Chicago Sun Time's Feature and Tribune Review

[jdmel]

Gray skies gone blue

Though he'd rather make music than talk to the press, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy has a lot to say

 

May 13, 2007

BY JIM DeROGATIS Pop Music Critic

For all his talk about being happy, Jeff Tweedy doesn't smile much, Sun-Times photographer Keith Hale noted after a recent visit to the loft that the Chicago band Wilco maintains as a rehearsal space and recording studio on the Northwest side.

 

 

 

 

Only once during a two-hour interview and photo session did the singer and songwriter break into a full-fledged grin, when he sat surrounded by a dozen guitars and talked about buying a new Studer 24-track, reel-to-reel recorder, one of the last the company sold before yielding to digital technology.

 

 

 

[indy81]

An interesting article, although you've gotta think Tweedy is being disingenuous when he claims they weren't trying to be experimental or avant-garde with YHF and Ghost. A 30 minute stretch of noise is "experimental" but 15 min. isn't? It's intriguing to see him distance himself somewhat from YHF recently, since/because it's generally considered the band's high water mark. SBS is certainly a deliberate effort to go a different musical route.

[Wilco LP #7]

In the public eye and the world of rock journalism, Wilco is overly-defined by YHF. I think Jeff is coming around to this, and is showing some understandable annoyance with it.

[jdmel]

Also interesting, the Chicago Tribune's review after Jeff challenged them to write another "nice thing about them" at Farm Aid..

 

Here's their review:

Wilco's intimate "Sky Blue Sky"

Wilco singer Jeff Tweedy sits at the kitchen table in the band

[You Can Be The Stone]

>

 

Glad Tweedy brought this up. If there's one thing that's definately been throwing people off, it's Nels and Glenn leaving any sense of ego behind, and playing simpler parts to be able to serve the song more effectively. (Even though that's not the case in many of the tracks)

[Gobias Industries]

An interesting article, although you've gotta think Tweedy is being disingenuous when he claims they weren't trying to be experimental or avant-garde with YHF and Ghost. A 30 minute stretch of noise is "experimental" but 15 min. isn't? It's intriguing to see him distance himself somewhat from YHF recently, since/because it's generally considered the band's high water mark. SBS is certainly a deliberate effort to go a different musical route.

 

Tweedy said at a show that he thinks the newest album is always the best.

 

Which is kinda the point.

[froggie]

Tweedy said at a show that he thinks the newest album is always the best.

 

Which is kinda the point.

 

well, thats understandable and the case with pretty much all artists. he's not not going to say in recent interviews that Summerteeth is their best album

[bedbug]

BY JIM DeROGATIS Pop Music Critic

 

Cool! I'm saving this for work tomorrow. I like Jim DeRogatis a lot. His book, Kaleidescope Eyes is excellent. There's also a website devoted to the Beatles' Revolver that has a 30 minute interview with Jim. Probably for completist only, but pretty on the mark, IMO. Along with Chuck Klosterman, he's one of the only decent music critics out there.

[WaronWar]

I like Greg Kot a lot because he has a huge variety of musical taste and his writing is amazing. And I do enjoy Derogaitis, but sometimes he really only likes something that rocks, and he's a little too mainstream for my tastes because of his enjoyment praise for My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy, which I strongly disagree with.

[dylan's 50th beard]

and the review from the sun-times (only three stars):

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/dero...ilco13a.article

 

Wilco's latest takes a while to seep in

REVIEW | Wilco, 'Sky Blue Sky' (Nonesuch)

 

May 13, 2007

 

There are moments of undeniable beauty on Wilco's sixth album, especially during the most lulling and introspective songs, including the opening "Either Way," "You Are My Face" and "What Light." The latter continues the defense of pausing to take stock while fearlessly forging your own path that Tweedy is talking about in interviews: "

If you feel like singing a song / And you want other people to sing along / Then just sing what you feel / And don't let anyone say it's wrong."

 

Noble as that sentiment is, "Sky Blue Sky" takes longer to click in than any of Wilco's earlier albums, including the allegedly difficult "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" and "A Ghost Is Born." I only began to appreciate the gorgeous subtlety of the best tunes after a dozen listens, which may seem like a lot of work. But if any artist of his generation has earned the right to ask his fans' indulgence, it's Jeff Tweedy.

 

Even if you make this effort, though, it can be hard to discern the emotions the songwriter says he's trying to convey, and the less successful songs offer little reason to sing along, sounding either repetitive and incomplete ("Impossible Germany"), sleepy and backward-looking ("Sky Blue Sky," "Please be Patient With Me") or just plain misguided (the Little Feat-like "Walken" or "Hate It Here," with its tedious domestic metaphors about learning to use the washing machine, do the dishes and fold the sheets).

 

Granted, part of the problem was the anticipation that the group would continue to explore the boldly unconventional soundscapes of its last three albums or that, if it got back to basics, it would do so in the hard-rocking, guitar-heavy fashion of recent stage shows. But those aren't the only expectations plaguing the disc: Longing for a safe, secure and loving future is the major theme in many of the lyrics, and these are paired with sounds that are just as unthreatening and common as those universal desires.

 

For my money, Wilco has done its greatest work when Tweedy has given voice to his darkest sentiments, as on "Summerteeth," or pondered the most frightening and unsettling aspects of these troubled times, as on the last two albums. And that's a voice we need much more than fresh sheets or clean dishes.

 

Wilco, 'Sky Blue Sky' (Nonesuch)

Critic's rating: 3 stars

 

Jim DeRogatis