5hake1t0ff

Yep, same for me.

2 hours ago, u2roolz said:

Both live streams are still available on the app. Plus, they also added the audio for both shows. 

Right. I was just hoping I could add the show to my itunes library, but there's apparently no way to buy and download. Unlike the front of house and roadcase, I guess those NOLA shows are only streamable?

I recently subscribed and streamed the Oct 4 (night #1 in Nola), and I have to say that, for me personally, it is one of my favorite Wilco live recordings I've ever heard. Does anybody know where I can access a download of this show?

Love this topic. Part of the question is what counts as "excellent." Jeff has a quote in the YHF 20th Anniv. book about making a record being about the sense of "discovery." Of my favorite bands, the only acts that still do seem to be able convey that they are 'discovering' after 20+ years are (or was): Yo La Tengo, Low (RIP Mimi), Radiohead, and maybe Spoon (though I'm less emotionally attached to them for whatever reason). 

Another question is whether the 20 year mark for this lineup of Wilco (which is coming up!) isn't a better point of comparison. Part of the challenge is keeping the same personnel energized and still willing to get out of their comfort zone in the studio.

On 7/11/2022 at 10:06 AM, Jack1956 said:

I’m surprised there is still no info or news on the new album’s release in September.

Just a shot in the dark, but my guess is this is mostly related to the YHF rollout. Jeff mentioned on the Kreative Kontrol podcast that they had been "in line" for years for all the vinyl needed for it. So I get the sense they're sensitive to the shortage and its effect on other bands trying to release around the same time. In other words, my guess is they will only release and promote the vinyl version of CC after YHF reissue has hit the shelves.

Jeff’s music has helped me more than anything connect to music deeply rooted in the American experience, from bluegrass, to folk, to country, to soul. And I’m not from the Midwest, but I love the quintessentially Midwestern scenes he paints from New Madrid, to Casino Queen, to Via Chicago, to The Plains (and many more besides).

 Some of my favorite lines that best  capture that range of emotions and contradictions that come with being American:

“red eyed and blue”

“Spinning out webs of deductions and melodies, on a private beach in Michigan”

”breath in that country air; you wouldn’t like it here”

”beneath the sleeping town, with the riots raining down”

”you’ve got family out there”

”there isn’t any point in being free, when there’s nowhere else you’d rather be”

1 hour ago, jff said:

 

Now I'm curious, how long is each CD in the two CD CC release?  Two 40 minute CDs might be a good way to hear this album. 

 

 

Disc One ends with The Universe and is 39 minutes. Disc Two is 38 minutes.

Great post, by the way. Love thinking about our listening experiences as being physical in nature. 

Speaking of, I wonder if the pandemic led to some shift in creativity towards the form factor of the double album. My four favorite albums released this year are all double albums (Wilco, Big Thief, Beach House, and Kendrick Lamar).

I wholeheartedly agree TWL would be even better as a double album. Just adding Speak Into The Rose gets you halfway there, lol.

In general, like jff, I definitely prefer albums to be less than 45 minutes and have a consistent mood. That said, I still find that CC has plenty of variety to keep me interested all the way through.

I'll throw another idea out there: OTJ works better as a six track EP: (Tracks 1-4, 8, and 11). 

(Edit to add: "Love is Everywhere" belongs on CC!)

 I don't know. I'm having trouble thinking of a band using comedy as a guiding concept for an album. There are the comedic bands like Tenacious D and, more recently, Mouse Rat (which included some Tweedy contributions). There are great songwriters who regularly deploy their sense of humor, like Bob Dylan and David Berman. But none of those examples quite fit the bill, do they.

19 hours ago, Passenger Sid said:

But both works are VERY serious sounding. And arty (Ode To Joy especially).

I think Jeff got the memo about how Wilco Schmilco was received. (Not that it wasn't actually, in some ways, a very serious album. Just didn't land that way.) People expect serious Wilco. But I love your idea of a humor-based album; plus, it would allow Jeff to bring in Nic Offerman and George Saunders as collaborators.

Wilco’s always been about creating stark contrasts. I would be surprised if there next record sounded anything like CC. I’m glad Jeff thinks they can follow up a record meant to provide comfort and solace with one that will sound “alien.” I agree CC isn’t “a step forward” as much as it’s just, imo, really fucking good.

