TheMaker

It's a great leap forward from MT. Gone are the turgid blues case studies--and you can't call them anything else with a straight face--and the band actually sounds awake and alive and engaged. If You Ever Go to Houston and I Feel a Change Comin' On are both standouts, especially the former, which is a welcome return to Dylan actually writing like Dylan.

Nothin'! I celebrated the non-existence of any independent record stores in my entire region by not knowing it was Record Store Day.

I'm not saying that this war isn't worth waging, but I am saying it's pretty much pointless at this juncture. There won't be independent record stores anywhere in 15 years' time.

Awesome news! Dirt Farmer was one of the finest albums of 2007, and is to Lee what Time Out of Mind was to Dylan. In fact, I think it's high time I put it on for a spin!

Forgetful Heart almost sounds too menacing to my ear to be a ballad. It's got the same skulking, sinister vibe - and is in the same key - as Ain't Talkin'. Some of these clips sound great, especially the more boisterous numbers where Dylan really enunciates the lines (If You Ever Go To Houston, Jolene), while others (Forgetful Heart, Life Is Hard) worry me by suggesting that we might be in for MT Part II as far as lazy songwriting goes.

So Ashes will be available at big city record stores (because there are no independent record stores in the vast majority of cities, of course) before it's available anywhere else? Possibly bad form to say so, but here's hoping a torrent crops up soon!

Paris 1919 never clicked with me at all (is it supposed to be boring?), and most of Cale's other stuff is a bit... I dunno, obtuse? Reed by a landslide. If anything, I'm even a big fan of the solo albums we aren't "supposed" to like (Blue Mask, Street Hassle, Ecstasy et al).

Quick, start the topic! I've never started one in here and I'm not about to start today. Ha! My streak is important to me.

since it's a poll and you asked!

i hate them. i honestly don't see the appeal about them. and the fact he's made out to be some saviour/genius pisses me off more. i tried listening to the album once & couldn't get through it.

 

whew. i feel better!

Bingo. I think the disproportionate acclaim makes me consider the album an even more minor and irritating work, if anything.

Stranger things have happened than you and I agreeing!

Hate, hate, hate them. I at least like most indie bands, but this Mangum guy is a godawful writer. It's just themeless binderscrawl for the most part, and his voice is like nails on the world's longest chalkboard. This is why Aeroplane always tops my "most overrated album of all time" lists, in spite of its relative obscurity.

And if this had been a post demanding a Chicago show, the thread would have been flooded with likeminded sentiments. (In spite of the fact that Wilco play Chicago, what, every six hours? Roughly? Not including festivals or solo Tweedy shows?)

My lady's favourite band is Radiohead and mine is (more or less) Wilco. We each like both bands, so there's no real static there. I'd actually find it really strange if somebody who liked one artist didn't at least kinda dig the other.

The real problem is that the guys are hitting the 15-year mark. My little pet theory dictates that most bands say all they'll ever have to say within a 15-, maybe 20- year span, and then they start cranking out treacle. You know how the Stones were flawless, and then they blew a gigantic raspberry with It's Only Rock and Roll and have continued to blow it for 35 years? R.E.M.'s Murmer came out in, what, '83? Their last good record was Up, released 15 years later. Yeah, they're both still live powerhouses, but their records are basically disappointing junk now, sometimes served with a side of embarrassingly self-conscious nostalgia.

On a long enough timeline, you can safely stop paying attention to certain releases by once-great artists. I won't be giving Neil's new one a listen, for instance, and I certainly regret giving Springsteen's unforgiveable, wince-inducing shit-show a chance when it came out earlier this year. It makes sense, in a way. You can't bottle lightning and expect it to last forever. Few artists grow old gracefully, but it beats the alternative embraced by yer Jimis and Janises and Kurts. Some artists, like Dylan or Westerberg, will kick into high gear later on down the line and experience a bona fide late career renaissance, but for most artists this simply never happens.

The live tunes I've heard from the new Wilco record are almost all boring shit, and while I'm disappointed by this turn of events, I'm really not surprised by the downward trend correctly identified by the original poster. But hey, the guys are still an awesome live act, and we'll always be around to scream out the names of their good songs, even when they're touring the boring new ones.

