I Loathe the Sun...

One Wing. That song still does absolutely nothing for me, musically and lyrically.

The first time I heard the line "And I told you in my arms I hate you less than the rest," I knew immediately that it was a classic Jeff Tweedy lyric. Over-the-top comedic genius, very Morrissey-like. Great lines like that seemed to be in short supply on The Whole Love IMO.

Is it true that before the recording of this album Jeff was given guitar lessons by Richard Lloyd? I thought that I read that somewhere but I've never heard that reinforced by online fans or other articles. His guitar work on the album is killer and speaks to me much more than most of Nels's Post-Sky Blue Sky contributions.

Anyway, I love this album to just because it's so improvised yet it keeps focus throughout due to Jim O'Rourke's contribution. I thought that The Whole Love was lacking as far as a unifying musical theme is concerned, yet it has it's own mixtape kind of charm that I love too.

1. IATTBYH (I Must Be High, Can't Stand It)

2. She's a Jar (Hell Is Chrome, Far Far Away)

3. A Shot in the Arm (Impossible Germany, Radio Cure)

4. Outtasite (Outtamind) (Bull Black Nova, Sky Blue Sky)

5. I'm Always in Love (Forget the Flowers, Hummingbird, Jesus, etc.)

6. Handshake Drugs (Ashes of American Flags, Red-Eyed and Blue)

7. Please Be Patient With Me (Heavy Metal Drummer, Wishful Thinking)

8. Company in my Back (How to Fight Loneliness)

9. Via Chicago (I'm A Wheel, Pot Kettle Black)

10. Rising Red Lung (Passenger Side, Poor Places)

11. Sunken Treasure (Whole Love, Reservations)

12. The Late Greats (One Sunday Morning, When You Wake Up Feeling Old)

I think they put the wrong Wilco album on there.

Are you referring to Being There?

MMJ's Circuital album cover is pretty awful.

Also, for any Gomez fans out there, ALL of their album covers after Bring it On & Liquid Skin are pretty bad (despite them being a really great band up until recent years).

But I mean really:

http://designermagazine.tripod.com/GomezALBUMPIC1.jpg

http://www.defence.gov.au/news/armynews/editions/1100/images/gomez.jpg

http://www.thecorrectness.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Gomez-How_We_Operate_b.jpg

http://www.culturebully.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/gomez-a-new-tide-cover.jpg

http://cltampa.com/images/blogimages/2011/06/21/1308682860-gomez-whatevers-on-your-mind.jpg

1. Art of Almost (10/10)

2. I Might (8/10)

3. Sunloathe (8/10)

4. Dawned on Me (8/10)

5. Black Moon (8/10)

6. Born Alone (9/10)

7. Open Mind (7/10)

8. Capitol City (8/10)

9. Standing O (6/10)

10. Rising Red Lung (10/10)

11. Whole Love (10/10)

12. One Sunday Morning (10/10)

BONUS:

1. I Love My Label (6/10)

2. Message From Mid-Bar (8/10)

3. Speak into the Rose (8/10)

4. Black Moon (alt.) (7/10)

Yep, and a damn good one.

My song adding and omitting skills are unmatched.

Maybe you're listening to a different "Dawned on Me" than me lol. For some reason the song just doesn't have any impact for me until the very end when the backing vocals show up and the guitar is more prominent. The bridge also seems a little premature (I could say the same for "Whole Love").

I feel like "Open Mind" is too simple guitar-wise for Sky Blue Sky and reminds me more of one of the lesser WTA songs. I love the lyrics though, I just wish they did more with it sonically and maybe extended it more.

(In fact, there are a handful of songs on this album that I wish they made a little bit longer)

But ENOUGH with the negativity. I'm happy enough calling The Whole Love my favorite Wilco album since A Ghost Is Born.

I hate to do this, but I've come to the conclusion that The Whole Love would be a lot better (at least for me) if the main album tracklisting was adjusted.

1. Art of Almost

2. I Might

3. Sunloathe

4. Speak into the Rose (It's an instrumental but it kicks Spiders Kidsmoke's ass and would add some meatiness to the album)

5. Black Moon (Alt. Version) (The addition of strings just reminds me too much of Nick Drake and not very much like Wilco)

6. Message From Mid-Bar

7. Born Alone (The transition between Mid-Bar and this is great)

8. Capitol City

9. Rising Red Lung

10. Whole Love

11. One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley's Boyfriend)

I omitted "Open Mind" because it just seemed like an A.M. leftover and out of place here. I omitted "Dawned on Me" and "Standing O" because both of them sound unfinished to me and contrast too much with the mellower songs, disrupting the flow.

Perhaps this is sacrilege, but if it works for me then WHAT THE HELL.

I don't consider them a jam band at all. For Wilco to "jam" is to make an exception to the rule, the rule being "write intricate and concise pop songs." My Morning Jacket is much more of a jam band than Wilco and even their music is more poppy than it is jammy.

Plus "jam band" implies a backseat role of the songwriter and dominance of extended guitar freakouts. In Wilco's case, Jeff Tweedy's singing and songwriting create the most appeal. While there are plenty of guitar freakouts in Wilco songs (especially in a live setting) they are always there to complement the songs and never to distract.

All I can say is that this is the first time that I've heard a brand new Wilco album and been immediately sucked in. I wasn't a Wilco fanatic until A Ghost Is Born was already a year or so old, so Sky Blue Sky was my first new album stream (and that one had to seriously grow on me). Wilco (The Album) has felt pretty inessential to me since the day it came out, but this one is different. I think TWL is everything WTA should have been.

While the majority of these songs haven't blown my mind, both the opening and closing songs are absolutely killer. One Sunday Morning in particular I think is one of their very best songs. I don't understand the apathy toward Open Mind though. I think it's much more digestible than Country Disappeared, particularly because both the lyrics and production on Open Mind are much better. It's a lovely song.

My main gripe: It seems to me like Nels is overusing the slide guitar on this album, because sometimes it doesn't seem to fit the songs at all. I kinda wish that his more Avant-Garde playing on Art of Almost (and Sky Blue Sky) was more present both on TWL and WTA.