BolivarBaLues

I'll be damned Rockinrob, problem solved! My cartridge manufacturer suggests a tracking weight of .75 to 1.5, but I had to bump it up to about 2.75 to get it to behave. Midway through "Box Full of Letters" and I haven't had a single skip (would have had probably 10-12 before). I guess what threw me off is that the rest of my Wilco LPs are new and A.M. is the only one that was problematic. Oh well, I must be high. Thanks, mate!

I guess this is a possibility. I've had my Technics SL-1700 for 10 years now and have never had problems like this. I do have a new cartridge but thus far A.M. is the only record that behaves this way, including all my other Wilco LPs and some old standbys that have worked fine for years.

Has anyone else had problems with the vinyl LP of A.M.? I ordered my first copy from Amazon and it skipped so badly that it was unlistenable. I sent it back and the replacement copy skipped in all the same places. I'm talking like 4-5 skips per track. I finally got in touch with Nonesuch and they're sending another copy, but given the issues with the Summerteeth LP , I'm wondering if this is just a bad pressing? I have all the other Wilco records on vinyl (except for The Album) and they play fine on my turntable (with the exception of "I Can't Stand It" on Summerteeth). I'm using a brand new c

I concur. Reverting to a previous version of QT also involves reverting to a previous version of iTunes, and with over 270 GB of music on the line, I ain't about to screw with something that ain't broke. Plus, who knows what else I've got installed that will be rendered useless with a legacy version of QT. So my only other option is to do without, and for someone who has bought every Wilco release since 1994 and attended concerts, bought merch, 180-gram LPs and the like, that ain't an option either. So if you are having similar problems, I urge you to do as I have and contact Wilco tech suppor

The other day I decided to pop my copy of Sky Blue Sky into my Mac to see if there was any new bonus material available, only to discover that I could no longer access the bonus area. I get the message telling me that I need to enable Flash in Quicktime, but the problem stems from the latest Quicktime version 7.4.1, which has disabled the "enable Flash" option in System Preferences, apparently for "security reasons." Has anyone figured out a workaround or experienced the same problem?

I wouldn't personally do something like go out of my way to find the loft, but if I happened to be passing by I might snap a photo. I've done likewise at locations like Electric Lady Studios and The Dakota entrance where Lennon was shot, along with "the crossroads" in Clarksdale, MS, "thumbing a ride" for a cheesy photo op. It's always awkward to approach celebrities, as it has been on the occasions that I've met the likes of Tweedy or Paul Westerberg. I understand people's desire to keep the location a guarded secret, especially the Chicago folks that feel like they're privy to some super-sec

If someone were to encroach upon Coyne's privacy, it would be nobody's fault but his own. All you have to do is zoom into the piece of fan mail that he's opening in the "Fearless Freaks" film and do a Mapquest. Seems like they would have edited that bit out. Also, whether or not one wishes to divulge this information is their choice, but the fact of the matter is that no one owns the public space outside of their apartment, house or Loft and can not prevent another person, regardless of intention, from going there. The media laws that dictate what's legal to photograph, for example, dictate

I'm with you; I'm 37 and I feel the same way, though I would have loved something like this in my early 20s. I went for half a day last year as a performer, and though it was interesting to see the spectical of something so large and marvel at the logistical nightmare that must exist in putting such a festival together, there was no way that I could imagine staying three or four days. We were in a little "artist's compound" camp area that included performers, press and vendors, and even though it was a partially shaded area within short walking distance of the main "Centeroo," and had easy acc

Good pickups + good tube amp = great tone. I'm a firm believer in handwound pickups; I have Harmonic Designs in my Tele and Jason Lollars in my Epi Sheraton. They're a little pricey, but well worth the return in tone. I fairly recently pulled the humbucker in my Les Paul and replaced it with a Seymour Duncan Phat Cat (a P-90 single coil replica). Suddenly, this $80 pickup has made the Paul my number #1 guitar. As good as the $150 Lollars sound, there's something special about the sound of that Duncan in that particular guitar. Tone heaven! I give my tubes a bit of a boost with a modified Iba

Indeed. Brain fart, sorry.

