smells like flowers

It would be great if great if Jay were playing on AM, but he wasn't.  That soulful guitar playing was Brian Hennemann of the Bottle Rockets.

 

LouieB

Oops, my mistake!

"Pick Up the Change," heard in between sets of a bunch of local bands playing an outdoor all-day thing yesterday. It inspired me to listen to AM while cooking this afternoon. I very rarely listen to Wilco's studio recordings anymore (with the exception of SW), and it's amazing how well AM holds up. I just love it all the way through. Jeff's voice, so young and scratchy, John on "It's Just That Simple," Brian Henneman's warm, soulful guitar playing. What a great record.

...Star Wars is Wilco's best album in the last ten years.

I can get behind that!

Somebody called "Poon" must know plenty about girls.

Not exactly a "heard," but I was just at a busy farm stand getting some of summer's bounty, and an older gentleman commented on my Wilco t-shirt (worn in honor of JT's b-day). He said, "Wilco, I know them. Their drummer used to play in a band we'd go see in Chicago." Maybe some early project of Glenn's? I asked if he'd been at the Amphitheatre for their show in May, and he said yes, he'd gotten free tickets and was right up front. I didn't get any more details, but I always love to make a Wilco connection with a stranger. And it was especially fun on Jeff's b-day.

I have listened to about 86 chapters of The Girl on the Train (audio books are about the only way I get to "read" anything lately). I am baffled at how this is some kind of national hit. Just dreadful characters that have almost no redeeming qualities to latch on to.

Agree-- that book was shite. That whole shifting perspective device is totally ineffective when the voices of the characters are nearly indistinguishable from one another. Not to mention there wasn't an interesting thought between them.

From today's Wilco HQ email: "The band will head back on the road in support of the new album this fall. See full details below and stay tuned, more dates are coming." [/size]

 

Good news! East Coast maybe?[/size]

Damn, I hope so! I'm dying to hear Star Wars. Would love Balto/ DC area in a nice theatre! Please and thank you.

I think a lot of people are missing out, because they have no fuckin clue how great the band is live...

 

Shhhh.... better seats for us!

The whole summer season is challenging! After two outdoor shows (Edgefield & Marymoor) this year, I think I'll save my money and travel to a couple of indoor shows in the future. After hearing some tapes of shows in and around Chicago, I think I'd rather go to a concert with a saavy crowd who appreciates every moment and makes sure the band knows it!

It seems difficult to catch them indoors in the summer. But preferable for the reasons you stated, and the sound is usually better.

Wow, seems kinda pricey for AD-- but potluck! How fun would that be?! Wonder what Pat and John will bring. Something warm and cheesy?

Jeff is a lot of things, and androgynous (stylistically or otherwise) is definitely not one of them. But the fuzzed-out glam vibe on Random Name Generator is fantastic.

What if the poster book had included Paul's notes from every show he attended on the page opposite the poster for that night? That would be such an amazing chronicle. What a missed opportunity...

I'm glad to see the return of the rock encore, even if it's mixed in sporadically with the hootenanny-style encore. I think the acoustic stuff works best in indoor venues where you can hear and appreciate it to its fullest. Personally, I like to leave a Wilco show feeling "rode hard and put away wet." Bring the rock!

Bumping this threat to see if anyone else has picked up this book yet? If so thoughts?

I was given the book as a gift, and I paged through it once. It is a gorgeous art book-- heavy paper, larger format. It was fun to see the posters for shows I've been to, and admire others. The notecards are cool-- made from cut up leftover posters, apparently. I doubt I would have spent the money to buy it on my own, but it is a nice book. If you are a poster-lover or just yearn for more of all things Wilco, it seems like a solid purchase. I was a tiny bit disappointed to note that while the collection of included posters was put together by Jeff, the intro was written by the head of Mass MOCA. But that doesn't diminish the visual appeal in any way.

I miss Spiders. The acoustic version is gorgeous and was in heavy rotation a while back, but there's nothing like the full-bore electric version. Hope it makes it back on the setlist soon!

farther off track, personally I'd also love to see them return to the "all-request/all covers" show possibility for Solid Sound 2017 (it's be the first one in 4 years by then!)!!!

I heard "Stuck in the Middle with You" last night and the vocals reminded me of Jeff. On the nasal side, a little twangy, similar pitch. That would be a fun one to hear them cover! But the downside would be we'd all have this disturbing image of John cutting off Pat's ear.

Thanks for the ideas! Will see what I can figure out.

I was unable to download the St. Augustine show to either my iPhone or iPad. Anyone else have issues or suggestions?

I love the record SO MUCH. I'm developing an unhealthy attachment to it. It's practically all I think about. Pity the poor people around me who have no interest in talking about how brilliant Star Wars is! It's really difficult not to overdo it by listening multiple times a day. Don't want to ruin it for myself, which I've done before! So envious of those going to shows in the next few weeks/months that will likely get to hear it played in its entirety. Damn.

Went to the Amy Schumer flick, Trainwreck, last night.

 

It was OK. There were definitely some laughs (surprisingly, a lot of the funniest moments were from John Cena), but the last 1/3 of the movie dragged.

 

B-

For some reason I didn't expect a standard romantic comedy, but that's what it boiled down to. Was a nice surprise to hear a Wilco song pop up during the post-breakup montage --"Please Be Patient With Me."

Not lyrics, but sounds! Specifically all those bendy guitar sounds, which remind me of ELO.

I'm on a Daniel Woodrell kick. His writing is so thoroughly enjoyable -- southern gothic dirty realism. It's funny and dark and he makes such great use of southern aphorisms. While "Winter's Bone" is probably his most popular novel because it was made into a movie, my favorites so far are "The Death of Sweet Mister" and "Give Us A Kiss." Reading "Tomato Red" right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt8F1F1mVpg, someone posted it to YouTube

Thank you for posting this! I missed the stream the night of (was at a Modest Mouse show, which I didn't enjoy at all-- Wilco has spoiled me, I'm afraid). Anyway, I just watched it and am thoroughly amazed at how polished and organic it sounds right out of the gate. I'm sure some of the songs will evolve played live over time, but it is amazing on the first run! As an aside, I'm so glad this record came out and I think it is totally brilliant. There was a nagging little voice in my head that I was hanging onto Wilco too tight and for too long. My favorite studio recordings are so many years old, and while I truly LOVE seeing the band live, it is so exciting that they have this great new material to add to the mix. The flame has been re-kindled, that's for sure!

What is up with "punctuation" lately? It's a fucking mess!

Digging Cold Slope>King of You. Hell, pretty much digging the whole thing.

My sentiments exactly. I think those two songs are my favorite stretch on the whole record. These songs (and all the rest) are just going to KILL live. I really hope, as others have said, that they play the whole thing through at shows, instead of mixing the songs in with the rest of the setlist.