(Whew. A popular poster couldn't have gotten away with that!)

Nice! I'm glad/relieved that Hidalgo's accordian is indeed being used in anything but a lead capacity. The complementary horns add a lot of punch, and it sounds pretty solid overall. It's a bit simplistic, but I already like it better than anything on MT that isn't Nettie Moore.

Anybody else get the distinct feeling that this is going to be the bard's shortest/most straightforward disc since Oh Mercy?

Not to pile on Modern Times, but that 30 seconds might be better than 90% of MT.

This. Everybody in the Dylan threads knows how much I loathe that piece of no-songwriting-to-speak-of shit, so I'll leave it alone and say that I already enjoy the new record more.

And I can't believe the guy with the Waits userpic wasn't the first poster to bring up the most obvious touchstone that this track brings to mind! I get a real Rain Dogs vibe from this track, and I don't think it sounds like TOOM (my favourite of Dylan's late-career renaissance albums) at all.

Thanks for the link! Quite a few of those are new to me, so this should be interesting listening.

If Sunny Feeling is a highlight, I think we're fucked.

Wow, so exciting!

Forgive me if this is a naive and-or stupid question, but what was the second collaboration between Costello and Burnett? I`m only aware of King of America (which is probably my favourite Costello record, hence my excitement).

Waits does have something coming out this year? Holy crap! I'm pretty much in the same boat, then. It's like all my favs just got together behind closed doors and conspired to release something in 2009.

I watched this last night. Parts were very entertaining, parts silly. I don't think he's going to change anybody's mind with this movie. He's awfully smug for someone who claims not to be certain. I thought the interview with the British Muslim rapper was interesting. He just didn't get his desire to censor Salman Rushdie while assertively fighting for his freedom of expression is hypocritical. I also like the interview with the skeptic (who I think was a priest) outside the Vatican. His conclusion would have been much more convincing if he had acknowledged any of the good people have done in the name of religion. The bad may outweigh the good, but maybe mention one hospital, homeless shelter, food bank, or prison ministry.

In all seriousness, why bother? Plenty of shelters, hospitals, and counselling exist without explicit ties to any made-up nonsense. At best, religion is a superfluous element that effectively bribes otherwise selfish folks into doing selfless and/or charitable deeds by dangling the ludicrous threat of cosmic retribution over their heads.

I enjoyed the flick a great deal, mostly because Maher's attitude was not only justified, but absolutely necessary given the poisonous climate faced by rationalists in 2009. He's too soft, too tolerant, if anything.

When it comes to facts, I think I'll go with the dude who lists the specific song-by-song contributions that Bennett made to each of the EP's tracks, thanks.

Calexico! Re: your sig and cetera, spoilers, motherfucker, spoilers! Pity those of us who are watching on DVD and basically have to avoid the entire webscape, period, if we actually want to enjoy this most spoiler-centric show of all time.

You can't go wrong with Chronicles. Dylan's prose is absorbing in a lot of the same ways as his poetry, and although it's far from comprehensive, it still offers a lot of insight.

And I'm surprised there isn't a thread about his new album here yet. Just announced yesterday via RS!

Man, what`s with the disdain regarding Wilco the Song... it`s thus far the ONLY good thing the guys have road tested for this album. The changes are fucking outstanding, the lyrics are great, and it sounds like Summerteeth! If you love the shit out of this song, throw your hands in the air so I know I`m not alone!

Via Chicago is easily the most overrated Wilco song, but that`s about the only aspect of the list I agree with. Meh, indeed.

I saw a show from that era, and the band seemed tiny and hollow to me. Every show I`ve seen since with Nels and Pat has absolutely blown that one into the ground. Jeff seemed happier, more animated and less adrift, for that matter. Diff`rent strokes and all that, I guess...

Leroy shows up in a lot of liner notes, I`ve noticed, sometimes in really obscure places. There was a great album in 2007 that I loved by Sonny Smith, called Fruitvale, and Bach was all over that one.