Sky Blue Sky - The Grower Thread

[You Can Be The Stone]

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" ) 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.

 

I think one needs to look no further than 'Walken' to say this line-up's got some ass; especially the outro; which is pretty much all six parts exactly in their right place, meshing perfectly. Plus, Pat has the cool solo, while Nels and Jeff are in the background, so the lead guitar egolessness makes it all the cooler!

[Chendizzle]

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

 

To me, ALTWYS is enough emotion for 5 albums.

[Guest Jules]

SBS is top 100 on Amazon, still a month before the release. I imagine this is a pretty good sign for sales.

 

Whenever I visit Amazon.com, I like to read a few reviews. I guess SBS is not growing for this guy...

 

It's hard to understand why Jeff would come out and publicly declare to the world that he and his legion of yes-men were working on releasing what he promised to be a "super-dirty soul record" that would be devoid of all of the hoity-toity poetry that has apparently plagued all of the band's previous releases.

 

Ironically enough, this is, without a doubt, Wilco's most emotionally and creatively shallow effort to date. Soulful is certainly the last word that comes to mind.

 

With the exception of Jeff Tweedy's voice, there is no Wilco to be found anywhere within any of the 12 jingles featured on "Sky Blue Sky." Each song meanders aimlessly into the next, with hardly a change of rhythm, tone, or theme to be found. Most of the songs are lyrically driven, which doesn't fare well for Tweedy & Friends since the lyrical passages contained here are some of the most un-effecting and trite that Jeff has ever written. I can say without a doubt that "I Hate it Here" is an outright pitiful song. But, sadly enough, it's about par for the course as far as this album goes.

 

If there was any dynamic of AGIB that I would have liked to have seen them carry along with them into the studio for this album, it would have been Jeff's blistering guitar work. Alas, Rock and Roll guitar has given way to the lounge-pop and easy listening sensibilities of the ever-dexterous Nels Cline. I liken the guitar noodling on this album to my excruciatingly annoying aunt who makes a sport out of talking more at the dinner table than the rest of the family combined without ever really having anything to say. On a grander scale, the thing that ultimately disappoints me the most is that if this album is of any indication, the current incarnation of Wilco no longer has any aspirations of carrying on in the studio as a Rock and Roll band...

 

I never thought that I would ever see these guys flounder around in a sea of such mediocrity and lameness. There is truly no substance here to really hang your hat on, and if one thing is certain, no new ground has been broken. This is without a doubt the most cumbersome album that I have listened to in a very, very long time.

 

Un-eventful, subdued, and monumentally disappointing. A buzz-kill if there ever was one.

[uncle wilco]

Chad on Amazon has got issues.

 

i expect to hear many more such reviews before it's all over. sure, everyone wouldn't mind another "being there", but that was a different band and a long time ago. 1996 to be exact...i live in the present. that means i no longer wear flannel or sport a mullet...maybe that was more like 1989?...i can't remember.

 

sky blue sky is 2007 and i can't wait till may 15th.

 

maybe if you listen to it another 15 times it might take for you chad...that's about how long it took for me and now i "get" it.

[lost highway]

I love how that guy said it drifts from one song to the next with hardly a change of rhythm or tone. I would almost be inclined to say its a bit uneven, but I like eclecticism so its not a problem for me. (come on from Please Be Patient With Me to Hate It Here to On and On and On, three wildly different songs in sound, tone and appeal).

[jakobnicholas]

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" ) 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.

 

 

 

Your thought on You Are My Face is implying that, "yeah, it's a good song...but only because it's an old song". And I take it that you also like Hate It Here because it may be a re-worked old song. So....I may be reading too much into your comments, but you seem to be suggesting that Jeff and the band aren't creating songs as great as the Being There-Summerteeth days. If so, I think that's a bunch of bullshit. Just my opinion.

