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Sky Blue Sky - The Grower Thread


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go, like, fuck yourself brah.

 

not to mention, your opinion sucks and i couldn't disagree more.

I was with you until you added those two gems. Way to undercut your own argument.

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I bet the "E." stands for "Eat."

Because they do.

Ninjas, that is.

Eat liverwurst.

Or so I've heard.

I think that's entirely possible, but in no way certain.

 

Can we talk about the album again??

 

LouieB

By all means, let's!

 

I was with you until you added those two gems. Way to undercut your own argument.

You think the board is "lameass"?

 

I like Sky Blue Sky and am honoring a self-imposed moratorium on listening until it is released.

Me too, except for the moratorium part. Lent, like, is over brah.

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Can we talk about the album again??

 

LouieB

 

OK, let's try that for a while. Please...

 

I like it. I love having Jeff's vocals right out front and clear the way they are throughout the songs. That combination of his vocals and lyrics on these songs make this a great album. Yes, the band sounds great. All of them.

 

The other thing I really like about it is that it's not "just like" any other record they've done. If we had gotten YHF 2 or something like that, that's what would have disappointed me. So many bands today keep re-releasing the same formula over and over. I think it's good to put away some of the stuff that made YHF or even AGIB so unique for a while. It's OK there's no "obligatory weird noise stuff" in this. It's OK to do something more on the clear / mellow / accessible / whatever side of things, especially now.

 

So, I plan to continue to listen and enjoy, and hope that the May 15 release version doesn't remix the vocals to the back.

 

All that said, I may have to tuck in a copy of LNGCA somewhere in my tracklist... gotta admit I was realllly hoping to see that one make it.

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The other thing I really like about it is that it's not "just like" any other record they've done. If we had gotten YHF 2 or something like that, that's what would have disappointed me. So many bands today keep re-releasing the same formula over and over. I think it's good to put away some of the stuff that made YHF or even AGIB so unique for a while. It's OK there's no "obligatory weird noise stuff" in this. It's OK to do something more on the clear / mellow / accessible / whatever side of things, especially now.

This isn't really a new direction for Wilco though, this is like a throwback to Being There with the rock excised and some soft 70's mellow gold splooged on in place. I think at this point, with time providing some objectivity, I like some of it but won't ever love it like I did past Wilco records.

 

So, I plan to continue to listen and enjoy, and hope that the May 15 release version doesn't remix the vocals to the back.

Is that even a point of contention for anyone? I never got the impression that Wilco buried the vocals on any of their records, it just seems more prominent here because of the music being so weaksauce. Some people claim to like the new lyrics better, and maybe they even believe that now, but looking back at a record like Summerteeth or YHF there's just no way to fanwank around Jeff just not writing at the same level. The songs just don't capture the same depth of emotion and I can't help but have the feeling that most of the songs I do like were older songs that were in some way resurrected for this record (e.g. SBS or Hate It Here). Listening to a song like Via Chicago or Poor Places at the end you were like "holy shit", at the end of an SBS track it's like "well, that wasn't too bad".

 

My main problem is with the music though, it's way too safe and soft rock for my taste and songs that could have been rockers (like Impossible Germany) ended up smooth jazz guitar workouts. I like Nels Cline and I was as happy as anyone that Wilco got a full-time lead guitarist back, but Jeff on AGIB > Nels on SBS and it's not even a contest. Nels can noodle around Jeff without even trying but being able to cram 20 notes into 4 seconds of music isn't anything I'm all that impressed with or interested in. Maybe it's just that a less wimpy guitar it would have overwhelmed the soft rock stylings of the rest of the band and that would have offended someone. Which brings me to... I think most of the problems center around the new song-by-committee approach that Jeff seems to think is so wonderful and I don't really have any great hopes for the band if that continues.

