil Jam show, you were at probably the most legendary/infamous one. I also hate you.

 

For another example of retarded PJ fandom, the first show I saw was Merriweather in '00. When it was announced that Sonic Youth would not be opening because of a family emergency, and that PJ would therefore start early, people cheered loudly. Kim Gordon's mom died that night.

Pittsburgh 2000 was my first concert (ever), and I recall a similar reaction from the crowd when it was announced that Kim and Thurston would be missing that night. I couldn't believe the insensitivity, not to mention the fact that people were HAPPY to miss a legendary band like Sonic Youth.

We still had the pleasure of seeing Lee and Jim front the band - I bet that upset a few of the meat heads. I enjoyed the show myself.

I guess I'll play too:

No Code

Yield

(Benaroya Hall . . . doesn't count, but I love it)

Vitalogy

Vs.

S/T

Binaural

Ten

Riot Act

Roughly. I think. The top two are for certain.

Well, I was a poster on the Pearl Jam board up until today. I'm capable of posting on the new one but I'm feeling uninspired with the changes and all. I may finally start posting here regularly.

I haven't seem them a hundred times or anything (just 3 times in the 12 or 13 years I've been a fan), but Pearl Jam is the band that changed my life when I was a teenager. I've been with them longer than any other band, and while my interest is in decline I still love them.

My thoughts on Riot Act - loved it when it came out. Came to see it's faults as time went on. It's unquestionably my least favorite PJ album.

I guess it's cliche with the so-called "die hards," but No Code and Yield are my favorites. I'm really not into much hard rock these days, so they're the ones that have held up best for me.

Pearl Jam really needs to step it up with the touring. It's hard to stay interested in a band that releases mediocre records and only comes to my city once every 3 years (if that).

Haven't listened to it yet, but I received the Deluxe pre-order in the mail today. This has to be one of the most beautiful albums I have ever seen. Simply stunning. What a great surprise to come home to on a Monday afternoon.

I just started listening to Andrew about a year ago and the only album I'm 100% in love with is The Mysterious Production of Eggs. At least I know the new one was worth it for the artwork alone.

Do any girls know how the Guitar bamboo shirt fits? Is the fit like the American Apparel "Tangara" (bird) shirt? I own that one and love it.

A lot of the time women's shirts are sort of short and squat in addition to the form fitting factor. I can handle the tight fit, but I don't like tiny cap sleeves and stomach baring issues. Longer is better.

To summarize: I feel like this alternative rock guy who thought the culmination of music was Counting Crows (blech!) ran into circa-2000 Wilco and then went from there back towards the band that recorded Anodyne and AM. I adore those straightforward banjo lines, the country guitar riffs, the simple populist lyrics about getting drunk and arrested, and never getting to leave your small town. So for me SBS is just another step away from the simple band that recorded AM... But ironically, I would never have work around towards loving AM without them drifting away from that sound, because of the fact that I started out in the direction Wilco is headed.

 

Hope this makes some sense... And should mention that I dig all the SBS songs much more in their live show forms.

Change some details around and my story is similar to yours. I was an alt-rock fan during the nineties (Pearl Jam was my band). In 2001 I discovered Ryan Adams and despite my better judgment (I always detested anything country in the slightest) I liked the guy. It took me a couple years to break down and buy some of his albums, but I eventually got a few of them. Then in May or June of 2005 I purchased Cold Roses and my musical life changed. In November of that year, after months of listening to nothing but Ryan and Whiskeytown, I knew I had to branch out, so I started looking into "alt-country" artists.

In a matter of a couple days I was investigating Wilco and Son Volt, both of whom I'd heard of during the nineties (had never actually listened to the former, disliked what I knew of the latter). I was disappointed to find that they were now making music with little to no country influence, but I pressed on anyway and became a huge fan of both bands.

I enjoy every Wilco album, including SBS, but I'd love to see a return to the simplicity and honesty of all those so-called "alt-country" bands. I do listen to quite a few "indie" bands and try to keep myself up to date in other areas of music, but you can't beat a "straightforward banjo line," as you put it.

Try looking for used copies on Amazon. I am sure some will be there. Yep, all of them are including a couple live CDs that were sold at shows. (edit number two..in fact some of the titles are selling for ridiculously cheap. I guess the Jayhawks are not much in demand any more..... )

 

LouieB

Yeah, I've been buying used copies through amazon.com sellers. I was just hoping I could get new copies somehow. At least the used ones are cheap.

I only just started listening to The Jayhawks about a year ago but they're quickly becoming one of my favorite bands. I'm sorry I missed out on them while they were still playing together.

Does anyone know if their catalog has gone out of pressing?

I bought a copy of Tomorrow the Green Grass new in a store about a year ago and since then I've only been able to find used copies of the other records. Even amazon.com has next to nothing in stock (Blue Earth is the only one they've got)!

I have to come out of lurking for this one . . .

During the mid-late nineties there were these two bands I decided to hate. As in I didn't know the music all that well, but I wasn't going to give them a second thought other than "yuck." Those two bands were Wilco and Son Volt. I kinda like both of them these days.

As for bands I no longer listen to:

Bush

Collective Soul

Our Lady Peace

It took me a while to grow out of the 90's alt-rock radio stuff.

ACL is now available over at bootcity.org. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before it makes it to other trackers. Of course you can't beat a JHamm DVD. I just thought I'd let people know it's there.

Thanks for the news! I'm downloading now.

I didn't have any luck recording this one. I'm not sure if I set the date/timer incorrectly or if the station decided not to show the program at the time they advertised - 3:00 AM! But then, why would they show a critically acclaimed music program Saturday evening when there are old British sitcoms to be re-run again and again . . .

