Brian F.

I retract all of my whining. The package arrived today. Tracking still shows it in Raleigh, but it's here. What an infinite surprise (h/t coldasgasoline).

One of the things that made Ode to Joy such a chore for me was its lack of melody, so we'll have to agree to disagree. When I said at least nine of ten tracks grabbed me right away, the one I wasn't sure about was "Ten Dead," so we'll have to agree to agree.

I just gave it two full listens, and I am very pleased with it. I was worried this was going to be in the vein of "Ode to Joy," but it is not. There are a lot of highlights on this album. At least nine of the ten tracks grabbed me right away.

Who plays clock on "Infinite Surprise"?

Well, my Cousin remains in "label created" limbo, so I don't think I'm going to have it by tomorrow. I might be lucky to have it by Wednesday. (You had one job, Wilcoworld.)

I certainly hope you're right that the Cousin floodgates are just waiting for the official release date to be opened. With six shows in my immediate future, I would be kind of let down if the set lists looked like this one. There are a lot of old standbys in this set-- too many for my preferences (though I'm sure they sounded great.)

Probably so but I don't have access to any of them and, even if I did, I can't listen to them on my stereo or in my car. I just got teased by an email that my order has been shipped, but when I clicked to track the shipment, it's only at the "a label has been created" stage.

It just occurred to me that they will probably send out a download by Friday to those of us who have purchased it, so I can burn that onto a CD and have that to listen to assuming the actual CD hasn't arrived. I forgot that's what I did with Cruel Country since there was no physical release (and, in that case, they sent the downloads about a week in advance of the release date since the release date was the first day of Solid Sound).

One of the reviewers started out by writing that "Wilco has settled into a more straightforward musical style defined by stripped-back, acoustic instrumentation and Jeff Tweedy’s confessional songwriting" since Sky Blue Sky, but I don't think most of The Whole Love fits that description. Nor does Star Wars. I think sometimes these critics, who have to listen to a lot of material, have only a passing familiarity with the catalogs of the artists they review. Or things just disappear down the memory hole. I feel like every review of every album by my favorite veteran acts declares it a "welcome r

On the one hand, I'm encouraged by the fact that they've shipped some of these out to arrive before Friday. On the other hand, I'm discouraged because I still haven't gotten a shipping notice. I really need this no later than Friday so I can have some familiarity before the shows starting Wednesday.

This reviewer sells Wilco (The Album) and The Whole Love really short, not to mention Cruel Country. Does anyone else have trouble reading reviews of music that they've never heard? I have difficulty formulating an idea of what something sounds like from a written description without actually hearing it. It makes me think of that line, "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture."

Did you get an email notification? Did you preorder from Wilcoworld? I was trying to remember whether previous Wilcoworld album orders just showed up unannounced or whether they were preceded by a shipping notice.

There is a good possibility, if my preorder from Wilcoworld doesn't arrive by September 29, that I will need to go out and buy a copy of the album to be able to listen to it in anticipation of the run of shows that starts five days later, so it wouldn't necessarily be a problem that this Amoeba thing would require me to buy a second copy of the album (actually a third since I bought the CD and LP) except for the fact that they apparently won't give it to you until the day of the signing. Meanwhile, if the two copies I ordered from Wilco arrive on time, I'm apparently not allowed to bring them

I recognize the similarity the original poster identifies. Olivia Rodrigo is really talented, although this song, with the speak-singing and the Avril Lavigne chant choruses-- I'm not really sure what to think of it. One thing that's refreshing about her is that she is very much a rock-oriented artist. There aren't many pop stars today that would fit right in on '90s alternative-rock radio, but Rodrigo would.

The lyrics definitely seem like they're from the "ransom note" method Jeff described in his second book.

I wasn't nitpicking! I really thought I was missing something.

Am I missing something? I see a review of a performance that mentions the new album, but I don't see a review of the album.

"Crawling is screw faster lash I blow it with kisses..." I'd elaborate, but it's pretty self-explanatory.

It's Wilco's only number one song! (It hit No. 1 on Billboard's Triple-A chart, which means it was a big fish in a very small pond.)

Thank you. I knew this sounded familiar but couldn't place it. I was worried they had plagiarized somebody.

I was just having some fun trying to imagine a jaunty, Sesame Street-style version of "Soldier Child." (For some reason, the sound of "Outta Mind (Outta Sight)" always makes me think of the theme song from Sesame Street.)

Maybe "Soldier Child" and "Child Soldier" will end up like "Outtasite (Outta Mind)" and "Outta Mind (Outta Sight)."

The comparison to Star Wars and the description of "A Bowl and a Pudding" have me thinking that song might be this album's "You Satellite." I don't really want another "You Satellite," but I'll keep an open mind. (Or an "Open Mind," anyway.)

This is greatly appreciated. Since I am not on Instagram, I have not seen many episodes of the Tweedy Show. (By the time they showed up on YouTube, the backlog was overwhelming.) This one-stop shop for versions of the new tracks will come in very handy. Thanks!

It just goes to show how subjective it all is. 5hake1tOff is not a fan of Wilco (The Album) or The Whole Love, but I'm a huge fan of the former and Tatlock is a big fan of the latter. (And I've never felt let down by a Pearl Jam or U2 album, but obviously I'm in the minority on that. There are clunker songs, for me, but not clunker albums by those artists.) Ironically, Wilco, as much as I love them, might be an exception to my strongly held theory that listeners' tendency to lose interest as an artist's career progresses is more about the listeners than it is about the artists. Whe