Blackberry Rust

Well, that 'review' is pretty much the epitome of laziness.

At work it's a split between my 'vintage' iPod touch (still going strong eight years running!) and iTunes on my work computer. At home it's a variety of vinyl (mostly on weekends), computers, wireless streaming, digital radio and on the rare occasion the odd compact disc.

Too 'Jay' I'd wager. Unless they approached it as a six-piece very subtly ala "One Sunday Morning", the spell would be broken. On that note, has it ever been performed live?

Fabulous article. Agreed. Stuff like 'Venus', 'Radio Cure' and 'Far Far Away' is also screaming out for the acoustic treatment.

Wilco - Big Day Out (January 2003) Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve - Adelaide Festival Centre (January 1999) Calexico - Berlin (October 2008) Leonard Cohen - Leconsfield Winery, McLaren Vale (January 2009) Gillian Welch - Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide (February 2016) Ron Sexsmith - The Governer Hindmarsh, Adelaide (July 2002) Boris - Fowler's Live, Adelaide (May 2015) David Bowie - Adelaide Entertainment Centre (February 2004) Portishead - Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide (November 2011) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide (February 2002)

A similar case for me. I loved (and still love Sky Blue Sky) but it was a case of diminishing returns for WTA and The Whole Love. I've since come to enjoy WTA as a slight, yet enjoyable affair, however with The Whole Love (my thoughts on this album are fairly well known on this forum) it's still a case of a few highlights scattered among material I find frustratingly difficult to engage with emotionally. As for Star Wars, I think it's Wilco's best record since Sky Blue Sky and I still get a great deal of playability out of it. My white vinyl's become pretty much a staple of late Sunday morning

I'm feeling good about this one - it's the first time I've felt genuinely excited about a Wilco release since Sky Blue Sky (Star Wars doesn't count since it was a spontaneous drop.) I've had "If I Ever Was A Child" stuck in my head for a few days, I can't recall the last time that happened with a Wilco pre-album single/leaked track...maybe when I heard "You Are My Face" in early 2007 possibly.

Encouraging - but crikey, that Uncut review is a load of waffly nonsense.

Definitely! Also Younger Than Yesterday.

Oh, 1996 - my first encounter with Wilco was via that track, played in the early hours of a Saturday morning on Rage. So much great stuff that year: Beck, Sonic Youth, etc. A good time to be 15. 20 years...jesus.

Interesting point. The one anomoly on Sky Blue Sky is Glenn's very restrained playing - almost strict time keeping throughout, save for a bit of expression here and there.

I really think - and still do - that Sky Blue Sky is the most collaborative record they've done with the post-2004 line-up. But that's me... I thought initially that Star Wars sounded pretty organic and collaborative, but that's obviously not the case with that one or Schmilco. Something about that working method depresses me in a kind of unexplainable sort of way. Wilco are a bit of a strange group nowadays, but I think things are improving again...maybe, I'm not sure. I think about The National in a similar regard, though they've never regained my attention since they hit it big after Hi

Lambchop The Man Who Loved Beer The Daily Growl Crackers Hold Of You 2B2 The Byrds Everybody's Been Burned Draft Morning Tulsa County Chestnut Mare I Trust Sonic Youth Cross The Breeze Mote Genetic The Diamond Sea Karen Revisited (Karenology) Talk Talk Living In Another World Desire Ascension Day Taphead New Grass

I agree with this. I think there's a lot more to this than simply a tossed off title. For me, Wilco's titles (for their intrinsic worth and occassion non-sequitur names) really do address or frame what each record is about. With maybe one exception which is completely lost on me. A.M. - Obvious radio connotations, a starting point, low fidelity, country-rock, etc. Being There - The relaities of touring and being on the road and away from loved ones. Themes of being present/disconnected kick in hard. Summerteeth - I think from this point on the aformentioned themes become a mainstay for the n

Mostly forgotten sure, but an excellent film nontheless and probably Hal Ashby's finest work. Peter Sellars is brilliant in it as well. Probably in my top 10 films.

Ha, I can see that too. I tend to think of them in that vein but shot through a bunch of Raymond Carver short stories. And on that note yep, Willy's a writer and that's now pretty much his bread. He's also leading this soul-country group The Delines who released the excellent Coflax in 2014.

Born 1981 - most vividly the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Those grainy helicopter images on a our small television.

This was a suspicion of mine as well. Since the prospect of Wilco reverting back into a quartet is awfully remote, this has been in the back of my mind for a while. Jeff does the solo thing with Spencer. John and Pat continue on with the Autumn Defence. Glenn does everything. Nels does whatever he likes. Mikael does something else.

I'm expecting "Shrug and Destroy" to be a bit skronky and nasty, whereas "Just Say Goodbye" will probably continue the trend of misty-eyed weepers-as-closers on Wilco records since Sky Blue Sky.

Highly unlikely that Jim will ever leave Japan. It would be great if he toured, but it's as remote as, well...Jim O'Rourke leaving Japan.

Any other listeners on here? The new and final record by Richmond Fontaine released this year is an excellent work which I'd rank amongst their very best (Winnamuca, Post To Wire). It's sad they're fading out now, but they've had such an incredible run - one of the finest groups of this century. Doomy sadcore alt-country that really wraps itself around you.

Normally, over here in Australia we would just gawk at the Republican convention and laugh our heads off, but it's all frankly terrifying at the moment. Given that Australia's political culture is in equal disarray, it's a hard time for folks like me who dig things like civilised discourse, non-populist public representatives and the planet Earth.

Yeah, I really dig it too. I'm awfully fond of the Star Wars artwork, aside from the workmanlike studio photo in the gatefold which has been unfortunately been typical of the last couple of releases.

Oh yeah, absolutely - I'm not quite that obsessed. I'll grab the album once it hits the shelves. As I did with Star Wars last year.

I'm just going to wait for it to drop here in AU. I just can't legitimise ridiculous US shipping rates.