 

Being There, to me, is and always will be Wilco's shining moment. But Being There came out when we weren't too sure how great Wilco was. We liked them live....we liked seeing Bennett suck on a cigarette while wanking away on a guitar, we liked seeing Tweedy look weary at the start of the show and then absolutely erupt during songs like Misunderstood, we liked seeing the occassional Led Zeppelin cover thrown in....the live shows were a good time. Being There, combined with a great, fun live show, made Wilco larger than life for us.

 

Mermaid Avenue added to the mystique of the band. Summerteeth knocked us over with it's dark lyrics and poppy sound. And YHF combined Being There and Summerteeth and added an artsy edge to it. With all the critical acclaim and the IATTBYH documentary tacked onto it, the band was smoking hot.

 

How could ANY record after YHF top the high exectations?

 

I think AGIB, considering the state of the band and Tweedy, is beautiful. At Least That What You Said is as good as ANYTHING Wilco has done. It doesn't make us feel good like hearing "choo-choo Charlie had a pretty good band...", but ALTWYS it has it's own set of balls. It's onslaught on the last 2-thirds of the song destroys. And I put Hell is Chrome's lyrics up with any Tweedy lyric. Spiders took guts....we all heard the beautiful solo version, but the album version is like Tweedy and the band saying, "screw you all....we'll play this song how we wanna play it." Muzzle of Bees is as nice as Lonely One or Pieholden Suite...2 previous great gentle songs. Hummingbird, again, is Tweedy throwing a curveball...a nice re-work of a great live solo song....to me, it's a swagger of a different kind....it's also swagger-ish how Tweedy sung the song sans-guitar in a live show. And Handshake Drugs live, with this current lineup, has all kinds of swagger...it really has a great build up at the end.

 

And now Sky Blue Sky seems to be revealing a mature, confident band. Either Way sounds so simple and straight-forward, yet is so dang beautiful sounding. Impossible Germany is pretty at the start...nothing to blow you away....but then evolves into glorious guitar interplay. To me, it's just as good as the payoff in Misunderstood. Side With the Seeds is going to be incredible live....a little soul mixed with a rocking finale. Leave Me Like You Found Me reminds me of I Thought I Held You from AM....only better. And hearing that On and On and On was written for Tweedy's Dad, makes the album closer even more special....and I really, really dig Glenn's drumming half-way through the song.

 

Maybe Wilco has evolved into a "prettier" band....but it's still a solid, rockin' band....a band that can still bring it. I think they'll prove that out on the road.

[bangsezmax]

Longtime Wilco fan (saw the AM tour with the Jayhawks, seen them a half-dozen times since then), first time poster.

 

I must say I'm terribly confused about what people expect from Wilco. I myself have expected every Wilco record since Being There to confound my expectations and challenge my preconceptions about what Wilco is. Thus far, all the way to this new one, I have not been disappointed.

 

My first thoughts after listening to SBS were that it's going to take several weeks and many listenings in order to "get it." And this has held true. Now the more I hear it, the more I think it's an astoundingly mature and confident piece of art. What Wilco is doing on SBS is leaving behind sonic experimentation (Summerteeth, YHF and AGIB were chock full of them) and moving more into musical experimentation. The chord progressions and rhythms take plenty of unexpected turns. Really. They are everywhere. However, because the current lineup is a stellar group of musicians who really applies themselves to Tweedy's vision (or helps create a true "group vision," more likely), all of the oddball musical stuff is pulled off in a way that makes it sound extremely subtle. I think this may also be why the band dismissed the O'Rourke mixes as two "recordish" (as opposed to "roomish"). My guess is that O'Rourke's mix increased the contrast in those subtleties, which wasn't what Wilco wanted. It's quite possible that the same people that are complaining that SBS is "boring" may have been much more excited by the exact same music with a different mix. In fact, I strongly feel that would be the case.

 

This brings up another point, a sore point with me.

