jethro

"Wilco is for all who have the ears to appreciate."

Just don't ask Jeff what he thinks about this guy:

That shits just classic, wtf was that dumbass thinking?!

Anyway, to the point of the article, like some other people said alt-country was on the way out 10 years ago. I can think of lots of records I like in that genre before 1998 or so but the bands that made them either moved on to other styles or broke up (or started sucking). Even Being There was cited by a lot of people as a move away from that sound, though I tend to think of it more as the best of the genre.

Considering Walken (a.k.a Best Song Ever) isn't on the list...

If I didn't understand English then I'd probably really like Walken too.

I voted What Light for best (it's the only song I've heard so far that I wouldn't change anything about it) but ranked they'd go something like:

What Light

Impossible Germany

Is That The Thanks I Get

Walken

Either Way

We Can Make It Better!

Let's Fight

On & On & On

I know Is That The Thanks I Get and We Can Make It Better! are nominally the same song but I'm hoping Jeff comes to his senses and gets rid of the fluffy feel good tack on bit so it can join the good songs on the list.

wow, thanks for posting this. Its crazy to hear something so different then the other new ones. Does this seem potentially radio friendly to others? Not necessarily in a bad way, just real straight up, obivous riff-hook. I think I dig, but I need some more digestion.

This is a lot better than I expected after the initial impressions someone gave but I can't see how it'd be radio friendly without a lot of work. I wish that Nels was playing the whole song and not just at the end because there's not much wrong with a keyboard that adding more guitar won't help. They also don't seem totally sure about how they want to end it, but it's obviously a bit of a work in progress. It'd probably help if it wasn't a 5 minute song. I hate to say it because that song makes me want to drive icepicks into my ears, but the composition is fairly similar to On & On & On and the lyrics to both seem like they were written for A Very Special Episode of The O.C.

new song-Let's Fight*

It's a proggy-sounding tune

kind of reminded me a little of Traffic on first listen

seems of more like an ensemble piece with the keyboards coming through a little more than some of the other new songs

Oh well. I thought What Light would suck based on the initial impressions someone gave and the lyrics posted so maybe I'll like this one too. Thanks for the reviews.

I love what a bunch of bedwetting reactionaries call themselves Wilco fans.

LOL, yeah, because only bedwetting reactionaries could have a negative reaction to anything, those damn bedwetters!

I hope I never am in a band that gets so big, that mp3's of new songs spread like wild fire and get shot to hell by naysayers.

Somehow I think you're safe on this one.

...give a new song a minute to breath, like maybe a day after the download at least.

Because everyone always waits a day after experiencing something before they have an impression of it, yeah, that's realistic.

If it was my art I'd much rather see people give their honest opinion on something even if it's negative than a bunch of sychophantic yes-men (and women). That's probably why they play new songs live instead of sending out samples to the top 50 wilcoboard posters.

"Jeff goes into this horrible happy feely 'we can make it better!' spiel"

This was about a completely different song, but yeah, I think that's horrible and detracts from what the song could be. All the songs on a record don't have to be unrelentingly depressing or happy to fit a theme, a record can have an arc to it and those are usually better anyway.

About the corny Dylan charge, it does have a Dylan-y feel to it, and yeah the lyrics might be a bit trite, but it's still great. I think My Words also fits into that pattern and maybe Jeff is a little self-conscious about songs of his that are a little too close to what is obviously one of his musical idols, but they're both really good songs and I'd much rather see on the record than On & On & On or a revived Good Part.

what a great tune, in terms of how much emotion jeff can put in a catchy melody?

 

these are what i can hear as the lyrics (minus the part in question marks!).... is it close?. the bits with slashes were sung differently on the 2 versions... bring it on guys... this is a long term keeper

I totally agree. Anyone following from home knows I haven't been kind to most of the new songs but this is just flat out a great one. Jeff's performance on these two versions is as good as anything he's ever done and the band fills everything in perfectly. I say rip it from the setlist now and run back to Chicago and get it down for the record and if it ends up on disc anything like these two versions it'll make the record worth buying even if some of the clunkers manage to work their way on.

but there's a light

what a light

there's a light

I think it's always "what a light" but he runs it together, sometimes more than others.

Dude, I'm sorry, but when Jeff goes around saying 'Maybeeee the sun will shiiiine today,' or 'there is a liiiight insiiiide of you,' it just doesn't get me in quite the same way as older material.

LOL, this doesn't change my liking the new song but it's true. One of the reasons I'm less than fond of Handshake Drugs is it's so damned milquetoast - "what do you want me to be?" Boo friggin hoo. Rock is supposed to swagger, not mince around in a pink tutu and worry about shit like that.

Exhibit one for this sort of thing among the new songs is "Is That The Thanks I Get" which has the potential to be a great sort of "you done me wrong" sort of song but then Jeff goes into this horrible happy feely "we can make it better!" spiel (made infinitely worse by the band led crowd sing along) which may give some people the warm fuzzies but, come on, ruins the vibe completely.

I think this is the worst, hands down.

Wow, that's just so wrong. I was all prepared to hate based on the first stanza being so similar to that awful "sing, sing a song" tune but yeah, hands down easily the best of the new songs they've played recently and after one two three listens I'd put the whole package up with Jeff's best and it gives me new hope for the record. So, yeah...

Impossible Germany with the guitar skronk in the middle still has the same problems as it did with it at the end but I like that they're experimenting with getting away from the quiet -> loud dynamic because it was becoming pretty pervasive.

What I'd really like to see are some uptempo songs so they don't have to continuously go to the back catalog to get the crowd excited.

Truth is the band's sound the last three albums has gotten less and less rocking, out-of-your seat, hell-raising. That Wilco peaked nearly ten years ago. And that's okay, I like every era, but probably 75% of the last three albums and what I've heard of the next one don't scream of high energy crowd response.

True dat. Wilco songs have gravitated towards playing complex and subtle songs but that isn't something that's going to go over amazingly well at a big show. I don't know about the first six songs, but there's something to be said for the first few songs being high energy and then once you have the crowd going you can mix in the quieter material. The problem of course is Wilco doesn't have a lot of uptempo new songs and have a pretty anemic sounding rhythm section which normally helps keep an audience excited (something to do with sound dynamics and the body's response to loud noise and especially low frequency sound). So as Wilco has gone towards subtlety their audience has changed along with them and now most seem to be the sort who like to sit at shows. File this under you've made your bed now you have to lie in it, etc.

Here's The Late Greats prefaced, as requested, with some 4th of July banter...

Thanks, I was busy and didn't listen to the webcast.

They play that song so much better live than it is on the record it's not even funny. It's kind of a throwaway on the record (I know some people will disagree, but they're wrong) but that version is fucking ace.

Please Daddy Wilco, make the new Wilco record more like that and less like On & On & On. K, thxbye.

Even if it's true, for the love of all things holy and good, please never describe any subsequent new songs as, 'It's kind of like Either Way'. Just please, don't.

Could be worse, could have been "kind of like On & On & On".

Thanks to the people striving to give us a feel for the new song and for the reviews.

I like Either Way, even with instrumentation that I'm not completely in love with, because it wouldn't take much to fix it. I don't know what On & On & On needs, it's like nails on a chalkboard. Maybe with a warmer production (think Lonely 1 on Being There) and a less dull piano section it'd sound better but as-is, eek.