Sky Blue Sky - The Grower Thread

[Guest Speed Racer]

Being cool has been a basic component of rock and roll since it started.

 

Being cool - or rather, worrying about being perceived as cool - is a burden as heavy on the listener as it is the performer. You can be real damned cool and love A.M., and you can also be way too lame to admit you like A.M.

 

Frankly, I think Jeff Tweedy was a lot more adventurous - 'cool,' if you would rather - when he was striking out on his own with A.M. and Being There, when he didn't have the same kind of name for himself that he does today. The band, onstage, was taking chances, playing covers, and cutting loose. Jeff Tweedy is cool today because he was making himself cool in the 90s. I don't think you can have it both ways, honestly.

 

And finally, I think that the concept and execution of Dash 7 (or even Too Far Apart) is way better - um, 'cooler' - than Impossible Germany. Sometimes, I just prefer understatement.

[Guest Speed Racer]

I can make an argument how from a purely musical standpoint Impossible Germany is a better piece of music than Box Full of Letters, but that would probably make people more annoyed than just stating the subjective and instinctual perception that it is infinitely cooler.

 

And finally:

 

Purely musical standpoint? What? (At this point I should clarify I know what you're talking about, I just think you're talking about crap.) Nels is a great guitar player who does a great many thinks with his guitar, but not on IG. I prefer the Box Full of Letters solo (which I think, theoretically, is better pop music than IG is rock) over Nels and his Salad Shooter shredding, and I think the solo on BFOL, from a purely musical standpoint - is better.

[lost highway]

There's a lot more to the song than the solo. And by salad shooter are you critiquing Nels' diet?

 

Also when cool seems like a burden, then it is definitively not cool. I wouldn't be surprised if being cool was very low on Jeff Tweedy's priorities. I also wouldn't be surprised if that fact was responsible for what I recognize as him becoming inexplicably cooler as he approaches middle-age.

 

I think I use that word in a different way than it is being interpreted. I mean having a magnetic, artistic persona (the external) that operates in conversation with the art itself. Everyone has their own brand of cool. Some people seem to do it without thinking (Neil Young, Thurston Moore) and other people seem to be excellent at engineering it (Joe Strummer, Jack White). I say seem, because it is hard to know what part of a person's cool is deliberate and what part is accidental.

 

I guess what I am saying is my cool detector registers this:

as being relatively not cool.

 

But this

is a bizarre brand of cool.

 

I think that analyzing these things is pedestrian, and somewhat absurd. Thinking about these things is nonetheless interesting and sometimes funny. For that reason I hope my analysis isn't upsetting.

[Guest Speed Racer]

I know there's more to the song than Nels' shredding, and I still think that Box Full of Letters excels as a pop song more than IG does at rock, pop, or whatever else it tries to be (bizarre? it's certainly not bizarre).

 

As far as the cool factor goes, Jeff was invited to join a supergroup of incredibly well-established "peers" right after Uncle Tupelo broke up. He stayed with Tony. He stayed on UT's label. I think more than a little bit of that had to do with being a magnetic, artistic person.

 

What you're saying, then, is that you like the song Impossible Germany more than Box Full of Letters, and I frankly don't care. If you think x is cooler than y, then you're right. Period. To extend that beyond your own opinions (and even try to draw music theory into it!) is just ridiculous. In my opinion, of course.

[lost highway]

Sort of... I was more using the songs for examples of eras of the band. Again this is an interesting, but silly conversation. So if it seems frustrating (which I can see someone mouthing off about how something you like is 'less cool' can be pretty annoying) just ignore me. I was mostly interested in the idea of a musician being cooler in their 40's than in their 30's.

 

I like music theory though too. And I will say that Impossible Germany has more complex chords, harmonies, counterpoint, dynamics and a greater musical arc. Overall it is more nuanced. I think this makes it a rich song to listen to. I also like listening to Blind Lemon Jefferson so theory isn't everything.

 

I also concede that cool is absolutely relative (hence daisy dukes, bell bottoms, stone washed and polyester being a range of choices). Nonetheless most music fans can agree that the New York Dolls are cooler than they are good, and Billy Joel is less cool than he is just plain good (old albums of course). Wilco has been various shades of cool, and good over there career. The fact that they are cooler now, than at the beginning baffles me.

[HeWasNotRed]

If I can add my two cents as a Wilco purist and a large fan of both songs, I think musically and "cool" factors included, whatever the hell that even means or has to do with the argument, 'Impossible Germany' is heads and shoulders above 'Box Full Of Letters'. IG is a deeply emotional song that happens to possess one of Nel's most frantic, yet beautiful solos. "Box Full Of Letters" is also an emotional, yet straightforward song that really pales in comparison in my, and probably most opinions. That having been said, god bless you for digging "Box Full of Letters" more, I'm always a big fan of enthusiastic A.M. support =).

[Guest Speed Racer]

Eh, if we're talking about eras of the band and not song examples, then I think that the A.M./BT era was a huge growth period, and a lot more exciting, and, um, cool than the SBS/W(TA) era. To me, the May 23, 1995 show v. June 2, 2007 is absolutely no contest for me, which show is more interesting, inspired, fun, and, um cool .

[kidsmoke]

While not as well-cured as the right honorable gentleman Kidsmoke, I can attest that at age 31 -- married 11 years and with 3 kids, no less -- some albums still rock my socks. For example last year I finally took advice I'd been getting for awhile and checked out Drive-By Truckers. First time I heard their cover of Warren Zevon's "Play it All Night Long," my balls basically fell out the bottom of my pants.

 

 

"well-cured", haha, I like that. But in the interests of both full disclosure as well as not confusing the newbies, I should mention that I, kidsmoke, need never worry about my balls falling out of the bottom of my pants, no matter how stellar the music. Kidsmoke is female.

 

Kidsmoke's faves include Handshake Drugs live, Kung Pao chicken, the number 3, and talking in the 3rd person. The Drive-By Truckers are cool too.

[mpolak21]

After hours of research and Taco Bell dinners the department of Wilco research at the University of California-Monterey has released this report.

 

1.) Wilco was at its coldest during this performance, at the exact moment when Bob Egan falls into the snow.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e7f-2hBFm8

[howdjadoo]

Kidsmoke is female. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mpolak21]

2.) Wilco was pretty cool here in Germany in 2002, because it was raining that day and because former guitar tech wizard/tamborine man Jonathan "JP" Parker forgot to the turn down the air conditioning backstage. Sources close to us tell us it was in protest of the band not including Ziggy Stardust on the setlist.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucce14GwwR0

[mpolak21]

3.) They were also pretty cool here, because Letterman apparently keeps his stage rooms freezing.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSZjVb4w7oc

[mpolak21]

4.) In this video they were at their most lukewarm. Seriously sky diving?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcaGlJGijj0

[H.Stone]

Please don't post the "Shot In The Arm" video.

[mpolak21]

5.) They were at their hottest, not as you'd expect playing in 100 degree midafternoon weather at Bonnaroo, but actually at the moment Jeff Tweedy wrote Poor Places. After all it was so hot in the poor places that night, he wasn't going outside.

 

House rules prevent me from linking to anything on YouTube featuring Poor Places, but if you search for the I am Trying To Break Your Heart documentary on said website you can find the band rehearsing it.

 

--Mike

[mpolak21]

Please don't post the "Shot In The Arm" video.

 

I am pretty sure Tony M. had all of the copies destroyed.