jdmel

I thought side 2 zep 3

I once had a conversation with someone that basically went.. Kurt Cobain wouldnt have been as creative without the influence of drugs. Now that was years ago, and despite my feeling on how overrated yet important nirvana was, I know that what I said about the influence of drugs was completely wrong. Creative people have the same share of vices as everyone, some use it as inspiration or some kind of enhancement, but Ive come to feel its pretty superficial... I know a lot of reviews that were about the tone of the record being overly influenced by the blue skies of being out of rehab and what not, but I really had gotten past that in my view of the band and I felt Jeff and the band had too and this album in a way drudged it up in reviews by people who I think havent been paying attention to the band and the dynamic thats developed since 2004 and AGIB. In otherwords the "jeff needs to be back on drugs" comment was not only stupid because, well look at it, but I dont think theres anything behind it.

Sidenote: The pitchfork review specifically reinforced this for me because it seemed they gave it such negative feedback because it wasnt hipster enough for them, it wasnt Arcade Fire enough or whatever marginally talented flash in the pan band is popular now - Sky Blue Sky is a great album and the people who are missing that are people who were YHF hop ons and im not sad to see them hopping off.

That's my response to this ridiculous post.

*One Love

One love.

thats worse than my "~"

real question though: is thanks i get a bonus track through somewhere??

ay 18, 2007

Wilco to Try That Whole "Band" Thing on for Size

One of the most revealing things Wilco's leader Jeff Tweedy says on this week's Sound Opinions (airing on WBEZ 8 p.m. tonight, 11 a.m. tomorrow, and available as a podcast after that) is his answer to Greg Kot's question of what stood in the way of Wilco being truly collaborative in the past. Tweedy answers, "Well, I probably stood in the way of that a lot of times, to be completely honest."

We've been following Tweedy's career ever since our neighbor used to drag us to see this little band her brother played drums for named Uncle Tupelo. At that time we thought Tweedy was the less talented of the two primary songwriters in that band, since Jay Farrar's songs just seemed so much, well, deeper. Wilco's A.M. did nothing to dissuade that notion, but then, out of left field, came the stunning Being There, the first in the line of a number of Wilco albums that were just absolutely terrific. In our minds Tweedy had found his counterbalance in wild man Jay Bennett, and that yang to his yin allowed Tweedy to produce some of the best music of his generation.

Until A Ghost Is Born (AGIB).

On AGIB, Bennett was long gone, Jim O'Rourke was behind the boards, and there was no one to rein Tweedy in. The end result was a self-indulgent and largely disappointing album. More members left or were fired, and we feared our love for Wilco had finally run its course, as the band seemed to be turning into a Tweedy solo project.

However, if there's one thing Tweedy is an expert at, it's confounding expectations, and that's just what he did post-AGIB when he assembled Wilco's strongest line-up to date, anchored by guitar master Nels Cline. A live album followed, and we began to hope again that Tweedy was finally ready to let Wilco function as a collaborative effort.

And that's just what he did.

Sky Blue Sky, Wilco's newest album that was released earlier this week, displays a band fully functioning as a single unit. On Sound Opinions the band explains the disc was recorded in a very short period of time and was tracked in a live setting with the group playing in a circle facing each other. The result is a softer-sounding album than one might expect from a group that has grown to Wilco's size, and to be honest it was a little too "Adult Contemporary" for us at first.

Repeated listens, though, reveal a tender song cycle with lyrics reflecting Tweedy's recent internal healing (after years of debilitating migraines and a bout with an addiction to painkillers), while at the same time offering ample display of the interplay between members of the group. The guitars are mostly muted, but when they pop out and above the mix, lines twirling about each other, the result is entrancing.

Our primary gripe about the disc was actually best coined by Time Out Chicago last week when they said, "Given the stellar band Tweedy has assembled, it occasionally feels like he's behind the wheel of a brand new Porsche but won't take it above 25 miles per hour." And that's a fair enough observation. But we think it's also fair to note that while this is the longest time a stable line-up has held fast in the history of Wilco, the members are probably still finding their way when it comes to writing together as a group. And if Sky Blue Sky is merely the band's tender first steps as a resurrected ensemble, we can't wait to hear what they sound like when they're primed and running at full speed.

Band photo from Wilco's website by Jim Saah.

man, Letterman has got to be the unfunniest guy...

I never thought 1 sentence, especially on a message board, could say so much about a person

HUHHHH?????? I don't have a problem with taking blame when I've blundered, but how could this possibly be my fault?? I hardly "leaked" this information into cyberspace. HBO aired the episode TWO days ago. I'm surprised you didn't hear it around the water cooler, virtual or otherwise...Sorry the series is ruined for you..that does suck, but blame HBO for airing the show two days before you had the chance the catch the episode...

