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Summerteeth


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my preferences:

 

ST > YHF > BT > AM > AGIB > SBS

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summerteeth is a great record. tied with foxtrot for second in my opinion. "being there" has to be in my mind wilcos best to date. there is somthing trancendent about it. jeff lyricly wasn't at top form compared with later works. and the playing from a technical standpoint is better today than it ever has been and will probably be even better the more they play together. there is just something about "being there' that makes me feel like not only have i lived these songs but i will probably re-live them agian. it is just a very special record and you shoud buy it now.

spongebob

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I remember when Summerteeth came out thinking that, as much as i liked it, that it was incredibly overproduced with a "sheen" to the sound, especially as compared to the earlier LPs and Uncle Tupelo sound. I still liked it and listened to it a ton, but that "overproduced" knock stayed with me. Then YHT hit. Not having heard ST in a long time I revisited it and couldn't believe that not only did it not sound overproduced at all, but that it made perfect sense along the sonic spectrum of all the albums to that point. ST remains one of my favorites for its songs and sound.

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I remember when Summerteeth came out thinking that, as much as i liked it, that it was incredibly overproduced with a "sheen" to the sound, especially as compared to the earlier LPs and Uncle Tupelo sound. I still liked it and listened to it a ton, but that "overproduced" knock stayed with me. Then YHT hit. Not having heard ST in a long time I revisited it and couldn't believe that not only did it not sound overproduced at all, but that it made perfect sense along the sonic spectrum of all the albums to that point. ST remains one of my favorites for its songs and sound.

I agree with everything you just said except that I still think Summerteeth sounds overproduced. :P

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The over produced criticism will always dog this album (even in Jeff's eyes I bet...), but it doesn't matter to me. I love the sound of it. The profusion of vintage keyboards and other effects are great. If Being There was Wilco's breakthrough and YHF, Wilco's magnum opus, Summerteeth marks Wilco's arrival as a great and enduring band. I wouldn't want it any other way. It may also be Jay Bennett's claim to fame.

 

LouieB

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One thing I haven't figured out, what's the big deal with Too Far Apart? Members here seem to be going nuts over the band playing it lately, is it just the rarety? It's on okay song, but not really one of the stronger cuts from A.M., IMHO.

 

It's just sp much more rocking live; Jeffs sings it an octave higher, Nels tears it up. It was one of the highlights of the Berkekley show for me.

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It's just sp much more rocking live; Jeffs sings it an octave higher, Nels tears it up. It was one of the highlights of the Berkekley show for me.

 

Yeah, I should've figured that. Pretty much goes for all Wilco songs donit.

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It's just sp much more rocking live; Jeffs sings it an octave higher, Nels tears it up. It was one of the highlights of the Berkekley show for me.

 

Ditto. After hearing it live, all I could think was "That song kicks ASS!" And I never really thought that before. Although I love A.M. with all of my heart.

 

I listen to Summerteeth the least. It took the longest for me to "get into", although it did eventually happen. The songs are beautiful, but the album does suffer slightly from over-production. But anywho...

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Here's the thing with Summerteeth, which if i had to pick 1 wilco album as a desert island disc would be my choice: You could make the case that it holds the two best songs jeff has ever written - Via Chicago and Shot In The Arm (With the "something in my veins/bloodier than blood" being perhaps the greatest Wilco moment of all time - both live and on album). I would say that Always in Love and She's A Jar could be top 5 and top 10, respectively, in fact.

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Guest Left Arm Tan
I really like Summerteeth, but I almost always skip over "Can't Stand It". The rest of the record is really great, but for me it doesn't feel as well sequenced as the other records.

 

 

i've come across a few people now that have said something very similar. i personally think "can't stand it" is a remarkable song, not that i'm saying you're wrong. i just didn't realize people think it's a bad song. then again, i think hummingbird and what light are horrible, and people like those.

 

as for summerteeth... i don't know if i can say it's my favorite, but man do i love it. it was the first wilco album i ever heard, and i think i bought being there like a week later. and the rest is history. personally i'd say being there is my favorite, but quite honestly, wilco has made an amazing album everytime they've made an album, including the much unappreciated A.M. and the old UT stuff is incredible, and the loose fur shit is out of this world. jeff tweedy and gang are just incredilbe.

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When it comes to most artists, I can own one or two of their albums and feel that's enough because they start to repeat themselves. With Wilco, I have to own all of them because they are all different.

 

The Wilco class at the Old Town School of Folk Music is is currently learning Summerteeth. It's the last album in the collection that we haven't done yet, other than a few tracks from AM. I'm working on the keyboard parts and wondering how we're gonna pull some of it off with just one keyboard player. Our pedal steel player might be filling in some of the more organ type sounds.

 

Basically, it's kind of keyboard heavy compared with some of the stuff, which is a fun challenge for me. We just did SBS, and that's got REALLY difficult guitar parts requiring lots of practice and skill, so Summerteeth should be a breeze for our guitarists.

 

The interesting thing will be deciding whether to do original album versions, or one of the live versions of some of the tunes. I like the more recent live recordings of some of the tunes myself.

 

Anyway, we're gonna perform the whole album live around the end of October, so if you like Summerteeth, it could be a fun party.

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