You guys have most of this down, but I've got just a few minor refinements and addtions. First, the piano intro: Since this is the piano part adapted for guitar, it's a little trick to pull of the first little hammer-on; you have to strike the b flat note (g string 3rd fret) first, and hammer-on to the b natural at the same time you pick the g note (d string, 5th fret). For the verse, the chords are G (two measures), C (2 measures), G (4 measures), C (2 measures), C minor (2 measures), Bb (2 measures), A (1 measure), Ab (1 measure). The pre-chorus above is essentially correct. The ch

Any note in a true diminished chord (not half-diminished, which I refer to as a minor-7 flat 5) serves as the root note. For example, a Cdim has these notes: c, gb, a, eb; Gbdim is gb, c, eb, a, Adim is a, eb, gb, c, etc. A fun trick when using a dimished chord in a song is to slide it up three frets, like this: This trick always works (as long as you're in the correct key) when a dim chord is called for because all you're doing is moving to different voicings of the same chord. I think a "Via Chicago" uses this trick (or at least I use it when I play it) on the "tracks of a train's arm

Sure, no problem. I use a program called "Transcribe" that's indispensable when it comes to nailing those fast runs accurately; it will slow down a selection to half or quarter speed (but at the same pitch), so you can pick them apart note by note.

Here's the solo from the album version; enjoy!

I download videos from YouTube, Google Video and similar sites using a script that works in conjunction with a Firefox extension called "GreaseMonkey." The downloaded files are Flash video files, so you have to view it with a program such as VLC, or better yet encode it as MPEG-4 using a program called iSquint (for Mac; don't know about PeeCee equivalents).

Which of these items does not belong in the set?

This one.

Kotche's a wonderful drummer. Very tasty, and not in the least bit flashy. The man is IN the pocket; not a tick ahead or behind, but right on the beat. His talent is not immediately noticeable to those who don't know what to listen for, for those that have to hear some flashy approximation of Neil Peart to be impressed. I wonder if he's ever played jazz? I'd love to hear him and Nels in a jazz trio with a double-bassist; I'll bet he's got the chops to pull it off.

Nice reccomendations. Nels' website is a real interesting read, though it's not been updated as much lately, presumably due to the time he's been spending touring/recording and such with Wilco lately. The interesting thing about Nels to me that some Wilco fans might not realize is how he's managed maintain his unique style and free-jazz sensibility and at the same time fit in with what Wilco is doing. On paper, it sounds like a complete mismatch; I initially wondered how someone who is all about improvisation would find fulfillment in a much more scripted role. I'm a big jazz fan, so natura

Sky Blue Sky would sound glorious on an A.M. car radio in a 1974 El Camino. I don't know if the version I have has been mastered or not, but it sounds 30 years old right off the bat.

This album for me was far from a "grower;" I immediately fell in love with it. AGIB, now that was a grower for me, but after about 6-7 listens, I think this will turn out to be perhaps the finest record they've made to date, albeit one that will probably not receive its proper appreciation for some years to come. The whole group, in fact, I feel will be one that is more appreciated years after they're gone than they are during their existence; The Band comes to mind. I've not read through all these posts, but somewhere earlier in the thread some folks were talking about this album perhaps n

Yeah, that song stood out to me as one of my favorites. I also liked "Nettie Moore" and "Ain't Talkin'." Those songs to me really sounded like Dylan moving forward, while the rest sounded like spinning his wheels.

I guess I need to learn to be more jaded, huh? Or perhaps the drugs were just kicking in really good at the time... As far as the links go, halfway through writing my post I realized that I could easily transform it into a piece for my LiveJournal page, so I decided to put the effort into providing links and all. But I assure everyone that there's no money being made here, and that my intentions are merely to promote the local scene and possibly stir up some interest in this music, much of which is made by friends of mine. We've got a fairly supportive thing going on here amongst musicians,

Thank you. It's nice to finally hear a reasoned opinion. I checked amazon.com yesterday and was amazed to see seven reviews already. I can't take any review at this point too seriously, since it's only been out for a day now. I'm perplexed by all of these people that want to declare it "top five," or "top" whatever. It's just too early to properly evaluate this recording. I mean, how many times could someone have heard it thus far, even if they've been sitting on a leaked copy for a few weeks? I'm saying let's not get ahead of ourselves here and hand out any awards just yet. I got my copy yest

Cool, I'm glad you guys enjoy it. I thought it was really interesting stuff. I really enjoy all the field recordings of rural music, not just in the U.S., but all over, like the stuff Alan Lomax used to record. Anyway, didn't mean to get snappy, I just get tore up when I'm trying to do something out a sense of altruism and someone has the nerve to question my motives or suggest a hidden agenda.