I thought the same thing (birthday) but I couldn't really hear either. There was a lot of stillness around us too. How? How!? Maggie, we should have been sitting together! Where were you seated? Luckily there were pockets of us dancing our butts of though, I just focused on them peripherally and pretended we were all in a bunch (a banana bunch in fact). :banana

I was in Section 1, Row O, one seat off of the center aisle. The seat wasn't bad. I had a perfect view of Nels at all times, and I could see Jeff and Glen perfectly most of the time (though I saw next to nothing of John and Pat). I just needed some more action around me!

I can't believe someone actually got into trouble w/security for dancing - I'm glad to know those guys in the bleachers were trying to defend him!

Can't our love for Wilco transcend the Cleveland/Pittsburgh thing? I'm from the Cleveland area I don't dislike Pittsburgh. Of course I am not a serious sports fan, so that could have something to do with it.

 

Does anyone know what the problem was about the dancing? Was security really preventing people from dancing? I was seriously hoping everyone would move the chairs out of the way and create a general area, but then I realized the chairs were all bolted together. That would have taken some serious organizing (and tools...)!

I could have sworn those people in the blue seats were trying to tell Jeff that it was their friend's birthday and he somehow got the whole dancing ordeal out of that. Or was he listening to some other people while those guys were waving their arms around? It seemed like Jeff had trouble understanding anything the crowd said. Of course, that just made it all the more entertaining!

As much fun as I had, I really wish the people on the floor would have been a little less stiff. I was just bobbing my head and swaying to the music, yet I felt silly next to all the people standing perfectly still. I was expecting more dancing. I mean, "Walken" started and it was like there was no physical reaction, at least around me! At least everyone remained standing through the show.

Recording doesn't sound too bad either.

 

 

More info on that in the next week or two.

I'd be interested in this.

I had tons of fun at my first Wilco show last night. They definitely lived up to all my expectations! Can't wait to see them again some day.

Anyone have a guess/estimate as to what time Wilco will hit the stage if we end up with no opener in Pittsburgh? What time do they normally start with an opener?

I Just last night put in an order for both Loose Fur LPs. I don't own either album on CD, so I'll be hearing both for the first time on vinyl. Can't wait until they arrive!

I'd take Joe Grushecky over The Clarks!

I'm attending my first Wilco show next month. I'd love the get a nice official copy, but in a way I'm looking forward to checking the torrent sites daily in hopes the show will randomly pop up one day.

As a Pearl Jam fan, I have to say that the official bootlegs are certainly helpful when you want to be sure of getting a copy of a show you attended. However, in some ways they seem to have spoiled the spirit of live music. Not only does it take away the joy of the search as someone already said, but it seems that many fans have developed a sense of entitlement that I simply cannot believe. A lot of that also comes from the fan club (I won't go there), but I think that having such easy access the just about every show since 2000 has made some fans feel like they can demand their every wish. I can also say from personal experience that I burned myself out on the band when the bootlegs first came out in 2000. I bought maybe 7 or 8 of them that year, 2 or 3 in 2003, and in 2006 I only purchased the show I attended. Now I can't even bring myself to buy the in-store releases, like the Gorge Boxed Set or the DVD that just came out this week, and when I see Pearl Jam come up on torrent sites I typically scroll right on by. Of course that's not the band's fault, but the bootlegs did take away some of the excitement for me.

How much of the Greg Kot book is accurate? As in, under what circumstances did it come about that the fella would write about Wilco? I did enjoy reading it but I also felt a little silly during some of it (the whole "I've only got a problem with one person in this room..." Jay points to Jeff.) It kind of took me back to my girlhood and reading things like "Jonathon Brandis: The Unauthorized Autobiography" . I'm not dogging the book. Like I said, I did enjoy it. It gave me a good perspective on the chronology of the band and the development of Jeff's songwriting etc. I guess what I'm looking for is what are everyone else's thoughts on the book?

 

Edited: To add that upon searching, I see there is an entire thread devoted to this topic (hmmm...imagine that) and I will now commence reading it. Any thoughts are still welcome anyhoo...

I hope I'm not going too far off topic, but I'm interested in this as well. As a newish fan I haven't read the book, but I'm curious and would like to decide if it's something I'll want to check out in the future. I too will have to search for the thread specifically about the book.

When I was 16 I read a book called 5 Against 1: The Pearl Jam Story, and I've felt somewhat guilty ever since. It made me question how much of an artist's/band's personal history I have any business delving into. I really didn't need to know about Eddie Vedder's high school girlfriend or early family life, and the section on the firing of their 3rd drummer was a bit much as well. And that's all without addressing the question of reliable/biased sources, and that's probably even more significant.

Now, I haven't attended a Wilco or solo Jeff show yet, but from the recordings I've heard and from the Sunken Treasure DVD it seems like Jeff shares more personal anecdotes with his audience in one evening than Eddie Vedder has in the last ten years, not to mention that these two guys and their bandmates have presumably had hugely different experiences as public (or not-so public) figures. I adore Eddie Vedder but realize he's become an extreme case of a musician who has claimed the music is ALL that matters (though he hasn't always held to the standard). I grew up through my teen years with this guy as my rock and roll hero, so it's hard to diverge from this mindset. Now I'm trying to find a balance so that I don't feel GUILTY reading about a band I love. I realize if you want to learn about a band's history and musical evolution you can't completely avoid the voyeuristic stuff, and when it comes to Wilco I can't help but be fascinated by the line-up/musical changes and Jeff's progression as a writer.

Sorry! I'm done rambling! This looks more like a document on the screwed up psychology of a Pearl Jam fan than a simple question about a book. I'll look for that other thread now.