 

I'm 42. I'm domesticated. Like Tweedy, I'm settled with kids. (As it happens, I'm also a performing musician and a songwriter too, but that's a weekend hobby thing.) Basically what I'm saying is that I don't really get many chances to hang out with Wilco fans, so I find myself feeling extremely naive in thinking previously that Wilco fans were more musically sophisticated and/or knowledgable than other music fans. I figured that anyone who listened to a record as experimental as YHF and liked it obviously had to have adventurous and open-minded tastes. Unfortunately, many of the negative reactions to SBS -- a record that is just as experimental, folks -- have shown me that this is undeniably not the case. Many Wilco fans are obviously just as prejudiced and stuck in the proverbial musical rut as your garden-variety classic rock fan. I wish it weren't the case, and I'm still kind of stunned by it. But there it is.

 

For those of you still on the fence, open your minds and your ears and keep listening. SBS is a beautiful record made by a very talented, imaginative, and confident band, and that shows up in spades if you look in the right place.

 

Peace out.

[jethro]

Your thought on You Are My Face is implying that, "yeah, it's a good song...but only because it's an old song". And I take it that you also like Hate It Here because it may be a re-worked old song. So....I may be reading too much into your comments, but you seem to be suggesting that Jeff and the band aren't creating songs as great as the Being There-Summerteeth days. If so, I think that's a bunch of bullshit. Just my opinion.

You can think it's a bunch of bullshit but that doesn't make it wrong. I suppose there are people who think SBS is the best Wilco record, there are probably people who get all weak-kneed when they hear It's Just That Simple too.

 

And Handshake Drugs live, with this current lineup, has all kinds of swagger...it really has a great build up at the end.

That's a big part of the problem.

 

Either Way sounds so simple and straight-forward, yet is so dang beautiful sounding. Impossible Germany is pretty at the start...nothing to blow you away....but then evolves into glorious guitar interplay. To me, it's just as good as the payoff in Misunderstood. Side With the Seeds is going to be incredible live....a little soul mixed with a rocking finale. Leave Me Like You Found Me reminds me of I Thought I Held You from AM....only better. And hearing that On and On and On was written for Tweedy's Dad, makes the album closer even more special....and I really, really dig Glenn's drumming half-way through the song.

I don't want to get into a song by song critique but I don't think any of those songs are among the highlights of the record and Impossible Germany is probably the most disappointing song on the record. I'm sure it'll be great live though...

 

I'm 42. I'm domesticated. Like Tweedy, I'm settled with kids. (As it happens, I'm also a performing musician and a songwriter too, but that's a weekend hobby thing.) Basically what I'm saying is that I don't really get many chances to hang out with Wilco fans, so I find myself feeling extremely naive in thinking previously that Wilco fans were more musically sophisticated and/or knowledgable than other music fans. I figured that anyone who listened to a record as experimental as YHF and liked it obviously had to have adventurous and open-minded tastes. Unfortunately, many of the negative reactions to SBS -- a record that is just as experimental, folks -- have shown me that this is undeniably not the case. Many Wilco fans are obviously just as prejudiced and stuck in the proverbial musical rut as your garden-variety classic rock fan. I wish it weren't the case, and I'm still kind of stunned by it. But there it is.

You're entitled to your opinion of course but SBS is about as experimental as a Big Mac. Or maybe you mean it's so safe and conventional that it's gone right out the other side and become dangerous and exciting? I'd have to give that some thought... maybe I've been short-changing Hansen all these years.

 

In the end SBS (minus the three tracks I don't like, though it's more accurate to say two songs that by themselves aren't bad but make the record worse and one - Shake It Off - that's just outright bad) is a sometimes pretty and inoffensive but ultimately disappointing record from a band that I expected more from. A disappointing Wilco record is still pretty decent but we're not visiting the Wilcoboard because we think they're a decent band.

[bangsezmax]

You're entitled to your opinion of course but SBS is about as experimental as a Big Mac.

