Wilco makes Rolling Stone

[bobbob1313]

That movies looks awesome.

[lost highway]

It is awesome in that it has nothing to do with being "good". They are paying tribute to vintage "bad" movies with swamp mosters, pointless nudity and fake blood.

[OCP003]

****UPDATE****

 

Wilco

Sky Blue Sky

Out May 15th

Key track: " What Light"

 

This is how Wilco made their sixth studio album, Sky Blue Sky, according to the band's leader, singer-guitarist-songwriter Jeff Tweedy: "Six people in a room, playing one song all day for six or seven hours, and everyone reaching a consensus on how it should sound." Tweedy laughs, marveling at that simplicity and how long it took him to get it. "After so many configurations of the band, I guess one of them's bound to get it right."

 

Tweedy is quick to point out he doesn't want to be negative about earlier lineups, but Sky Blue Sky -- released by Nonesuch on May 15th -- is the work that he claims he wanted all along. "I always liked the Band as a model -- a bunch of guys sitting around with a typewriter, drinking coffee, writing. That seemed the most fun -- a collective thing. And somehow we ended up being that."

 

Bassist John Stirratt, the only other survivor of the original Wilco from the band's 1995 debut, A.M., puts it another way: "This was definitely the most civilized record Wilco has ever made."

 

Its twelve songs are also a startling turnaround from the scarring distortion of Wilco's commercial breakthrough, 2002's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and 2004's follow-up, A Ghost Is Born. There is a vocal clarity and wide-open space to Sky Blue Sky -- in the tender lysergic whirl of "Either Way" and the mix of Dixie-soul balladry and Badfinger-style pop crunch in "Hate It Here" -- that echoes the Grateful Dead's honing of their early acid rock into the warm detail of 1970's Workingman's Dead.

 

Drummer Glenn Kotche credits guitarist Nels Cline, who joined in 2004 after the release of A Ghost Is Born, with bringing some of that psychedelic sparkle. "People think Nels is this avant-garde guitarist stuck on Jazz Island," Kotche says. "But he loves Buffalo Springfield and the Byrds."

 

Tweedy, in turn, says the mix of Pacific-sunset romance and freak-out funk in "You Are My Face" was partly inspired by the lone eponymous album by an early-Seventies California band, Relatively Clean Rivers. "It's pretty fucking obscure," Tweedy says. "It sounds like the Dead, but it also has these hip-hop beats, years before there was such a thing. I was digging that record a lot while we were messing with the groove in that song."

 

Tweedy, Stirratt, Kotche, Cline, guitar-keyboard player Pat Sansone and keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen rehearsed and recorded Sky Blue Sky at Wilco's studio in Chicago, the Loft, starting in August 2005. The band worked in two- and three-week spurts. "We would make these minirecords," Stirratt says, "working on things that tended to sound alike." Wilco also tested a few songs onstage, like the jaunty "Walken," while touring between sessions. But Tweedy's guiding principle for Sky Blue Sky was something he mentioned to Stirratt during recording -- "about being able to put a song in your pocket," the bassist recalls, "and take it with you."

 

"I got nervous about the technology on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," Tweedy confesses. "If you need a certain amp or pedal to make a song what it is, it isn't a song."

 

But Tweedy is also a different songwriter now. "I went through some well-documented miserable times," he admits, referring to the personnel dramas and record-label tumult at the time of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and his 2004 spell in rehab to beat an addiction to prescription medicine. "When you're in a place with a lot of denial, it's hard to be direct about yourself. You need to encode things, because you're hiding a lot."

 

On Sky Blue Sky, he says, "I had no interest in being complex" -- which explains the optimism right up front in the final songs, "What Light" and "On and On and On." "I'm more hopeful than I used to be," Tweedy insists. "It's just easier to hear now -- there's less static." (DAVID FRICKE)

[OCP003]

notice who gave the review...heh

[aricandover]

"I got nervous about the technology on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," Tweedy confesses. "If you need a certain amp or pedal to make a song what it is, it isn't a song."

 

how many different pedals and guitars does this guy use during a show? hell, on sometimes he uses more than one guitar in the same song.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

I'd say that all photos in magazines are cleaned up and altered - more so the photos used on the cover.

 

That looks like one of those countless men's magazines - sad - I recall when RS use to be about the long interview - and nice photos (nudies included) taken on real film, by real artists.

 

Hell...they even had Carly Simon partially topless in her honeymoon pics with James Taylor on the cover

[jc4prez]

hehehe two grateful dead refernces in one short wilco article.

 

 

Too funny considering out of all the wilco albums i think you hear no grateful dead influnce (except on What Light which reminds oh so much of Ripple)

[Analogman]

Hell...they even had Carly Simon partially topless in her honeymoon pics with James Taylor on the cover

 

I have the RS anniversary issues - one of which has that photo in it.

[Moe_Syzlak]

"I got nervous about the technology on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," Tweedy confesses. "If you need a certain amp or pedal to make a song what it is, it isn't a song."

