TheMaker

They'd better get it through their heads that there's only one centre to this circle. Otherwise, they're next on the block.

Well, they're all pretty egregious as comparisons, no? Although I've been known to groove on some Doobage and Yes in my day.

Yeah. Remember that Loggins and Messina song that closed with nearly four minutes of rhythmic grooving while the lead guitarist snaked his way through the thing with a note-packed lead that channels Television at their absolute artiest? I fucking hated that song. [/sarcasm]

Although there are more songs on this record that I don't care for than any other Wilco disc, the highlights are so great that I can't go any lower than a 7 or an 8. (Also, I find it kinda silly to assign an arbitrary numerical rating to something like an album of songs. Does that go without saying?)

Does anybody else start singing the words to "Everybody's Talkin'" when "Leave Me" starts?

Consider this an experiment. To everybody not enjoying the living piss out of Wilco's best song in years ("I Hate It Here"), are you guys fans of soul at all? Y'know, John Ellison, Quincy Jones, Stax/Volt, Motown, all that? I'm guessing probably not, but I'm curious.

I'm pleasantly astonished by much of it. Unfortunately, there are a few songs/recordings that I flat-out don't like on here ("What Light" because it's a ball of cheese, "Walkin'" because it sounds toothless on the record), but the highs are so unexpectedly high that I think a sort of balance has been struck for me. I don't think any other song in the world can make me as happy right now as "I Hate It Here." It's the most unabashedly fun thing I've heard in a long, long, long time. There's so much Stax/Volt, middle-period Band influence to it that I can't help but smile like a goofy ass eve

Final thoughts: a mixed bag, with some incredible highlights and some worrying lows. Ends with a bit of a whimper thanks to "What Light," the only song on the record that I flat out dislike, but recovers a bit with a pretty dramatically spiced up "On and On and On." Anybody else shocked by how decent this song ended up becoming in the end? But the bulk of the middle section of the record is just stellar. The back-to-back Nels epics, the sheer fucking glory of "I Hate It Here," and the title track, sounding like a real throwback to BT, are more than enough to make this a worthy entry in the W

I still hate What Light. Maybe more than ever now because of the whiny vocal. (Sorry.)

Well, I never! I'll teach you to school me on the merit of my healthy skepticism while I'm having a blast eating my socks!

Has anybody noticed that Hate It Here sounds like The Band?

Hey, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. They're tapping into an incredible tradition here!

I Hate It Here is not only the best song on this album. Maybe it's the best song this band has ever recorded.

Man, Please Be Patient is so hushed and personal that I almost feel like I shouldn't be listening to it, y'know? And I Hate It Here is fucking awesome. I literally reached for the volume as soon as I heard the first bass note. I can live with no Thanks I Get now that I've heard this.

OH MY ECHOES OF KINGPIN. (Answer key: I am talking about Shake It Off.)

Side with the Seeds hits a lot harder than IG once it ramps up. Who saw THAT coming?

"IG song?" I've had too many wobbly pops.

The way the solo in IG song builds is spellbinding. So much more nuanced than the live renditions.

Oh my Impossible Germany. Suddenly I don't give a crap how much I don't like the studio versions of Either Way or Walken.

Link, for those who need it: http://wilcoworld.net/sbs/

Ignition. And liftoff.

Aw. Everybody loves a good in-joke. Apparently I even like bad ones!

I don't think we should get excited just yet. I hear there's a chance they could be streaming one of the three tracks that's already leaked.

Two hours and twenty minutes from now.

Raw as a sumbitch. I always feel like I appreciate Cave on more of an intellectual level than a visercal one, but Grinderman's stuff is ass-shake-tastic.