SBS-- is Jeff f*cking with us??

[W(TF)]

ok, Volkswagen earns revenue based on the number of automobile sales. They purchased the rights to use Wilco songs in an effort to gain "credibility" with slews of Wilco fans and others that enjoy "hip" music.

 

Yes, I know VW sells cars...but you don't necessarily know about all of the peripheral agreements between the corporate entities involved here. For instance the band has a clause where if the ads can be proven to double total sales of SBS, all the band members will buy Passat turbodiesels, and the six Passats will be featured on the cover of the next Wilco record. See what I mean?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I'm yankin your chain, man....relax.)

[chilelle]

Does Wilco hold on to its credibility when half of their newest album is put to work selling cars? I don't know, and I love SBS any way...and don't understand the hating on Either Way. Leave Me is my least favorite (on listen 20+) but who knows what I'll feel like in a few more weeks.

[W(TF)]

Does Wilco hold on to its credibility when half of their newest album is put to work selling cars? I don't know, and I love SBS any way...and don't understand the hating on Either Way. Leave Me is my least favorite (on listen 20+) but who knows what I'll feel like in a few more weeks.

 

PLEASE understand.....I am head over heels in love with Sky Blue Sky, every song, everything about it. I said (and meant it) IF a gun were at my head, I'd probably nominate EW as the weakest song on SBS....this week at least. Every song is remarkable... EW is just a bit less remarkable than the others. It's not "flat", it's just very smoooooth.....maybe not quite what you'd expect flicking on a Wilco album. That's all.

 

And the violins are a bit annoying. Not enough to make me dislike the song though...not at all. But they detract a bit from the fabulous keyboard work.

 

Oh, and I like "Either Way". In fact, many people do so the point of this thread is much in question. I think it is making the assumption that the majority would agree with you?

 

I agree, it is a weak premise to start from. I'm probably grasping at straws. SBS is the best record I've heard in several years, I just want everyone to like it as much as I have been.

 

Maybe it's the insecurity that goes with being 14...I need the approval / reassurance from others?

[Saint Genevieve]

Yeah, I sorta knew that. But like, I just turned 14 last week. So take it easy on me, ok?

 

That explains a lot.

[phish907]

My initial reaction to most of the album was, "eh. It's got a few good songs, but no bigee." Now, after about 30 or 40 listens I really love it. The only song I'd ditch is Suck It Up or Stick It Out or whatever that piece of crap is. I've tried listening to it countless times with the intent of letting it grow on me. And it has. Like a nasty fungus. It just sounds like a crappy Grateful Dead knockoff.

 

I do think however that this album shows the need for an outside producer. The thing that took YHF to the next level was bringing in Jim O'Rourke (although I guess he was doing the mixing more than anything.) It seems like they need someone who isn't as close to the music as they are to come in and offer an outside perspective on how what they are trying to say is coming across to those they are trying to say it to, and not to alter the band's intent but rather to help focus it.

 

I have been a huge Dead fan for many years I cannot draw any comparisons to The Dead and "Shake it Off" at all. Are you sure you are listening to that one? I personally think O'Rourke would have ruined SBS. Didn't he initally mix it and Jeff didn't like it? I like O'Rourke but I am so glad he really wasn't a part of SBS.

[Nonlinear Nonfiction]

I don't believe Tweedy thinks about things on that level when he mixes the album. First of all, to suggest something like "fucking with fans" to his bandmates and all the people involved with the project would probably just evoke an awkward and embarassing response. I think that Tweedy and Co. just felt that it was a nice opener and sounded good that way to them. Why would they put forth all the work that it takes to make an album like that just to fuck with people? No way jos

[W(TF)]

I personally think O'Rourke would have ruined SBS. Didn't he initally mix it and Jeff didn't like it? I like O'Rourke but I am so glad he really wasn't a part of SBS.

 

I believe that was Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. SBS was made at 'The Loft', Wilco's hangout in Chicago. You can read more about that here;

 

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/feature/art...t_id=1003571465

[W(TF)]

I love the passion and enthusiasm and posing questions like that is great because it just means you care a lot. But, really, this one is a stretch.

 

I think you're right.

 

Maybe I'm the one fucking with older Wilco fans. Insert mental image of Dylan's first electric shows, people all pissed off that he wasn't giving them "more of the same" anymore. Don't be like them, peeps!

 

And I'm not 14 for chrissakes!! (I wish I was!)

[Guest Alan]

The intent was to decipher:

 

1. whether Tweedy could be playing some mind games with his fan base, say the way Bob Dylan or Neil Young have often done in the past.

 

2. what is it about SBS that seems to turn off numerous (tho by no means ALL) hardcore Wilco fans.

I'm not trolling...just being curious.

 

you really think that a song writer such as jeff would sit down and write a song just to mess with the heads of his audience? that's a bit delusional. of all the stuff i've read on other message boards and in reviews, "Either Way" seems to get favorable recognition. and it's not like this one song is so ridiculously different from anything wilco has ever done. that song could have fit comfortably on AGiB.

 

i think the reason that some people are turned off by this album is due to their expectations. wilco zigged when a lot of their fans expected them to zag. i would only be disappointed if they continued to stick with one sound for too long and became stale.

[Guest Alan]

If by worst you mean best then you sir are correct.

 

--Mike

i'm very sorry for you.

[W(TF)]

you really think that a song writer such as jeff would sit down and write a song just to mess with the heads of his audience? that's a bit delusional. of all the stuff i've read on other message boards and in reviews, "Either Way" seems to get favorable recognition. and it's not like this one song is so ridiculously different from anything wilco has ever done. that song could have fit comfortably on AGiB.