I also agree there’s a bit of a conflict, or choice, between experimentation and wanting to do live takes. SBS and CC are not what I would call experimental, boundary pushing Wilco records. They’re great because of how they revert to an older mode of recording live full band moments. Records like YHF and OTJ, on the other hand, used the studio as a weapon to create new soundscapes for Wilco but required some post-album redesign to be played live. To me, it’s albums like WTA and even TWL that fail to grab me *as albums* (plenty of good songs on each) because they didn’t have a clear approach or set a distinct mood. That’s what I appreciate about the last four albums: they are each so different and consistent within themselves as albums. I know what mood I can get from each of them.

26 minutes ago, jff said:

 

That's true.  There are earnest and not earnest lyrics on all the albums.  Somehow I'm picking up on it more with Ode/Cruel than on previous records.  It could be that the earnestness of late is more in vein of the "I'm sad because everything in this country/world is irreparably fucked up and rapidly getting worse."  I suppose I just don't want to be reminded of that when I listen to music.   

this is true to how I feel a lot of the time too, but I think the overall point of the album is akin to a relationship with a difficult parent. It forces the choice: you can either have a relationship with the thing/person you love or not. You can’t change where you’re from, and you can’t change anyone but yourself. I think the album is saying we think we want to stay in this relationship with our country because we love it, while also knowing we may never change it to our liking.

Yeah, my impressions of Many Worlds are similar.

To be clear, my comment about it being analogous to ALTWYS is because I think the instrumental coda comprises the full expression of the lyric "I know I'm not the only one ...Alive/looking at the sky..." And I agree totally with the comparisons and observations you made about the instrumental coda's type of sound.

The first part of the song is without question my least favorite bit of songwriting on the album. It's just shy of unlistenable for me. I like the slightly static-y production of the piano. Otherwise, ick. So in terms of the first parts, both from a songwriting and lyrical perspective, ALTWYS >>> MW.

There's a whole lot of lyricism on CC that I love, but not this one. And while there's a few moments of the the on-the-nose-earnestness on CC - that's been true since SBS - I don't feel like it's a trend at all. In fact, I find several songs here and on OTJ quite cryptic and poetic.

It's pretty wild how different Wilco's last 4 albums are. Alt-rock. Folk-rock. Experimental. Country. If you don't like the current Wilco record, all you have to do is wait for the next one.

48 minutes ago, jff said:

I was listening to shuffle yesterday and Mystery Binds came on.  That was quite enjoyable.  I stand by my overall critique, but I suspect if the album had been sequenced differently, and maybe was a few songs shorter, it would have been more likely to click with me.  Still could click at some point if I play around with the song order.  I've never done that with any album, but this one starts out so weak (I feel that "I Am My Mother" is an exceptionally dull album opener, for example) that it might be necessary.

Yeah, fair enough. I personally love both the simple folk song structures immaculately executed by the sextet as well as the more instrumentally expressive, less vocal/lyric-centered stuff. Darkness is Cheap, like Mystery Binds, is another one where the melody played by guitar/french horn/piano, rather than the melody that's sung, takes center stage.

And I was thinking about your critique vis a vis a song like Many Worlds. Like, to me, Many Worlds takes a very similar, trademark Wilco, approach as another classic song: At Least That's What You Said. It starts with a soft ballad, then lets the instrumental jam that follows more fully express the true emotions of the song. Now, they do feel quite different, because Jeff and his band are in a very different place mentally/emotionally these days. But I would argue we both love the same thing about Wilco in those two songs, if that makes sense.

I hope I don't seem too argumentative. It's just that I also hope other Wilco fans hear some of the things I love in this album. I'm still in a state of ecstasy about it.

37 minutes ago, DiamondClaw said:

It's definitely an arrangement and a mix thing. In addition to the songs' dependency on the vocals, as you mentioned, I notice how all these songs are built so tightly around Jeff's acoustic rhythm guitar (arrangement). Jeff's acoustic strumming is also much more prominent relative to the rest of the band's playing (mix). Their playing is there, very tasteful, but it's subtle and less up front. Jeff's rhythm guitar has always been there in the past, of course. It's just that it wasn't as ever-present as it is these days. 

I think those are some good observations, but I also think they only describe about half the album. The guitar playing by all the guys has become more rhythm and textures in the last two to three albums than riff and solo-heavy, for sure. I’m not really bothered by it and still think it’s a product of the band’s creative evolution, not just Jeff’s.
 

Also, if I had to guess, I’d say Wilco’s next album will be much more experimental and less “songs.” Jeff even talked in a recent interview about them having started making a very different “art pop” record during the pandemic. 
 

I just bridle at the despair I hear about Jeff’s solo albums and Wilco sounding like a leader/backing band, because I think it’s selling their collective process short. I guess I love the subtleties of the last three records more than some, even if they are somewhat less deconstructed versions of Jeff’s songwriting.

