jethro

I'd say YHF is the best starting point, simply because it's their best album.

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 down the keyboard, the only people who can convince me otherwise are Wilco and they haven't been answering my email. )

Tough luck; it won't happen. Tweedy has said numerous times that this incarnation is the best he's ever felt the band to be, and he loves the collaborative, creative process going on. Whether or not the fans like it, I don't think much will change.

Any band is only one catastrophic failure away from breaking up.

Maybe while this unit's still warming up, there will be a few clunkers, and there have indeed been, but I think "Impossible Germany" and "Walken" are eons above what Wilco has done before, so I think they're capable enough.

Oh well, the good thing about the backlash is that "A ghost is born" suddenly became so much more popular all of a sudden, as everyone's clamoring for the artsy fartsy days.

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 new record but I just don't hear it this time.

Nobody's listening to the new Nina Nastasia yet? Hmm...

I'm listening to solo Jeff to restore some faith at the moment though.

What Light is painfully mediocre. The lyrics are basically, "Everything is great, chill out, let it all go, be yourself." Trite! Trite to the point where I'm embarrassed that the song hasn't been retired yet, and I've never, ever said that about anything Tweedy-related before.

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 these new Wilco songs. What is it specifically about the Wilco-izing process that's making songs suck? Maybe it's just time for solo Jeff Tweedy or full time Loose Fur.

I still like the first performance (2006.06.28) best, because that was more about guitar freakout than piano clunkyness.

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, every new song doesn't have to be a plaintive wail for a relationship gone wrong coupled with a grim determination to see things through, does it? I mean Either Way, On & On & On, We Can Make It Better!, Impossible Germany and Let's Fight are basically the same song. Walken isn't much different. We get it. Enough. Please. Stop.

(I would happily listen to Sam Cooke or Otis Redding, if they could come back from the dead and play a show, for as long as they're want to sing).

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+ hours they play. I won't bother to beat that horse any more but the solution is pretty easy, at least conceptually.

okay, so dont trust it, but use?

just seems like the company is the ones to get busted, not users. however, i do feel a bit guilty using it. may try it out.

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 allofmp3 as some sort of fig leaf to make yourself feel better about it.

I was there I think.....

 

My vote...Mike...

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.

nice nice nice..........................muchas gracias

Jeff > Wilco

Have you ever had a friend that enjoyed paying more for things just cause'?

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.

All of the new songs are musically rich-hell the band is great,- always fresh-innovative. But the music of these new songs is carrying all of the emotional content- the lyrics just don

First of all, Jeff isn't just a rock star, he's a goddamned human being....his weight is thoroughly his own business.

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.

Running 7-8 miles a day creates a lack of weight, not an excess.

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.

The guys obviously made a choice about his artistic direction and I don't think his lyrics are a slave to a better mood or improved health. Thats ridiculous.

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 about the crowd reaction to new songs versus the old material. They obviously realize that the crowds get a lot more excited by the old ones than the new ones or they wouldn't use them like that, but they keep writing songs that don't draw that same reaction. I'm not saying they should have kept playing the same type of music over and over but what happened to the Wilco who wrote a new song that they knew was going to kick your ass? Why would Jeff write songs that he'd think he had to thank a crowd for being patient with? I miss the swagger.

Seriously. On first glance I thought that was John Bonham.

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.

Amazingly, she's back...

Meh. What'd we ever do before youtube?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7iISwwGU5o

Damn.....I need to install some plug in that I can not find for the life of me to watch this.....heart breaking....if anyone can give me quick help, that would be great. I went to the download center, downloaded the plug in, but my mac says that quicktime can't use the plug in because it is a file that quick time doesn't understand.

argh.

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.

A Shot in the Arm

Impossible Germany

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

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.

Fantastic performance! Although it stops playing about halfway through...Nevertheless, fantastic

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.

Wow, Hickory Wind...

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

Not thinking so much commercial,but Phish fans will now have a new band to love.

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 about mainstream success when Wilco starts writing music that'd actually appeal to regular people again.

I love the current lineup of Wilco, but dang if listening to this show didn't make me miss Jay and question whether things were better back then.

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 because really they won't be. At a rock show. If you have to drag out 10+ year old songs to get the audience excited then maybe you should think about what you're doing now and why it's not connecting the same way.

Well, not really...

^^ 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