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Is that even a point of contention for anyone? I never got the impression that Wilco buried the vocals on any of their records, it just seems more prominent here because of the music being so weaksauce. Some people claim to like the new lyrics better, and maybe they even believe that now, but looking back at a record like Summerteeth or YHF there's just no way to fanwank around Jeff just not writing at the same level. The songs just don't capture the same depth of emotion and I can't help but have the feeling that most of the songs I do like were older songs that were in some way resurrected for this record (e.g. SBS or Hate It Here). Listening to a song like Via Chicago or Poor Places at the end you were like "holy shit", at the end of an SBS track it's like "well, that wasn't too bad".

 

I think lyrically, this album beats the living shit out of Summerteeth and YHF. There was a great review comparing IATTBYH verses ALTWYS, how sometimes, pretty, pastoral language might seem nice at first, but ultimately (in the case of ALTWYS), it can be far more effective to have more simple, honest, economical words. And it is the same case with SBS. I felt that a lot of the shock value lyrics on Summerteeth were trying too hard, the same for so many pretty, but ultimately esoteric, and ambiguos lyrics on YHF (and in some cases, AGiB). Like the music itself, I think substance is coming before style on this one. There's a maturity, and clarity to the lyrics here, as opposed to all the angry whims on Summerteeth. I think the writing on here will stand the test of time far more than the Neutral Milk Hotel-isms Tweedy did in the late '90s. There are some lyrics on here that are a little too direct, I'll admit. But that's Tweedy's personal preference; not a sign of decline. "You Are My Face" is pretty much Tweedy at his lyrical prime.

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Maybe this CD is as great as the last few, but come on. Wilco's music really has just been getting better and better since they started. If they would have topped AGIB, I would be thinking JT sold his soul to the devil.

 

AGIB was the sharp dropoff in my opinion, and is only a hair better than SBS. I think there are a lot of Wilco fans who think this new stuff (AGIB and SBS) is real Wilco because they have never really got how good Summerteeth and YHF are. But these post-Jay albums are not even close. The last thing great moment of Wilco was the More Like the Moon EP, IMHO.

 

sbs is flat, linear, and boring. the only thing that they could have done to make it worse would have been to hire a pro to lay down some killer jazz flute licks to compliment nels' generous offering of noodle orgies and cluster notes.

 

I totally, totally agree.

 

Some people claim to like the new lyrics better, and maybe they even believe that now, but looking back at a record like Summerteeth or YHF there's just no way to fanwank around Jeff just not writing at the same level. The songs just don't capture the same depth of emotion and I can't help but have the feeling that most of the songs I do like were older songs that were in some way resurrected for this record (e.g. SBS or Hate It Here). Listening to a song like Via Chicago or Poor Places at the end you were like "holy shit", at the end of an SBS track it's like "well, that wasn't too bad".

 

I totally, totally agree. Jeff's lyrics used to be weird and original in a good way (all of ST and YHF). Now they are to a large extent lyrical cliche's and lame narratives.

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I think there are a lot of Wilco fans who think this new stuff (AGIB and SBS) is real Wilco because they have never really got how good Summerteeth and YHF are.

 

How do you know what the 'real Wilco' is? You obviously prefer Summerteeth and YHF, and that's great. But that doesn't mean that other people are missing out on the 'true' greatness of Wilco because they prefer something else. Please remember that its not a matter of who's right or wrong when discussing favourite albums or music. Everyone is different, and that difference should be respected.

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I think there are a lot of Wilco fans who think this new stuff (AGIB and SBS) is real Wilco because they have never really got how good Summerteeth and YHF are.

 

Oh, I think we all "get" how good those are. I don't see much ragging on either of those on this board. What I see in most of the SBS posts is that most of us actually enjoy watching the transformation of the band, especially when it doesn't involve implosion. The ones who seem to be down on SBS seem to want to keep Wilco in a box. Who knows, maybe they'll follow this up with something that's more in line with everyone's expectations. In the meantime, I'm pretty content with the new album and a new tour..... good times. :music

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Oh, I think we all "get" how good those are. I don't see much ragging on either of those on this board. What I see in most of the SBS posts is that most of us actually enjoy watching the transformation of the band, especially when it doesn't involve implosion. The ones who seem to be down on SBS seem to want to keep Wilco in a box. Who knows, maybe they'll follow this up with something that's more in line with everyone's expectations. In the meantime, I'm pretty content with the new album and a new tour..... good times. :music

 

I feel a lot the same. Well put. B)

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Funny, Jeff himself calls this line-up pretty much the definitive Wilco.