 

I have a reaction to this line, but first...

 

Since I'm new here, I want to say upfront I love Sky Blue Sky. It will probably be among my top five favorite albums of the year. I also want to confess myself as a music junkie that considers lyrics pretty late in the equation. I was told a quote from David Byrne (although I've never been able to verify it) that I think sums up my attitude in that regard: "lyrics are tricks to get you to listen to the music longer." I mention this because I realize that many (like my girlfriend) consider Tweedy's lyrics first when evaluating Wilco songs and I somewhat miss the boat on that one. That said, I DO love SBS, but at the same time find it a bit of a disappointment. I had friends that tried to get me into Wilco and Son Volt and Uncle Tupelo for years, but I never came around until YHF. On that album I felt like the band found a sound to call their own. YHF and AGiB sound like Wilco to me -- sound unique -- and I like it. I like SBS too, but I feel like if you had Robbie Robertson sing one track, John Lennon sing another and Van Morrison sing another, you'd probably assume they were their songs rather than hear it as them doing guest vocals on a Wilco track. I'd say they were great songs by those artists which is why I still consider SBS to be a great album, but it's lacking the Wilco sound (as it exists in my mind) I found so unique on the last two albums. Does that make sense? In the end I want to be sure I don't sound too down on the album. It is a criticism, sure, but a minor one meant to convey more my reaction based on the direction the band has chosen (their right to be sure). It is a phenomenal album and one I will continue to wear out, but I do miss "the technology" that Tweedy was so nervous about.

[Atticus]

pointless nudity

 

there is always a point

 

how many different pedals and guitars does this guy use during a show? hell, on sometimes he uses more than one guitar in the same song.

 

He didn't say that if he uses a certain amp or pedal on a song that it's not a song, rather that if the amp or pedal is necessary... but I see your point.

[bjorn_skurj]

"What Light" is so NOT the key track on SBS. That would be "Impossible Germany." Jesus, Fricke. Get a grip.

[nicburto]

"avant-garde guitarist stuck on Jazz Island" - awesome

 

 

does anyone have this Relatively Clean Rivers album? I'd be interested in checking it out.

[aricandover]

"avant-garde guitarist stuck on Jazz Island" - awesome

does anyone have this Relatively Clean Rivers album? I'd be interested in checking it out.

 

 

 

I'll pm you

[HungryHippo]

sorry if im late on this but i was browsing through a rolling stone about a week or two ago and noticed a pic of jeff on stage and the article was praising 'impossible germany' and saying its a must download, etc...is this the same issue? if so, i need to thumb thru it again!

[esel]

 

I'll pm you

 

 

you should pm me as well sweetcakes.

[jhh4321]

Pretty boring article.

 

P.S. David Fricke is a disgrace to music journalim...and to anyone who has ever had an opinion on something.

[TheMaker]

Fricke is no Lester or Greil, but he's probably the last decent writer left at RS. Why are you so offended by his stuff when, if I had to choose just one word to describe his work, I'd probably tag it "inoffensive?" He writes some snooze-worthy shit, but is that really enough to label him a disgrace?

[Synthesizer Patel]

"avant-garde guitarist stuck on Jazz Island" - awesome

does anyone have this Relatively Clean Rivers album? I'd be interested in checking it out.

 

Yes, it's good stuff. Buy it.

[aricandover]

Yes, it's good stuff. Buy it.

 

 

[Szabo]

Pretty boring article.

 

P.S. David Fricke is a disgrace to music journalim...and to anyone who has ever had an opinion on something.

 

Fricke is the only reason why I still read Rolling Stone. I think he's the only journalist for the magazine that compares music correctly, writes with his opinions, which are usually correct. He tends to write articles that he wants to write, not some Fall Out Boy bullshit. He's positive too and not arrogant which EVERY other music journalist is.

 

I also don't understand why this is boring? What are you looking for?

[caliber66]

writes with his opinions, which are usually correct.

[Szabo]

 

Ha, i guess I meant that "which I usually agree with".

[caliber66]

[DawgSong]

Relatively Clean Rivers

 

My bad....thought album was out of print and just saw where was rereleased.

 

[Franky]

Fricke is no Lester or Greil, but he's probably the last decent writer left at RS. Why are you so offended by his stuff when, if I had to choose just one word to describe his work, I'd probably tag it "inoffensive?" He writes some snooze-worthy shit, but is that really enough to label him a disgrace?

 

I hate Lester Bangs. I read one article where he explains that Bob Dylan wrote "Hurricane" just so he could say (pardon my language) "nigger" and get people talking about his music again. Bad enough comment already. Then, he went on to talk about the genius of Black Sabbath, and how they are the greatest band around. That makes no sense whatsoever. Black Sabbath v.s. Bob Dylan... Think about that one. I think David Fricke wrote the article well, because to a non-Wilco fan, (which most people are) it gives a decent overview of the album, and at least it puts them on the map.