You're entitled to yours as well. And I can't make you hear "experimental" if you're quite busy hearing "safe and conventional." Just be sure to let me know when "Either Way" makes it on to the next Now That's What I Call Music compilation and I'll admit that you're absolutely right.

 

In the meantime, see if you can find a music major who could transcribe "Side with the Seeds" or "Shake it Off" in a way that another musician could play it and have it make any sense at all. And good luck with that, by the way. Wilco makes it sound easy (read: "safe and conventional") when it's really not. But it doesn't surprise me that some people aren't going to hear that.

Or maybe you mean it's so safe and conventional that it's gone right out the other side and become dangerous and exciting?

If "dangerous and exciting" means p*ssing off a contingent of their own fanbase, then obviously SBS is just that. But then, this is nothing new -- every Wilco record has p*ssed off some of their fans. Heck, Summerteeth ticked me off when it came out.

A disappointing Wilco record is still pretty decent but we're not visiting the Wilcoboard because we think they're a decent band.

I'm not disappointed in the slightest by the record. And I probably won't hang out here much so that I don't become disappointed by the fans. It must be a real b*tch to be Jeff Tweedy and have this killer band and make this great music that you really believe in and have it go right over the heads of a good chunk of your audience. Life is just funny like that sometimes, I guess.

[Basil II]

any Jay Bennett involvement in SBS would have improved it it immensely............my.02....

 

 

-Robert.

[Atticus]

any Jay Bennett involvement in SBS would have improved it it immensely............my.02....

-Robert.

 

it would be interesting to hear some of him on SBS. Definitely. But then again the band wouldn't have the vibe they claim to have now were anyone else in it.

[Beltmann]

And I probably won't hang out here much so that I don't become disappointed by the fans. It must be a real b*tch to be Jeff Tweedy and have this killer band and make this great music that you really believe in and have it go right over the heads of a good chunk of your audience. Life is just funny like that sometimes, I guess.

I'm disappointed that you have chosen to write off an entire community based on the comments of a few members. If you poked around more, you'd notice that SBS has, by and large, been embraced by this community.

[Basil II]

it would be interesting to hear some of him on SBS. Definitely. But then again the band wouldn't have the vibe they claim to have now were anyone else in it.

 

 

 

 

Yes you are right........but with new release .....gawd......I "think wot if?????"\\\\

 

 

-Robert.

[awatt]

SBS followed by Side with Seeds followed by Shake it Off may be best 1-2-3 punch since Handshake Drugs into Wishful Thinking into Company in my Back. He does have an ear for order...

[kidsmoke]

But it doesn't surprise me that some people aren't going to hear that. If "dangerous and exciting" means p*ssing off a contingent of their own fanbase, then obviously SBS is just that. But then, this is nothing new -- every Wilco record has p*ssed off some of their fans. Heck, Summerteeth ticked me off when it came out. I'm not disappointed in the slightest by the record. And I probably won't hang out here much so that I don't become disappointed by the fans. It must be a real b*tch to be Jeff Tweedy and have this killer band and make this great music that you really believe in and have it go right over the heads of a good chunk of your audience. Life is just funny like that sometimes, I guess.

 

Of course it's your call whether or not you spend time here at VC, but to slander an entire group due to some disagreement you have with a few is just silly. There are many here who see things as you do, and many who don't. So what?

 

I guess I'm just saying that, as a community, I find Wilco's fans to be some of the most interesting, genuine, and open people I've ever met. I'm sure Jeff finds some of us to be total knuckleheads (show of hands, everyone who recognizes themselves? ) but we are good people, lovely knuckleheads, and I'm sure the band loves us even when we are our imperfect fan selves.

 

Qu'une r

[imsjry]

You're entitled to your opinion of course but SBS is about as experimental as a Big Mac.

 

Yeah, because in whatever world you live in apparently many bands make songs like "You Are My Face". Let's just take that song for example....what song or who else does that sound like?? The answer is no one but Wilco and it also doesn't sound like anything the band has ever done. I love that track!!