This is the gist

It goes

Like this

(one of my favorite parts of CC that, I think, illustrates exactly what you're saying you love about Wilco). Also, see Bird Without a Tail/Base of My Skull and Many Worlds and the instrumental melody that is the climax in the middle of The Empty Condor.

1 hour ago, jff said:

  Jeff's singing is SO at the forefront all the way through this record.

Really interesting post. Are you referencing a change you perceive in the mix of Wilco albums of late/this album in particular? Or, are you referencing a change to how the songs are written/arranged?

(It's been forever since I've posted here.) Love the new record and need another place to discuss it. (I don't do fb).

Love CC more with each listen. There are many subtle parts that I completely missed on the first few listens. It's hard for me to believe they could arrange it so intricately via live takes in-studio.

I can understand those who don't love the energy of this record. Those who want more edgy rockers in the vein of AGIB, TWL or SW. I love that too. What I have a very hard time accepting are those who say it's a continuation of Jeff's solo work. There are just so many sonic flourishes and carefully crafted bits that, to me, distinguish Wilco's work from all others, including Jeff's solo albums.

Sorry if this seems a bit overheated, but I honestly find CC as rich a sonic landscape - though admittedly maybe the least experimental - to explore as any Wilco album. Nowhere near tired after maybe 10 listens.

I'm not, not when its done with skill, craft, and passion.  I'd love nothing more than Wilco to play a whole set of Stones-y rock 'n' roll.  I think they are one of the greatest bands of all time at this kind of music, even if they only play it reluctantly (maybe its just Jeff who is reluctantly rocking out, Pat and Glenn sure don't look reluctant when they are tearing through I Got You and Outtasite).  I draw a direct line from Wilco to the Stones to Chuck Berry on these songs and to me that is high high company to be in. 

One of the things I love about Jeff is his downright reverence for the greats who have come Before Us.  It's exactly why Wilco could play a highly entertaining set of Stones-y rock. And I don't see any signs of Wilco not still enjoying rocking out live when they do.

But my read on these latest comments is...I don't think Jeff is saying he doesn't enjoy or respect playing Rock n' Roll, just that he's less inspired by it as a NEW direction of exploration for Wilco.   And that's what's so great about Wilco, their regular insistence on exploring new territory as a band.  

Contrast that to U2.  In 2000, or thereabouts, Bono famously said they were re-applying for the job of world's greatest rock band.  And in no time, U2 went from being one of the most relevant acts of the 1990's to sounding like total has-beens with every release since. At least that's been my experience of them. Imagine if Jeff said Wilco were re-applying for the job of American alt-country rock n' roll standard-bearers...ick.

People have been trying to fit Jeff into this narrative of a disgruntled disillusioned rock star for how long now?

The Uncut article seemed to me replete with details about how inspired Jeff and the rest of the band are right now. But let's make it into something else entirely, shall we?

Yeah, I finally got to it this weekend, and I enjoyed listening to these a lot.  Standouts for me:

Sharon Van Etten's Radio Cures, which took me a while, but I ended up finding super interesting.

Ryley Walker's Love is Everywhere (Beware) really captured the mood of the song, but in a very different way melodically. Just gorgeous.

I agree about Kurt Vile's Passenger Side being a strikingly perfect match of song and style.

And Low's War on War was as hauntingly beautiful as you'd expect. I love that it was all Mimi singing.

Only one's I didn't like were the Parquet Courts mashup,,, and the Twin Peaks version of Spiders, which to me just sounded like an inferior band trying to be Wilco.

All of the other covers were really tastefully done and underscored what an amazing songwriting and band-arranging legacy Wilco is already leaving in their wake.

...with each listen, I'm hearing more and more intricate details that make this album both cohesive and surprising. 

 

Every single one of these songs has gotten stuck in my head at some point (yes, I have been listening to it a lot), but they will just pop in my head randomly, which, to me, underlines the songcraft.

All of what you wrote maps neatly over my own experience with this album. I haven't been able to stop listening to it for more than 24 hours, and then I'm hearing different songs from it - never the same song - in my head in between listens. When I try comparing it to other Wilco albums, I get confused as to what it is exactly I love so much about it.

Hard to argue with that. Also interesting that John in that interview goes from describing it as "very light" to "more dynamic" when comparing it to Schmilco.  I, for one, find OTJ much more dynamic and starkly textured than Schmilco; though I know others do not.

interesting post, jff. Could it be that Jeff's initial vision is different from how the final product turned out?