jethro

It really depends on what kind of music you like, when I first heard Being There it was a little too country for my punk rock ears but I got over it. I'd say Being There is the record that gives the most back if you give it the time, Summerteeth is the most immediately engaging because of the music, YHF is the most solid first-to-last. AGIB probably isn't something most people would jump right into and love unless they're into 70s prog rock. A.M. reminds me of the new songs except it's generally more lyrically and musically ambitious but minus the overwhelming piano. (Kneejerk defenders, put

Any band is only one catastrophic failure away from breaking up. AGIB might seem a whole lot better once you've been exposed to the new material, but that's not a very good defense. As it happens I like AGIB quite a bit, but then I've always liked it. And it's not a missing of the artsy fartsy days that bothers me, it's the embrace of the banal. Anyway I'm so unbelievably bored with this topic; this is the absolute last time I venture into this type of thread until the record comes out. I really do hope Wilco blows me away and makes all this angst look stupid when they release the

Nobody's listening to the new Nina Nastasia yet? Hmm... I'm listening to solo Jeff to restore some faith at the moment though.

I wouldn't go that far because I think the whole overcomes the lyrics, but I do think the new songs are all suffering from this. It's not even that they're bad (though some bits border on it) but they're just so pedestrian compared to what he's done in the past. How do you go from songs like Hummingbird or Less Than You Think to Walken and feel good about it? And it's not like we're being saved by rock & roll here either because the music is generally pretty bland. What I don't get is why his Wilco cast-offs - the Golden Smog, the Loose Fur, even that Spongebob song are all better than t

This is of course the right answer, or at least the right attitude. Piano clunkyness is killing music. But yeah, one of the better songs by far, and the latest batch are definitely much better than the earlier ones. I wouldn't call any of them great though. What Light comes the closest but doesn't quite transcend the somewhat corny lyrics. Change your bag? lol On & On & On proving anyone wrong would require new music and new lyrics and even if that happened it wouldn't be the same song. I don't get why you'd want every song on the record to be harping on the same thing though, ev

But they'd be zombies and only interested in singing songs about eating brains and whatnot, and that's no fun. At least not for 2-3 hours. I'd also say no to any ideas emanating from the Phish + GD camp about how to make concerts better for much the same reason I wouldn't pay much attention to Paris Hilton advising on how not to be a skank. Maybe it makes sense in some kind of bizzaroland context but not any one I want to be a part of. So... the problem isn't that Wilco is playing a long set, but what they're playing just isn't compelling enough to hold everyone's attention for the 2+ hour

If you're going to steal from the artists, why not cut out the middleman and just do it directly? Use the few bucks you'd have paid the Russian mafia to buy a real record now and then from bands you like. The only "copyright" loophole is they're defining anything (even lossless) transferred over the internet as a broadcast instead of a purchase so the amount of money that gets paid to the artist would be negligible if they bothered to pay anything at all, which they don't. I'm not trying to get all preachy here, I've downloaded plenty believe me, just saying don't try to use some site like

I voted Leroy because he took an undue amount of flack for his time in Wilco and the other candidates: John, Jay and Ken, all got more attention. If the poll was biggest non-Jeff influence then it'd be Jay for AGIB. I'd rather see Wilco as a rock band than a piano band, unfortunately they're becoming a piano band.

Jeff > Wilco

Are you talking about hookers? Neil Diamond... It reminds me more of how Jeff sings Be Not So Fearful or the first time he sand My Words. That's a good thing. After seeing the lyrics for What Light in one of the review threads I was all prepared to be a hater and let it be another nail in the Wilco coffin for me but it's probably my favorite of the new batch now. I'm currently hoping for miraculous studio transformations of most of the rest of them.

I saw the Scenestars article before I saw this thread and wouldn't have linked to it because of the pictures, nothing I said was done consciously just to be a dick. I was going to go back and edit my initial comment out but since it's already been quoted it wouldn't make much sense. Maybe just lock the thread or delete posts you find offensive and let it go at that.

Did you even bother to check the link to see the pictures? I'll refrain from posting any of the pictures here because I'm not a complete asshole, but there's not a lot of skinniness going on.

