Synthesizer Patel

i could actually hear the current Wilco lineup doing that song, and not thinking anything strange about it. It has got a killer middle 8, and the fact that between the two of them they are playing 5 keyboard/pianos - it's pretty crazy.

oh, i don't know. i give up! i'm just thinkin' on my feet. i know i'm right - it's just my brain in refusing to allow me to tell people why at the moment. i may return later.

Haven't got a clue, it could have been a falcon attacking a bunch of swallows for all the difference it'd have made. It's just an average album cover.

i'm a bit worried that The Maker has seen it; well, . . . worried for his girlfriend - he can be a little volatile at times. don't hit me, it's a joke

I'm only comparing it in terms of how both set out to achieve something, and one of those two achieved it and the other didn't (in my view). One is fun, upbeat, and still sounds good to me after 40 years whilst the other is wearing a little thin after 2 days (it's in my head, but not in a good way). Is Wilco (The Song) not supposed to be a fun song, readymade for concert crowds to cheer at, then? I know which one you can dance to, if (and maybe this could be an on-going competition) if anyone on the board can find a video of anyone dancing to Wilco (The Song) and not looking stupid I'll give t

I don't like it when it veers too close to the blues and they start wailing away for 10 minutes, but the really good singers don't need to do that to get across the emotions. Some of the really good stuff is virtually black country music. There are quite a few acts that have put out some lost classics - especially if you look a little bit further afield than Otis Redding or Eddie Floyd etc... (not that they aren't great)

well don't worry, cos it's not gonna get played anymore, is it. the world has found a replacement crowd pleaser to take it's place.

oh, i have heard Neon Rainbow now that i've checked it out, i've heard it before. I also found them doing a version of Soul Deep which I'd only heard by Clarence Carter (an old blind Southern Soul artist from the late 60s & 70s) and I love the song. I think I might try and get me some Boxtops - don't know why I've never tried before, cos I too love Alex Chilton's voice and Dan Penn's songs (and that type of writing), and also that whole country-soul thing. This is kind of the opposite of that southern soul thing, where they are actually country boys being influenced by soul instead of soul

I don't know the Boxtops so well. I know that Dann Penn wrote a bunch of their songs, and I know The Letter and I Cry Like A Baby off the top of my head (which is great - also Cher does a great version of that song too). How many albums did the Boxtops put out, and are they all worth getting, then?

Because it's trying to be fun and irreverent, and achieves it. But, I don't think Wilco (The Song) does that - certainly not on the same level anyway. I think Wilco would kill for a "Dance To The Music" where they could freestyle and bring the crowd up to high level whenever they felt like it - you can't really see that happening with Wilco (The Song) although it would have been a perfect idea for a song to have attempted that on.

a while ago - it's pretty hard to find now on cd, actually. goes for about $60 or so, i think. i think the original vinyl goes for much more.

wow, no wonder we're on very different pages.

yeah, like i said, or it could be like this: Dance To The Music which pretty much pisses over anything that Wilco (The Song) has in it as it stands - so it's not like it couldn't do with some improving. yeah - great album. i think it's sampled in the Beastie Boys song Jimmy James too (i could be wrong, but it's definately a Beastie Boys sample)

Yeah, it'd be just like a Boy Band really. Poets don't share their lyrics with nobody!

It is cheesy as it is. Like I said - it could been Dance To The Music style good, it's not it'd be doomed to failure just for trying. Also maybe it could've been this type of level of goodness: The Turtles - I'm Chief Kamanawanalea (We're the Royal Macadamia Nuts) That type of thing.

finally, i'm on the winning side!

well i was also thinking about how they've got a song called Wilco (The Song) which is fun and could easily get away with something a bit different vocally, and only Jeff is allowed to sing. They could have easily taken turns singing lines and mixing it up a bit, a bit like old bands like The Band used to do. It would have also been fun to have heard the song split up in a way that allowed all the members to come to the fore for a time, a bit like Dance To The Music by Sly & The Family Stone, type of thing - it's not like the lyrics are that good that they couldn't have been reworked aroun

I don't think they've ever expanded on it, not even on Summerteeth - that's still just bog-standard background singing really.

I don't think it's got anything to do with the music requiring it or not, it's just not what they do. It's not like Nels gets told he has to play kazoo on this track, cos it doesn't need lead guitar. They play the songs in a pretty formulaic way, in that sense. There are also quite a few soul songs with lots and lots of backing singing on them which seem able to express the feelings of isolation and whatever else you think those songs are about - so background singing hardly prevents those kinds of emotions coming through - if anything it tends to heighten it.

i once saw ET and then i saw Alien in the same week when i was young* - and i'm still unsure about whether i should kill an alien if i saw one, or take it home and give it some beer so i can get drunk in science class. *this is a lie

I'm coming around to this a lot more now. I still think the production (and by production I mean the sound and the choice of instruments and everything - ie. the production of the finished album/product) is not anywhere near what they did on YHF or AGIB, but some of the songs win through anyway. Especially One Wing, I'll Fight, Deeper Down and Bull Black Nova. They should pull the album and get Jim O'Rourke to mix it again, and this could be great. One thing I want to know though, and this would be such a great way for them to sound a bit different without changing their style too much, is w

that's a good example of "never trust the artist's opinion" they're too close to it to make a rational judgement. i should just state now, that when i'm calling this "bad production" i'm judging it alongside a couple of their other albums, which i think are the best produced albums of recent years, and also alongside other bands whose music i rate as highly as bands i love from the 50s, 60, 70s etc.... this is still better produced than a lot of modern music - it's just a long way short of being great, or what i'd expect from them. it's not even as well produced as SBS which i don't dislike,

yes, i'm marrying it tomorrow and she'll (yes albums are she's) be bare-foot and pregnant before the 30th June release date I can assure you.

before everyone starts reeling off a whole list of lo-fi sound recordings. i never said lo-fi/homemade production was bad productiion. it's just a type of production, and one that suits lots of music. lots of lo-fi albums would probably sound shit if they were given a full studio production feel etc... sometimes the lo-fi feel is the "great production" i'm speaking of. "great" does not mean state of the art, it just means a production that is integral to the quality of the finsihed product.

I've googled it and replied to you above. Let that be the end of it!