 

I think this is their most "experimental" disc yet depending on how you want to define that term. Was YHF experimental because it had sound effects and tape loops on it?? For Wilco maybe, but not for many other bands. But who else could make a disc as beautiful as Sky Blue Sky??

[You Can Be The Stone]

I'm not going to quote anyone; but total props to the person who used the line "Complex, but not complicated", which, I think pretty much nails SBS.

 

Though as far as I'm concerned, every album is in its own context. No album is better than the other; each has a few very good tracks, and just as many clunkers.

[bangsezmax]

I'm disappointed that you have chosen to write off an entire community based on the comments of a few members. If you poked around more, you'd notice that SBS has, by and large, been embraced by this community.

Of course it's your call whether or not you spend time here at VC, but to slander an entire group due to some disagreement you have with a few is just silly. There are many here who see things as you do, and many who don't. So what?

 

I guess I'm just saying that, as a community, I find Wilco's fans to be some of the most interesting, genuine, and open people I've ever met. I'm sure Jeff finds some of us to be total knuckleheads (show of hands, everyone who recognizes themselves? ) but we are good people, lovely knuckleheads, and I'm sure the band loves us even when we are our imperfect fan selves.

 

Qu'une r

[bangsezmax]

any Jay Bennett involvement in SBS would have improved it it immensely............my.02....

Well, Tweedy would still be having migraines, I'm sure. That would change the music considerably.

[kidsmoke]

Hey -- you are both absolutely right. My bad. Please forgive me.

 

But of course. And to restate what I've said all along, I personally find SBS brilliant and soul stirring. It feels to me like music that has always existed & was just waiting to be plucked from the ether of the universe. Does that make any sense? Probably not, but then when has anyone ever really been able to describe music in words that captured the feeling?

[jimtweedy1977]

When I first posted about this album, I was put off by the mellowness of the record. However, I wanted to give it a chance to sink in. After repeated listens, it is a record that I have come to embrace. Yes, generally it is mellow, but there are songs on the other records that are just as mellow. I think what I like about it is its simplicity. There's no trickery here, no slight of hand. The songs have to stand on their own; that takes some metaphorical, um, well, you know. What I liked about Being There, and still do, is the feeling you got of being in the room when the record was being made. This album gives me the same feeling. I know its already been stated by the band that it has that feeling. The songs have a feeling of being connected to each other rather than standing alone as individual pieces. Wilco has made their vinyl record in the sense that the album is a collective whole. I tend not to focus on lyrics so much, not because they are not fantastic, there's some incredible lyrics in this album, especially in 'What Light' (inspired by The Angel Is My Watermark by Henry Miller), but because I try to connect to the music on an emotional level. There's so many emotions wrapped up in this record that I cannot pinpoint them. I'm going through some changes in my life right now personally and professionally and I feel a connection emotionally to the music itself.

[Beltmann]

Hey -- you are both absolutely right. My bad. Please forgive me.

You bet. Welcome to VC! If your love for Wilco, your articulate opinions, and your impeccable grammar are any indication, you'll fit right in.

 

As for Wilco fans having adventurous ears, I think your initial assumption was correct. Let me direct you to here.

[Chendizzle]

there's some incredible lyrics in this album, especially in 'What Light'

[OOO]

 

this is a classic example of misdirection.

 

You're talking about how much you don't like the new wilco record so people don't realize how average your new shin's record is!!

[MrRain422]

In the end SBS . . . is a sometimes pretty and inoffensive but ultimately disappointing record from a band that I expected more from. A disappointing Wilco record is still pretty decent but we're not visiting the Wilcoboard because we think they're a decent band.

 

This describes my feelings about the album perfectly. It's not a bad album, but not up to the usual standards, in my opinion. I'm glad for everyone who is digging this album, but personally, I'm disappointed.