TheMaker

Obviously this is only based on a few listens to a web stream, but it has more to do with Wilco's career than anything. At this point, Wilco is 16 years and 8 albums into its career. If you want to include Tweedy's time with Uncle Tupelo (after all, Wilco did rise from the ashes), that adds 5 years and 4 more albums.

 

What were other highly-regarded bands doing at this point in their careers?

 

R.E.M.'s eighth album was Automatic For the People, but they released things more quickly. The timeline has them around Up or Reveal.

 

U2 was putting out Zooropa and Pop in a similar time frame. Drive-By Truckers' career arc is fairly similar to Wilco's. There are others, but I can't research all day. (The Rolling Stones were in the middle of their greatest run by the time of their eighth album in a different time of album release frequency, but after 16 years were making Emotional Rescue and Tattoo You.)

 

I guess my point is that what should our expectations really be for this band. I had a discussion with a friend of mine who wasn't that impressed with the new album, saying that they've already made better versions of each of these songs. Is that a fair comparison to make? Should we expect greatness at this point or just something solid to add to the catalog of a great band that has just gotten older?

I think that's exactly what we should expect at this point. In the real-time reaction thread, I mentioned that most bands have a ten-year window in which to forge their most memorable and creative efforts. TWL certainly plays like something from the back half of Wilco's catalogue (read: it's an enjoyable, lightweight record with a lot of elegant arrangements and smart writing, but nothing that's going to rewrite the book on rock music) but it's a damned sight better than their last disc. That's enough to make me happy.

Open Up Your Mind could fit right in on Dylan's Nashville Skyline album or something The Band might have done in their prime.

Nnnnnno. Jesus. Had either of those acts done it in '69, it wouldn't be the most disposable Wilco song ever put to tape. Just spitballin' here.

 

How would you rate that cup of coffee upon first taste?

 

I'm just bugging you man but I just think I (and others) would appreciate a far more fleshed opinion than "utter twee shit".

 

And if you want my opinion upon my first four listens I would say that its really good and probably has the potential to move in the top tier of Wilco albums (along with YHF, AGIB, ST and BT).

 

I think Open Mind does work better as a solo song, great lyrics but the band arrangement doesn't do much for me, and waltzes in general probably generate "yawning" responses. Standing O I feel will move into Walken territory for me, a song I dig live but will have no real desire to keep going back to it on record.

 

The production on the album as a whole is killer, really really interesting and a lot to dig through with repeated listens. Great sounds and playing throughout and Tweedy lyrically is really really good on this.

 

Could we make the case that this has the best opening and closing songs on any Wilco record with AoA and OSM?

On average, maybe. It's definitely their best closer in my book. I feel like I'm the only person who rates "Almost" as less than the best track on the record, so maybe it'll be controversial to some when I say it's nowhere NEAR as good an opener as IATTBYH, Misunderstood or ALTWYS. Damned good song, though, and it does certainly do the job as a first track.

Songs, ranked (cuz we're doin' this now):

Love:

1. Rising Red Lung

2. One Sunday Morning

3. Art of Almost

4. Capitol City

5. Dawned On Me

I think all of these are brilliant, and represent the band and Tweedy at their best. Great lyrics, extraordinary arrangements and enough complexity masquerading as simplicity to please even the stingiest rock fan.

Like:

6. Black Moon

7. Sunloathe

8. Whole Love

9. I Might

All really solid efforts.

Don't like:

10. Born Alone

11. Standing O

12. Open Mind

D-A-D-Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... snort.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzz... yawnnnnn... zzzzzzzzzzz...

Pretty shitty songs that literally any band could have pumped out.

What makes these songs better then what was on Wilco the album is the added instrumentation. These songs have a lot more sonic depth then their last 2 records

Absolutely, yeah. Not just the instrumentation, which could well have resulted in a total wankfest, but the actual dynamics of the music itself. What makes "Rising Red Lung" the best track on the record isn't just the fact that Tweedy's given us a wonderful set of oblique lyrics a la YHF that don't feel tossed off and meaningless (see: the last two records), but that the melody is a shimmering triumph that makes the song a sort of musical sequel to "Chinese Apple", another of his finest musical moments. Glenn really outdoes himself on this track, and although his contributions are subtle, so does Nels. It's a winner.

I'm sort of blown away by the resistance by so many to Rising Red Lung. How are you guys NOT realizing that this is one of the band's best songs in years...?

I wouldn't say it's challenging at all. It's very good, but definitely leans heavily on deliberate poppiness for me.

Yeah, I don't think it's challenging either. As excellent as it is in places, a lot of it is built around the kind of complacent approach to songwriting and recording that's kept me from being a regular on this board since SBS came out. Would anybody really give a crap about songs like Standing O or Born Alone if Wilco hadn't signed their name to them? I know I don't, and I already like the band...

I think what makes the record work so well at its best is that it's fussy, in a way that Wilco hasn't been fussy since the YHF/AGIB days. The arrangements of songs like the long closer and the brilliant opener feel like countries to be explored, and the textures and flourishes aren't just there for their own sake but for the sake of the songs. I can already see myself making my own mix of this record like I did for the last two, dropping all the crap like Open Mind and Standing O and getting right to the good stuff.

Okay, I'm positive that there was a "contact me for a rip" post in this thread, but now I can't find it... Bueller?

Glenn's drum beat on AoA is sick. It's so good there's no way it can be legal.

I haven't even paid any attention to it yet because John's bass is still hogging all of my attention. Best Wilco bass ever? Maybe.

