Starry Eyed Squirrel

Hey, if anyone is still looking for a place to stay and they are getting discouraged by the insane prices for all the nearby hotels/motels...

I just found a place in Wilmington, VT, about 25 miles away, called the Vintage Motel, and it's $75/night. I think that is a super great deal, and it includes free breakfast. The guy that owns it, Riaz, is extremely nice. Glad I found this place!

Just passin' it along to my fellow Wilco freaks.

See you next weekend!

What a disappointing corner we've turned in this thread. Back to the Philly show... it was so great! So many highlights from the evening, I wouldn't know where to begin.

One thing that I was happy about was Jeff pointing out the "Chatty Kathy's" -- I was up in the balcony and the people there would NOT stop talking. During Sunken Treasure, these two ladies were laughing and talking about total nonsense... almost ruined the moment for me. What's it with people talking during a show that they paid for? Drives me nuts.

Also, the weed smoke was ridiculously strong. Serious contact high going not by my choice, and Jeff even brought attention to it and started playing with the lights, showing off the smoke and said, "Thanks for ruining my 6-year sobriety" -- or something to that effect. Pretty hilarious.

Loved the acoustic set. John on the upright bass was a joy to watch. Forget the Flowers was a real treat. =) The last 2 songs, Casino Queen and Outtasite were absolutely nutbar. Loved the fact that "AM" got some serious playtime last night. All the staples were amazing of course too, with Via Chicago pretty much destroying the minds of the two Wilco-virgins I brought along. Theologians brought a tear to my eye. So emotional for me.

Wilco hasn't disappointed me once, and I don't expect that to happen anytime soon. One thing though: the sound at the Electric Factory was pretty terrible. That factory just wasn't made for music. Ahhh well, epic show none the less and next up for me, is the festival in Mass.

I'm going. I live 2 hrs away and it is just so beautiful in this area of the country in August. I simply can't imagine NOT going. Thing is: I have no one to go with. So, a 3 day weekend, alone? You bet. I suppose if I'm around a bunch of Wilconians like myself, I figure I'm not really the Lonely 1, right?

Being up front during ITMWLY, soaked in the rain, going absolutely nuts along with the rest of the electrified crowd, watching Jeff and Nels terrorize their guitars, Glenn drenched pounding his kit, John grinning ear to ear.... ahhh, it was timeless, epic, unforgettable.

What a great ending to a fun show. They sounded better than ever. And yea, it got rained out and we missed some songs, but nothing can take that experience away from my memory.

I'll be there tomorrow! Can't wait. I just moved to this area (Nashua, NH) and don't know a soul, so I'll be the "Lonely 1" at the show. It'd be cool to meet some fellow Wilcrew, grab some beers or something, if anyone is up for it. This will be my third time seeing them (Burlington VT and Coachella, CA are the other two shows). I'm a Wilco fanatic and can't wait to see them in all their glory.

~ Jeremy

Just listened to this record on a pair of Energy RC10 Monitors. That listen coupled with my previous listen on the BD 770 headphones leads me to the earth-shattering conclusion:

This album sounds great on headphones AND stereo speakers!

Surprise, surprise.

The production on WTA is really, really good, so no matter how you hear it, as long as the source is good and your speakers/cans are of a nice quality, it's going to sound superb.

That said, WTA is going to shine on vinyl!

oh, i burned it to cd and listened to it through my stereo. i don't listen to music through headphones, it doesn't give proper stereo imaging, because the sound is isolated to each ear. if an album only sounds good on headphones then it's been mixed badly.

I disagree. This album sounds absolutely nuts in my pair of Beyer Dynamic 770's. Can't wait to hear it on vinyl! What a great record.

panda bear is amazing as is all animal collective stuff...'specially Sung Tongs. Grabbit!

It was a great show! Jeff was hilarious as usual and the band sounded very tight. Great set.

A bunch of us are driving over from the Littleton/Franconia area in New Hampshire.

Simply cannot wait!

Yeah, you guys are having a cow.

Fine, you win. Moo.

What's shucking cornstalks?

Think it's just a way of saying it, like "shucking corn", "shucking cornstalks". I can see your point though...

Casino Queen is awesome. There's nothing wrong with light-hearted, fun music, and Casino Queen nails it.

Hey, but enough about Bitchfork.... if you haven't already read it, tinymixtapes wrote a fantastic, meaningful review of Sky Blue Sky, that should be read by all.

I don't understand how folks can simultaneously claim that Pitchfork is irrelevant while having a cow over this 5.2 rating.

Having a cow? No. Illustrating their irrelevancy by showing how their scoring system is severely flawed? Yes.

What the hell is shucking cornstalks?

@Ninja - Ha, ha... seriously?

That was a fantastic review. Right on the money. The best I've read so far.

Awesome review for an awesome album. Vinyl arrives tomorrow... can't wait!

Yeah, it's already in the $70s.

 

On a side note, the current high bidder is really starting to bug me. He also recently blew 3 Califone records way out of my price range. I had thought that maybe he just didn't understand the Spanish/US exchange rate, but now this seems like his M.O.

Guess I'm not the only one who was eyeing this eBay item. Damn.

@Owl.... I can't find Heron King Blues on vinyl... you have it?

Well played, yes. Unfortunately technique is nothing more than a failed style.

Not to get this topic off track... but how so? I like the solo because of where it carries the song emotionally. The song has a pensive, sad feeling to it, whereas the solo is hopeful and soars, so from a songwriting standpoint, I think it fits poetically into the theme of the song coming at the end of it, and sets the stage guitar-wise for what's to come on the remainder of the album. Stylistically, I'd like to hear what you mean by "Failed style". That intrigues me... thanks!