 

I'm not sure what this is supposed to prove. Of course he thinks the current band is the definitive version...it would be pretty sad if Tweedy was playing with these guys and pining away for Bennett and Coomer.

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I'm not sure what this is supposed to prove. Of course he thinks the current band is the definitive version...it would be pretty sad if Tweedy was playing with these guys and pining away for Bennett and Coomer.
Really....otherwise what is the point???

 

LouieB

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There's a maturity, and clarity to the lyrics here, as opposed to all the angry whims on Summerteeth. I think the writing on here will stand the test of time far more than the Neutral Milk Hotel-isms Tweedy did in the late '90s. There are some lyrics on here that are a little too direct, I'll admit. But that's Tweedy's personal preference; not a sign of decline. "You Are My Face" is pretty much Tweedy at his lyrical prime.

YAMF is one of the better songs on SBS but it's pretty much the sort of lyrical style you're dismissing in your post. Even the music is more throwbacky, so is it really a new song or was it pulled from a tape that Jeff had laying around like Hate It Here? I'm leaning towards old song.

 

I don't want to give the impression I don't like AGIB, but in retrospect there isn't a lot of emotion there. It's detached in a medicating yourself kind of way. Listening to it now reminds me of that scene from Trainspotting where Rent Boy OD's.

 

So now Jeff's off the drugs but the detachment is still kind of hanging around. I know that they can still bring it live, but more frequently that seems to depend on the crowd lifting the band up. Ideally you want the band providing some of that energy to get things started and then it's a mutual thing rather than rock 'n roll vampirism. Yeah, I can't believe I said it either. Anyway it seems like Jeff is so involved with Wilco all year, every year that he's just burned out. How much of yourself can you make for any one performance when you know you have 250 more (or whatever) of them to do? And since so many of the shows are taped and spread online even the excitement of debuting new songs for fans isn't really there anymore.

 

It's probably not as dire as I'm making out, it's better than it was on AGIB, but the music is what I'm mostly disappointed with anyway. One of the things I liked about LNGCA was that it had some of that old swagger back. I'm not a big Jay Bennett or Ken Coomer fan but the six headed Wilco would get its ass kicked by the four headed version. Don't like it? Prove me wrong, kick ass on tour, blow people away like you used to. Concerts are supposed to be fun, damnit. It won't be easy with the mellow (OK, "beautiful" :rolleyes) record they have to support, but I hope they do. I'll more than happily eat crow if I get a Wilco I don't have to make excuses for back.

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I don't like AGIB, but in retrospect there isn't a lot of emotion there.

 

As per the relativism I can't make you feel what I feel when you listen to music, but for me AGIB is easily one of the most emotional albums I've ever heard. I've listened to it at five or six in the morning on every road trip I've done since its come out. It sounds like someone having a really passionate conversation while trying to remind themselves to keep their voice down so they don't wake up the neighbors. Its a crazy tension. I've never heard anything like it.

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I'm not a big Jay Bennett or Ken Coomer fan but the six headed Wilco would get its ass kicked by the four headed version. Don't like it? Prove me wrong, kick ass on tour, blow people away like you used to. Concerts are supposed to be fun, damnit. It won't be easy with the mellow (OK, "beautiful" :rolleyes) record they have to support, but I hope they do. I'll more than happily eat crow if I get a Wilco I don't have to make excuses for back.

 

Is this based on a concert experience you've had? I saw them the same year Nels joined (is that '04 or '05?) and they were incredibly visceral.

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Walken still takes the cake for me and I can't wait to see it live again! Sky Blue Sky track has really grown on me, from initially the weakest song, to now one of my favorites. Right now, at the moment, my least favorite is What Light. But tis all good!

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