Sorry for the harsh words... The go fuck yourself was a little harsh, but I was angry about it. I went on the board to see what song was played... Ive done everything I can to avoid having the big surprise from the Sopranos ruined, I missed it Sunday night and that was the first time I could watch it since. Its not like Im mad you spoiled the ending to the Sixth Sense, it was somethin that was released about 48 hours ago.

"Christopher" is/was (he got wacked last Sunday)

Alright I know this is harsh, im honestly this angry, Ive watched this show for the entire series and you gave away one of the biggest things thats ever happened on the show and completely ruined it for me...

I was literally opening the recording on my DVR when i thought id check and see what song got played... so im sorry but i have to say this to you: go fuck yourself.

Also raining in Chicago but rode around on my bike listening to the record... its a happy day when a wilco album is released

I hope they play You Are My Face and knock it out of the park... it is Jeffs favorite song

I fully expect next weeks Billboard to read as such:

 

#1 Linkin Park

#2 Wilco

agreed, but their album like totally rocks

now, lighten up a bit. i don't think anybody hates you here...this isn't really that type of place. i think some dudes are just ribbing you a bit b/c you are reacting to it like you are.

I wasnt taking it that way at all...

its funny though because this is exactly where a post about license plates would lead haha

It's really asking for it when the quote itself is not of high quality. There's someone on another board I frequent whose sig is the phrase "what is what," attributed to himself. That's been begging for mockery for a long time now.

In my defense, I was not quoting myself. It was a signature, it was meant as a joke, which leads me to:

The origin of The Shua

As for "what is theshua?" - its a joke with some friends of mine, I know this girl whos a wannabe hippie and not coincidentally a total fool.. anyway a group of us went to a Ben Harper concert and after she randomly said "if my name was Joshua I would totally make people call me the Shua..." so as an inside joke, making fun of her, people would say hey shua sarcastically.. It's all about having a sense of humor about yourself... i think it was misinterpreted in the context on this board as I was some frat boy asshole who referred to himself in the third person, not the case.

Well I wasnt quoting myself, it was simply a signature... Also from now on I will refrain from using "~" as to not offend internet geeks whos masculinity is challenged by a squiggly line. It's a user name, its joke, go make some more license plates.

because you have nothing better to do??

maybe a 5.2 out of 5.2

I bought this at the art store last night but havent gotten a chance to read it yet, I feel overwhelmed by Wilco articles..

Me neither, but god damnit, it's funny.

I think its pretty funny you went through the trouble of going to that site and uploading that to the topic... its like the atomic bomb of anonymously making fun of someone on a message board for reasons you cant even fathom...

Honestly I really dont get it, my handle online makes you think im some kind of jerk off or whats the deal?

i still dont get it.

so is this not true..? a joke? update?

theres someone in chicago who actually has "WILCO" i see it every now and then...

Cool, is the Kicking Television from the recordings from Kicking Television?

yea it was the only thing that was released.... man i want to see that footage so bad.

I couldnt think of a way to title the topic that wasnt a huge tease, but how great would a wilco unplugged be? I hate MTV as much as the next music snob but today I was listening to Nirvana's unplugged and I realized there were a lot of really classic performances on that show... Claptons was amazing too. Wouldn't it be incredible to see Wilco put on a performance like that? A kind of cross between a Tweedy solo show but with everyone involved? I miss nels coming in and tickling my ear drum during tweedy solo shows. I dont really know what the point of this post is, but it seems like theres this huge organized intelligent fanbase (all of us), we should really do more to encourage things like a Wilco: Unplugged.

its at 4 now, still linkin park at 3...

Also interesting, the Chicago Tribune's review after Jeff challenged them to write another "nice thing about them" at Farm Aid..

Here's their review:

Wilco's intimate "Sky Blue Sky"

Wilco singer Jeff Tweedy sits at the kitchen table in the band

Gray skies gone blue

Though he'd rather make music than talk to the press, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy has a lot to say

May 13, 2007

BY JIM DeROGATIS Pop Music Critic

For all his talk about being happy, Jeff Tweedy doesn't smile much, Sun-Times photographer Keith Hale noted after a recent visit to the loft that the Chicago band Wilco maintains as a rehearsal space and recording studio on the Northwest side.

Only once during a two-hour interview and photo session did the singer and songwriter break into a full-fledged grin, when he sat surrounded by a dozen guitars and talked about buying a new Studer 24-track, reel-to-reel recorder, one of the last the company sold before yielding to digital technology.