The "one" thing they got right was Nel's solo on the opening track. It's George Benson 'cringe-worthy'.

 

That said, I could care less what those paintywaist pedigreed bookend dweebs over at Bitchfork have to say.

I fuggin' LOVE that solo.

Agreed. That was my point. These numbers they hand out are hilarious. Where do they come up with this shit?

For those of you who might feel intimidated, offended or otherwise put off by anything that comes out of pitchfork's horribly laughable website, I'll attempt to give you some insight to just how irrelevant they've become.

As they say.... "proof is in the numbers". Here's a sampling of albums with questionable scores.

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky 5.8

As you know, this is an absolute JOKE.

Gwen Stefani - The Sweet Escape - 6.5

Gwen gets a higher score than SBS. Sing it with me... "B - A - N - A - N - A - S!" Kill. Me. Now.

Beach Boys - Pet Sounds - 7.5

Last time I checked, this album is one of the greatest ever writ.

Belle and Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap - 0.8

Why not 0.5? Or 1.3? Or, hey... how 'bout 3.4? B&S is a nice band, nothing revolutionary, but c'mon, 0.8?

And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - Source Tags and Codes - 10.0

And We Will Know Pitchfork By Their Idiotic Scoring System

Save Ferris - It Means Everything - 9.5

Save Who? Pitchfork?

Wilco - A Ghost is Born - 6.6

Lest we forget their previous Wilco brain-fart rating. "When the devil came, he was not red. He was cruel and he said, "Pitchfork"."

Wilco - Being There - 6.8

Hey, it's 0.2 better than AGIB. Personally, I think 9.7 or perhaps, 9.732 (Can I do that?) would be more fitting.

The Blood Brothers - Burn, Piano Island Burn - 9.1

I like punk and love bands like Fugazi, mewithoutYou, etc., but seeing a 9.1 for this earbleeding spewtastic bucket of death, is and was the end of Pitchfork's credibility for me.

Coldplay - Parachutes - 5.3 / Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head 5.1

Sorry. Laugh all you want at Coldplay and their rise to fame (Martin bugs me too), but their first 2 albums were better than a 5.

William Basinski- The Disintegration Loops I-IV - 9.4

For the uninitiated, this is about 4 hours of tuneless drone. Basinski recorded old analog tape reels physically disintegrating. The result: an intriguing science experiment. And yes, it received scores higher than any Wilco record other than YHF. But it DID tie Summerteeth's score of 9.4. So digest that fact for a minute: Wilco's Summerteeth was phenomenal. A band writing songs, playing instruments, singing lyrics for Christ sake. But Pitchfork suggest that 4-hours of "Less Than You Think" drone is AS good as ST and better than SBS, BT, AM, MA1, MA2, etc.

Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children - 10.0

I own it. I like it. 10? No.

The Flaming Lips - Zaireeka - 0.0

I own it. I don't like it. 0? No.

Here's an interesting quote that sums up Pitchfork in all of their pretentious wonder:

In their review for the Fiery Furnaces EP, which garnered a glowing 8.9 rating because the LSD had really starting kicking in right about the time they grabbed their dice to roll out a magic review number (that's how they get their numbers, really! It's....mathematical.), they were feeling especially holier than thou and decided to begin their review with this infamous quote: "If you don't like Blueberry Boat, I don't like you. It's no longer a matter of taste, other than the fact that I have good taste, whereas you, Fiery Furnaces-hater, do not."

My response to all this bullshit?

I give Pitchfork a 1.849493332.

And by the way.... SBS is amazing.

BT 180 here...

 

Accoustic Sounds

 

good luck with Summer Teeth. You can probably find AM.

 

Simply vinyl is another good one. Ive never seen march or weird tales

Oh and I have:

 

BT

YHF

AGIB

Down with Wilco

Mermaid Ave 1

Loose Fur

Born Again

Thanks! Picked up the 180G of Being There.

Now I have:

YHF

AGIB

BT

SBS (Pre-ordered)

I know this might sound silly to some, but I have 2 Numark TTX1's turntables and a Numark PPD01 Mixer and we have little Wilco parties at our house, blending songs together, fading songs like a radio station or something... etc. It's a lot of fun and the vinyl sounds amazing! Of course, I mainly listen to the vinyl albums straight through with my Grado's (I'm an album snob in that way), but it is a lot of fun to "mix" Wilco together with people over. If I could just get "Passenger Side" in the mix now, we'd have ourselves a regular party 'round here.

Any updates as to where I can find the following albums on vinyl?

- Mermaid Avenue

- Being There 180G

- Summerteeth

- A.M.

I realize ST is very rare but I'd like to fill out my collection and I don't have high hopes of seeing a repress anytime soon...although why they aren't repressing their albums is beyond me. If little indie bands can do it, you'd think Wilco could too.

Also... does anyone know if the GS album "Weird Tales" or the "March" album by UT are available on vinyl?

Thanks!

"Either Way"....all the way.

Don't make fun, but yesterday, my dog died, and the lyrics to that song brought tears to my wife and I. It was my favorite from the shows, and it's my favorite today.

My deepest appreciation to Jeff Tweedy for writing such incredible music.

Analogman, you are a god that walks amongst men. A million thanks.

PM 2nd request?

I know there's been an onslaught of PM requests, and I'm sure there are those more worthy than me, but holy shit that album was so good on Saturday night and I just need to hear it again.

Thanks in advanced for sharing.