jbray

This reminds me of the "Art of Almost" solo clip back in the day. It was really energizing for the hype train.

He produced the last two Ryley Walker albums, Golden Sings that Have Been Sung and Deafman Glance. You can hear it too. An underrated contributor to the Wilco sound of that era.

From the balcony, it was clear that the whole band was trying to contribute with Pat and Mikael kind of struggling (it's hard to describe). The amps were still on, just unmic'd. It was extreme due to the fact that their amps overpowered his voice quite a bit (think about how "Everyone Hides" take 1 sounded. They knew it and they were trying to accommodate. It was completely unscheduled. As Knotgreen wrote, they cut out the encore ritual to compensate for the lost time. It was pretty clear that they did not plan to add an additional song and had improvised.

I’d say that “New Madrid” wasn’t solo then full band. All of the amps were on and the band was playing incredibly quietly as not to drown out Jeff’s voice. I could absolutely hear John’s bass following along and Glenn has his brushes out. The had just gotten Mikael a melodica when the system came back up.

Different fans, different takes: "I'll Fight" is one of the most forgettable songs in the catalog and "On & On & On" is one of the best. Would never call them a sequence other than being about death. For one, "I'll Fight" contains nothing like the "we're going to try..." crescendo. I'm in a minority on this one because it seems to get requested and played at live shows, but I sure never want to hear it. I think the back half of SBS is definitely weaker than the front side but it's not dramatic. "Leave You Like You Found Me" is the culprit because it all but kills the engine. All of

I wouldn't be so sure. Back then, Wilco was still attracting new listeners with SBS (like myself) and I am not so sure that is true with each release. It is at least less new listeners. I'd be more surprised by a WtA reappraisal than a SW or OTJ one.

Show me the Wilco waltzes. My most frustrating thing about this whole process has been people conflating Jeff's solo work and Wilco. I get it to a certain degree, but also, nobody looks at Thom Yorke like he's Radiohead and listeners surely don't conflate The Eraser, AMOK, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, and Anima with Radiohead. The trajectory for Wilco is Sky Blue Sky, Wilco (The Album), The Whole Love, Star Wars, Schmilco, and Ode to Joy. So again: Show me the waltzes. Not that there are none, but I bet the ones you're thinking of are on Sukierae, Warm, and Warmer. This isn't meant to be

Now that you've said this I cannot but hear "This is New" every time I listen to "Before Us". Good call! Quite a few of us got warped copies of the orange Schmilco and we got them replaced or got black copies, myself included. The only way we found out was because we opened and played it. They'll need a picture and in some cases they need to see a destroyed copy. At least that was the case then. Give it a try. Agreed. Kind of like how "War on War" jumps in after "Radio Cure".

First spin impressions: half of the record abandons verse chorus verse chorus bridge verse chorus which was really nice because I've been frustrated with Jeff writing to the formula too much. It sounds like they actually cared about production on the record which in a large part if because they let Glenn do interesting work on the drums. I described it to my brothers as "Schmilco mixed with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" because the noise doesn't sound thrown in like it did on Schmilco and even in the live set*. It sounds purposeful and thematic. Weird choice of singles as they do sound like singles, b

I think the new record is pretty impressive on first listen and I also like Star Wars more than Summerteeth and Being There so take that as you will. As for the Star Wars overlook in general, it seems like a matter of perspective. If a listener came in on Phase 1 (AM, BT, MA) or Phase 2 (ST, YHF, AGIB) Wilco, then it looks to this observer that many in that group slept on Phase 3 (SBS, WTA, TWL), and got off the train before Phase 4 (Sukierae, SW, SCH). That album was fun, lyrically interesting, brought a different musical style to Wilco, and was cohesive as an album which was something that

Yeah, there's two ways to look at my assertion. The first is that it's interesting to see how they reconfigure that type of song to fit the record and the other is that they are writing a version of the same song over and over. I come from the perspective of the former as it helps me understand the vibe of each record. It's not like any song in that list is one to one a copy of the other, its more that certain elements connect them with others in that list be it tight drumming, a loopy guitar line, or whatever.

I really like "We Were Lucky". It's disquieting and almost feels like a Tom Waits song circa Swordfishtrombones. Take that with the grain of salt that this is Jeff's voice not Tom's, but that guitar tone is straight up "Shore Leave" and the drums are approximate to "Underground". Maybe a much more successful realization of unease than "Common Sense".