Somebody has to, I guess! It's just hard for me to not skip it when I know that an acoustic song as strong as "Rising Red Lung" is waiting for me a few songs ahead in the tracklisting.

This is actually feeling stronger after a second listen. The highs aren't really overshadowing the middles and the lows are staggered around enough that they don't seem to drag the listening experience down. The only BAD songs here are "Open Mind" and "Standing O," which aren't awful so much as they are unfathomably plodding, predictable and dull. "Open Mind" especially feels like something Tweedy wrote on the can one day ("Okay, so I'll come up with some lyrics that literally anybody could have written and I'll play my favourite chords in the usual sequence...") and tossed onto the album because it sounds pleasant enough to jumble up the flow a bit.

I think the record is better, to me, than SBS and W(TA). but for me, nothing will be better than the early lineup therefore Being There will ALWAYS be my favorite record.

 

That era, if you were a fan back then and saw them in concert, was a special time, you felt you were witnessing a band being on the cusp of accomplishing something great. it was a truly special time!!

 

 

edit: HAHA, perhaps i am living in the past....

Nah, I'm on the same page as you, 100%. I think every great band suffers something of a decline after being together for a decade (The Stones are sort of the Rosetta Stone for me as far as this goes), and while many of them are still capable of producing really good music once they reach maturity, those glory days will always remain a thing of the past. There's nothing wrong with that!

So Sometimes Nothing Happens, I guess?

Having listened to it once, it's a pretty solid entry in their catalogue, definitely. I unreservedly LOVE "Art of Almost," "Capitol City," "Rising Red Lung," "One Sunday Morning" and "Dawned On Me," although the rest sort of occupies the same forgettable space as most of the pokey W(TA) rockers. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing -- songs like "You Never Know" definitely grew on me over hte last two years, and I'm sure some of these will elicit some type of response from me if I keep listening to the record as a whole. I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't do more with the acoustic stuff and the rockers alike, but I learned long ago to stop pining for the days of BT and Summerteeth, so it's no big deal.

Onto the last few tracks now -- Rising Red Lung is definitely an album highlight. By far the best of the acoustic songs here, thanks to a beautiful melody, amazing lyrics ("as intimate as a kiss over the phone" is great) and some wonderful dynamics courtesy of Glenn and Nels. Maybe the best song here, actually.

 

BORING!

If anybody has actually declared this their best album, they need to put the fucking Kool-Aid down RIGHT NOW. It's good, but I don't see how any longtime fan could consider it a return to form, let alone a feather in the band's cap. After one listen, I'd put it on par with SBS if I were feeling generous. Towards the bottom of the pile, but certainly better than the last record.

The back half is starting to suffer from the same phoned-in-ness and forgettable-ness that characterized the last two recs, unfortunately. "Capitol City" is a clear bright spot in spite of the shellacking it seems to be getting from people already. A melody that I'll actually remember once the album is finished spinning = a good song, see.

Every other track is kind of forgettable and amorphous ("Open Mind," "Born Alone," etc). Still enjoying it, but it's certainly more of a piece with the last two recs and not their earlier stuff (which I guess is to be expected). It's sort of all over the place, which is yielding a mix of really solid songs and really forgettable ones.

First four songs are ace! I'm really happy that it doesn't feel phoned-in like the last couple records. Also, is it just me or is Dawned On Me gonna get them sued? I still haven't figured out what it sounds exactly like, but it's definitely giving me a Fight Test/Cat Stevens vibe. Powerfully so.

I'm hoping the songs will be clearly labeled (I'm sure they will be), but since it is unlikely that I'll be able to get on right at noon, I refuse to listen to it out of order.

I can't imagine that it'd be repeating like some sort of internet radio station. More likely, it'll be a stream accessible to all in the same way that the band has streamed concerts etc. in the past, but they'll just have it up for one day only.

 

Thatsa what I was trying to say!

On midnight of the day of release, we'll all throw the disc into our respective changers and hit play after a ten-count.

I don't think anybody should listen to any of this record until we've all heard it.

That's cool, and I can understand you're excited to share, but starting a thread to talk about a song nobody else here can even hear? Can't you hold it in a wee bit longer?

You said the same thing back in the day when the Midwest Clique had all heard AGIB before everybody else, right? And several of them created quotes in their profiles based on new songs that we hadn't heard yet? Of course you did!

Califone! Crap, maybe I should spring and see 'em again in Hamilton, even though I just caught a gig in Toronto like a month and a half ago (or whenever it was). Decisions, decisions.

After years of honing my skills, I finally became a legitimate comic book artist in '07, with a number of decent publishers notched onto my belt. The goal for next decade is to secure my rep and become more ambitious in my networking so that I never have to work a crappy day job again. I'm seriously hoping that won't take seven years...

I finally saw Dylan live this decade. I don't really care for what he's doing these days, but it was something I felt compelled to do. Next decade? Tom Waits. Maybe he'll finally get over his irrational hatred of the east coast and actually play a show in Toronto or New York instead of a cluster of gigs in Stumblefuck, NM and Arid, AZ. (Not that I'm bitter.)

I found love and lost it, twice. Next decade? Find it and keep it!

I kinda like that all of my goals lead directly to new ones. Life is interesting, if nothing else!

This makes me want to see Beck produce Wilco's next record. Like, a lot. I'm not even a huge Beck fan, it's just that the guys haven't sounded anywhere near this good in the studio for at least two records.

Wow. I really, really wish I'd gone tonight instead of last night. Had I done that, I probably would have enjoyed my best Wilco show instead of my worst.