If people only ever wrote exclusively about what they knew empirically then the world would be a pretty boring place. I'll wait to hear the finished songs before writing them off but can't say I haven't been somewhat disappointed so far. I'd even say that if something doesn't change then this will probably be the record where Wilco jumps the shark and loses a chunk of their fan base without the newcomers to replace them. County fairs here we come, etc. That said, the last few new songs have been better so I'm more optimistic than I was. I'd love to hear someone ask Jeff what he thinks ab

Yeah, I saw that earlier and didn't post it because of the shots of Jeff. So,,, I guess I'll lay off the cracks about the dorky jackets now that we know the reason why he wears 'em, but getting that overweight probably isn't any healthier than smoking.

Meh. What'd we ever do before youtube? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7iISwwGU5o

It's Windows Media Player, the Flip4Mac replacement sucks half the time so I'm using the old MS one you can find on MS's site or on the Office disc. Sucks if you're on an Intel Mac though since it's PPC only. I missed the girl in the green shirt excitement. Someone post screen caps, lol. Jeff's zit stage banter is worse than Ryan's rambling about eggs, something I didn't think was possible. Just say no to the begging people to sing along, it's so lame and cheesy. The cult business is fine, he already looks a bit Mansony. Horns on Walken, I wonder if this means Monday is next.

The camera work during the noisy bits is frickin' hilarious, it's like hippie woodstock bad acid flashback time. Let's Fight. Hmm. Not so in love with this one. Could be worse I guess, coulda been On & On & On. Maybe if the beginning sounded more like the end instead of Wuss Rock '77. Picking up the pace a bit with War On War, yay.

Finally a good start to a festival show, hopefully they won't go into an extended run of slow songs to drive off the crowd. Impossible Germany is a little slower paced than I remember but better is redeemed by Nels' guitar goodness. Jeff looks like Uncle Wilco, all he needs is to shave that beard, get a pipe and start asking people to pull his finger.

Works for me. I wish Nels guitar had that kind of tone in Impossible Germany, it'd be so much better. Nels and Glenn look like they're there to kick ass and take names, Pat and Mike are like from that nice, clean, well-behaved Christian "rock and roll group" your parents kept wishing you'd listen to instead of those awful sex pistols, and I'm not sure they ever really showed John. Jeff is of course flying the dorky sportscoat so he looks like their dad.

I don't know any Ryan songs anymore so probably don't get as much out of the show as a true fan. Anyway... 1) Ryan's guitar is super cool, I want it now. 2) The noisey songs were good, there were about 2-3 of 'em. 3) Others not so much, yawn. 4) Ryan shouldn't talk during shows, or ever really if his ramblings on forums, answering machines or blogs are anything to go by. 5) His drummer reminds me of Coomer. 6) I really

LOL, it seems like most of the fans on this board are already thick with patchouli. I don't see any of the new songs as capable of mainstream success without a fair amount of popping up. There were far more accessible songs on Being There and Summerteeth and they went almost nowhere. Just lack of lyrical complexity doesn't generate success, you have to write music that immediately engages people and these new songs just don't do that. Here's an example of a song with simple/dumb lyrics that's engaging and fun... Miss Mary - Silly Boy Don't Be So Sad ...get back to me with the worries a

Jay is/was a much better rock keyboard player than anyone in Wilco now. His keyboard lines are hookier and more creative than what Wilco is doing now and while I'm not fond of their overuse on Summerteeth I now miss him, something I never thought I'd say. Not to bash anyone in particular but the keyboard stuff Wilco is doing now makes me snooze. So yeah, I was going to write more but whatever. You go to war with the Wilco you have, not the Wilco you wish you had. Just it'd be nice if they put in some actual rockers or give up the argument that the audience should be standing at a rock show

^^ I think you missed this part. If you haven't heard the YHF demos (where that's from) them you should go find them, the "engineer" demo version is a little different and of course you'd know the record (aka good) version.

Well, not really but I'm bored and always wanted to do the big j'accuse thing too. The similarity between the arrangements is pretty funny though. I've never been a big fan of that demo version of ITMWLY but maybe if Jeff was a pretty girl like France they could have pulled it off. Les Petit Ballons I'm The Man Who Loves You