Having been at Solid Sound, this version of "White Wooden Cross" is way more interesting. In the live setting it came across as boring version of "Summer Noon" but the choices on the mix are kind of, well, weird. The echo/reverb on the piano which sound more like stabs here than they did live was unexpected. The vocal delivery is much more vulnerable. Plus, there are so many tiny pieces moving around in the background that get lost in the live wash. The piano arpeggios stood out, as did the actual background vocals that sound like they were only recorded with a room mic, as well as the guitars

The Riff magazine review is hard to believe. He compares "Everyone Hides" and "White Wooden Cross" to "Jesus, Etc" which seems like a weak comparison at best. So, when the rest of the review is full of comparisons, It becomes hard to believe they are not as poor. That said, someone of the Facebook group declared "Everyone Hides' the worst song to ever come out of Wilco and promptly sold their tickets for the upcoming tour. I think it was shocking to me because there is an "Everything Hides" on nearly every Wilco album: "Summerteeth", "Kamera", "I'm A Wheel", "Just A Kid", "Sonny Feeling", "I

I've missed this combo since they dropped it for >Art of Almost (not that that combo doesn't also work really well). Glad to see somebody got to hear it.

Congrats TCP! I’m glad this came through for you. Boston got skipped on the Schmilco tour and that sucked. Granted, we get spoiled with Solid Sound, but, ya know.

I just got an email for “Everyone Hides”. The additions make it much more dynamic over the Tweedy version

It is weird that we haven't heard anything given that the tour starts so soon. I think it'll be anticlimactic if the second single is either "White Wooden Cross" or "An Empty Corner". Not that I am not looking forward to the master takes, but I am craving some new Wilco.

They played "Too Far Apart" in Hartford,CT back on The Whole Love tour, I would love to see it again. "Either Way" and "On & On & On" are great, although the latter seems a bit green due to lack of play. "Either Way" was one of the highlights of the Evening With tour in Boston. The whole audience takes over at one point, it was really communal. I can't even believe that you've missed "What Light" as that seems to me like a staple, I'd rather see the other Sky Blue Sky songs you've listed though. "Capitol City" was fun and they pulled off all the weirdness so that was pretty great. "

There were some real interesting non-Ode to Joy tidbits in this interview: -Wilco (The Album) was created to address an existential crisis that the band didn't have enough "rockers." -Nels really enjoys the quiet songs such as "Solitaire", "When the Roses Bloom Again", and "One By One." -He also loves "Kicking Television" because of course he does, he makes that song. -Jeff pushes back against setlist diversity and lesser known tracks because it is emotionally difficult for him to watch the audience go to the bathroom. "I do not have the fortitude to endure that every night."

I'm expecting this to be their most critically observed record since Sky Blue Sky. For example, the unbeloved Pitchfork. Now that they've been around for over a couple decades, it's easy to have a complete picture on their angle which is cultural cachet with a tilt towards trendsetting (and abandonment of such trends before they're done i.e. every 3rd, 4th, and sometimes 5th album by an artist or band they've previously championed). Ode to Joy is the first Wilco record since The Whole Love that Pitchfork decided to review a track for which implies that they believe the song and/or the album to

If they want to bring out "Solitaire", please! Absolutely one of the highlights of Wilco (The Album).

I used the Autumn Defense as my primary due to them representing 2/6 contributors. I am being unfair to Nels, that's true. I often wonder if he feels there are only certain ingredients he can bring for Wilco songs. An observation that a friend said to me about the new single was that he didn't use "a single tremolo lick" which is something that is one of those small things that sounded great on SBS but became a style pattern that made other Wilco songs sound the same as SBS, especially Wilco (The Album). Does he feel that those are his skills that he can bring to the "Wilco sound" and not his

Yeah, AGIB demos were the band working through musical concepts at SOMA where Jorgensen worked which in turn became pieces of the Wilco Book. The Wilco book is really incomplete but is exactly the ideas I want to see developed. "Unlikely Japan" is another great example of that and Mike's idea. From what I've heard of Ode to Joy (specifically "An Empty Corner" and "Beyond Us", there are these really delicate piano shapes and steel guitar that are creating this haunting soundscape tied with resonant drums. This type of soundbed work is what defines YHF and AGIB especially on the Wilco Book s

I think that's totally fair and probably desired by most, including myself. My other post a couple of pages back was trying to suggest that the well my not be that deep and is instead breezy 70s rock (The Autumn Defense) and sometimes noise for noise's sake (Nels Cline). In my heart, I want a Mikael Jorgensen led production because that could be off the wall. And for clarity's sake, my rockers/Star Wars comments were aimed at Coornelius and Chez plus those admittedly absent people over on Facebook who are using songs like "I'm a Wheel" to define what they feel Wilco is lacking, not really y