MCHowdy

Why does anyone think this is done well? It's pretty bad. Every single time it's posted.

I used to hear "I will always die so you can remember me" in Company in My Back as "I will always die so fucking remember me."

 

--Mike

Wow! Which would be a kinda cool, much more intense version. I like it.

Kinda off topic, but my favorite album (yes, WHOLE album) back in the day was Astral Weeks. I still get a little twinge when I hear it!

 

INow THAT makes sense for this topic. Thank you.

The Good Part. If you're in a rush.

 

I can see this is going nowhere. I can't take it anymore. UNCLE! I GIVE!

Well, there's arguing because you believe in something, and then just arguing because you have a rep for doing so on the Wilco board. You fell victim to the latter. I think you made some fine points.

My god this has made me happy. The entire thread!

The boxing metaphor in the first verse kills it for me before it really gets started. Tired, cliched.

Everyone always throws out "direct" as an adjective when describing the lyrics on this record. What do you mean by that? How are other Wilco albums' lyrics indirect?

Well, I threw out something like "direct" in talking about one song. Rather, I said the song had "little waste", but it amounts to the same thing in this case. Never said that other albums don't contain songs with direct lyrics, and I'm not certain anyone else did. And I think the distinction between "direct" and "indirect" is obvious enough that there's hardly much to say other than "direct". It's just that simple.

Kamera vs. Baby Blue

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C53QAuOoSgc

Didn't want this to go unresponded to. You are EXACTLY right! And I love me some Badfinger.

Nice guitar work, yes. Lyrics are okay, but it doesn't paint a picture in any resounding manner. I wouldn't cringe, but I'm not a fan.

I like the lyric. Very little waste, paints a nice picture to me, but we can agree to disagree. My main point is that hearing it in a CVS (or any store for that matter) should have no bearing on the song's real impact.

And I'd argue that the guitar work is more than nice. The build up from the sparseness at the beginning of Nels' solo, to the three-part interplay near the end is gorgeous and tense, and the release of the tension with the power chord that ends the solo is great on the album, and even better live. Listen to the Boston recording from the Evening With shows and you can hear the crowd tension release, too. Love it.

the 'you're not listening' part of the IG lyrics are really direct, and meaningful. at least to me.

Agreed and agreed.

You know, whenever I listen to Side With Seeds, which I love, and of course never bother to look up the lyrics, I always sing the intro as "Tssslalllppppp thshssatss ssgggg/Where the blsssslanggsss stoph cracks.....". And my 6 month old loves it.

Ew. I think I threw up in my mouth. That is terrible.. And yes, ew to the man boobs, too.

Agreed! My god that is bad. Sorry.

[(and apparently I'm the only Wilco fanatic who doesn't love "Impossible Germany").

 

Ummm, you are not alone. I really don't love Impossible Germany at all. In fact, it's the only Wilco song that sort of makes me cringe. Hearing it in CVS didn't help. For the record, I deeply love Wilco.

I find this post a little strange. First of all, CVS? If your CVS is playing IG, it's the coolest CVS I've heard of.

Second, cringe? Really? Is it the impossibly great guitar work? The lyrics? ??????

You Are My Face, followed by IG. Both are also amazing live.

Okay fine, I'll admit You and I is a bit cheesy.

 

I just think it's funny everyone's all the sudden obsessed with the word 'cheesy' in this thread.

Yeah, we need a better descriptive term!

reading this thread has made me spin yhf so that i hear reservations which, i believe, is a perfect way to close the album. honestly, i can't imagine any track in any different place on the album, and i most definitely cant describe any of the album as "cheezy." it's neat to hear that people have disdain for material that i hold dear: kamera, for instance, someone mentioned as not liking very much. the clarity that kamera offers is a figurative "zoom" into focus after a blurry drink from the aquarium. hmd, to me, is in line with the natural crescendo that yhf has, culminating with i'm the man before falling (not in a negative sense), gradually, into having reservations about so many things, but not about anything on yhf.

 

btw...my pee song is shot b/c they always play it, and i've never really been taken by this track (although the red lights are a cool effect).

Agreed, perfect closer. I think Poor Places would be a rough place to be left.

I think the album is so well put together, of such a piece, it's hard to dislike any portion of it, as one song follows another in such a way that I can't imagine it any other configuration without the whole suffering.

I agree completely. In fact, I've never thought any Wilco song was "cheesy".

I hate to say it again, but You and I is WAY cheesy. There's good cheesy to me (HMD is in that category) and bad. You and I is hard to take.

Damn hard decision. I'm going with WOW only because it sounded terrific during the "Acoustic" set during An Evening With Wilco. And great harmonies.

Thanks alot man. I'm glad someone (probably the only one lol) took the time to read it.

I read it, and I hear what you're saying. But I also like that late Zeppelin, for the same reason as the other poster here: it wasn't ruined for me by fm radio. Zeppelin II is an album I can no longer stand.

My music discussion buddy and I have been having the same back and forth as you and your friend. I have a couple of thoughts on the subject. First, this is the longest continuous line-up Wilco has ever had. Hasn't it been like 7 years now? As a live act, that has made them incredible. I can't emphasize that enough. I've seen every Wilco line-up, and this one seems able to do anything it wants. The Evening With shows would be impossible without all that awesome experience.

But as much as they are a band, this has obviously always been Jeff's band, and I it's impossible not to wonder if, while getting older, the band dynamics have settled into a particular pattern that is unhelpful in the studio. I mean, not to be a jerk, but I really wish someone had said SOMETHING to Jeff regarding You and I. It's just horrible on so many levels, adult rock blandness. The lyrics are really bad too. I wonder if Jay would have at least tweaked it into something interesting.

At some point (unless they decide to stay in the comfort zone that you describe) I would not be surprised to see Jeff shake the whole line-up again, maybe retaining John,who really is the glue to me, and probably Glenn, who would be hard to let go simply because he is one of the 4 or 5 best rock drummers out there, imo, and can play virtually any style on command, and in an original way.

Btw, I heartily disagree on SBS. I find new things to love about that album every time I hear it, and regard it as a 4.5 outta 5. A couple clunkers, but great arrangements and gorgeous dark lyrics throughout. W(TA) is their only real bomb to me, and even then I find myself liking a couple of songs here and there.

Oh, also the piano work all through the last three minutes of IATTBYH. I've always been aware of it, but listening to it on the recording of the Boston show from 4/6/10 sent shivers through me.

John's bass work in You Are My Face, especially the intro. I think SBS is his best album.

I was at the Boston show. The set was fantastic, 39 songs total, the sound good, and the energy of the band terrific. They had the night previous off, which may have helped. Jeff heaps some praise on the Boston crowd if you have the recording, but Wilco has had a pretty longstanding love affair with the area.

glad everyone grabbed the recording. Thanks to Wilco for posting it!!

Been listening to it in the car all weekend, JMal, where it sounds fantastic. One of the best recordings I have by Wilco, just a terrific show. Thanks again!

Thanks

Happy that a kid from Dorchester (inner City Boston) who grew up listening to his Dad play Cash/Clancy's in fact a Clancy was married into our family but that is too far a digression,

 

So very Happy that my Hometown responded and Yes I was at the Orpheum w/ my Son

 

Glad you dropped this one on us boyos

 

See you in the Berkshires

Boyo! In Jones Hill here. Good to hear from Dot types.