 

Nope, never said that. I just wondered out loud whether he may have sequenced EW as the first song with a little horned devil sitting on his shoulder, that's all. Christ, the guy's only human. :shrug

 

i think the reason that some people are turned off by this album is due to their expectations. wilco zigged when a lot of their fans expected them to zag. i would only be disappointed if they continued to stick with one sound for too long and became stale.

 

Word.

[cooperissup3r]

Either Way is all about Nels' solo. weak? feh.

 

now...shake it off isn't too great...

[velocity253]

I can't figure out the exact topic of this thread but on the side topic of why some fans aren't fans of SBS, I can offer these two cents...

 

There is no sound that I expect from Wilco. Each album, post AM, has surprised me and impressed me. I always find it hard to describe the band expect to say that they play rock music. I've often said that Wilco is like PBS - always quality programming. No matter what they do musically, they most always do it well.

 

For me, what is lacking in SBS is a feeling that I always associated with the band's music. I am sure there will be examples to argue this but I always got a beautiful kind of Hopefulness Out of Despair from the music and, in particular, the lyrics. This album has a more acceptance feel to it. Which is great, I guess, in terms of people and where they are in their lives and how we should deal. But that's not really what I love about music. And somehow, to me at least, it just doesn't ring as true as the previous stuff. Clearly, I may have changed and the music may not have changed at all (or vice versa) but though SBS is a beautiful album, for me, there is something missing in the spirit of it.

 

Further, I think this goes along with the fact that, more and more, my love for Wilco becomes focused on their live show.

[Wilco LP #7]

I think Tweedy leaves the "fucking around" out of the music. He's way too sincere in his songwriting to ever try to pull off something like that.

[froggie]

so, the problem with SBS is that the band have returned to a more natural/traditional sound?

 

 

if so, good on 'em! - its a great album

[cryptique]

i don't really get this thread. and Leave Me Like You Found me is obviously the worst song on the album.

If by worst you mean best then you sir are correct.

It's my favorite song on the record...

 

i'm very sorry for you.

...and you sure know how to make friends online. Nice work.

[Sir Stewart]

Maybe I'm the one fucking with older Wilco fans. Insert mental image of Dylan's first electric shows, people all pissed off that he wasn't giving them "more of the same" anymore. Don't be like them, peeps!

Who the hell are you talking about? Where is the Dylan-goes-electric-esque uproar over "Either Way"?

[owhatevernevermind]

Compared to the last two albums, SBS seems more like a collection of songs than an album. And for some reason, "Walkin" has really started to annoy me, and the "sigh for the seed" has started to remind me of Joe Cocker.

[cash]

shake it off is the worst song on the record (take a lesson from Bach: parallel motion is a no no). The best (imho) is on and on and on.

 

As for the Tweedy playing with hisfan base thing, i really don't think so. If he was ever playing with his fan base it would be AGIB with "I'm a Wheel." Compared to those days Tweedy is way to happy of a guy to be spending time writing songs just so he could throw a curveball to his fans.

 

Plus either way is a great song. I do think YAMF was leaked so that all of the fans who heard what light wouldn't go into hibernation waiting for the record after SBS tho...

[bobbob1313]

I happen to think that "What Light" is the worst song on the record, so no, I don't think he was fucking with us in that way. Maybe he was fucking with us in making "What Light" the leadoff single.

 

In all honesty, Wilco could pick a record of them farting as the lead single and it would get them as much airplay.

[Guest Jules]

Compared to the last two albums, SBS seems more like a collection of songs than an album. And for some reason, "Walkin" has really started to annoy me, and the "sigh for the seed" has started to remind me of Joe Cocker.

 

You and 65days should get together.

[Guest Jules]

I personally think O'Rourke would have ruined SBS. Didn't he initally mix it and Jeff didn't like it? I like O'Rourke but I am so glad he really wasn't a part of SBS.

 

I believe that was Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. SBS was made at 'The Loft', Wilco's hangout in Chicago.

 

I don't know if Jeff didn't like it, but yes I think O'Rourke did do some work on SBS, but they ended up sticking with their own mix. This was discussed here somewhere...

[stooka]

No, I don't think Jeff Tweedy is f*cking with us.

 

This guy's just coming to terms with own humanity and Either Way shows that no matter what happens, he's ready to deal with it. A "new beginning" song logically belongs at the beginning.

 

I'm sure the track sequence is purposeful and sincere because the songs are simply too good for it not to be.

 

I like that he is accepting responsibility for past actions and actually sounds inspiring, rather than preachy.

[bobbob1313]

For the record, Jeff is absolutely fucking with all of you guys re: Sky Blue Sky. I have the real album and it's fucking fantastic (All of the members of the secret Wilco message board/fan club got a copy hand delivered from Jeff.). Blows this Weather Channel Presents the Alman Brothers meets the Eagles with Hitler on Backing Vocals Schilling Volkswagens they are trying to pass off as an album to the unwashed and unlearned masses. Keep buying, sheep. The privileged among us know whats really going on with Wilco, and it would blow your fucking minds.

[cash]

For the record, Jeff is absolutely fucking with all of you guys re: Sky Blue Sky. I have the real album and it's fucking fantastic (All of the members of the secret Wilco message board/fan club got a copy hand delivered from Jeff.). Blows this Weather Channel Presents the Alman Brothers meets the Eagles with Hitler on Backing Vocals Schilling Volkswagens they are trying to pass off as an album to the unwashed and unlearned masses. Keep buying, sheep. The privileged among us know whats really going on with Wilco, and it would blow your fucking minds.

 

dude keep that shit on the dl, next thing you know everyone will find out that tweedy's been lip-synching his entire career