Support group for those who are now bored with wilco

[Analogman]

Why does someone always have to toss one of these in, as if it's a sign of trying to be hip to appreciate a band's earlier work/line up/whatever to the more recent work?

 

I rarely see this reasoning when people discuss the positives/negatives of different eras for bands like The Beatles or the Dead.

 

Some people think the newer stuff pales in comparison to the older stuff- so what? It's not a right/wrong deal. I just hope my street cred isn't tarnished by posting this, though. Plus, it's a known fact that if you dis newer stuff in lieu of older stuff you're hipper. I think we all know this.

 

 

I'm a fan of J.S. Bach, btw. Not a lot of people at his gigs, either.

 

 

Mrs. Peel has met him.

[Lammycat]

I only like his earlier work. His later stuff wasn't that great.

I agree.

[a_quiet_domino]

I'm a fan of J.S. Bach, btw. Not a lot of people at his gigs, either.

 

Bach annoys me. With him, it used to be about the music. Now, it's all about his fixer-upper in the Hamptons.

[Lammycat]

Bach annoys me. With him, it used to be about the music. Now, it's all about his fixer-upper in the Hamptons.

But the man stuck to his Baroque roots and forged ahead with his unique style unwavered by all the musical stylings changing around him. Or something.

 

Of course some say the week-long benders in the Hamptons crippled his innovation towards the end, but that's a matter of opinion.

[mpolak21]

Bach annoys me. With him, it used to be about the music. Now, it's all about his fixer-upper in the Hamptons.

 

Yeah damn shame as his third album was Pitchfork's #2 of 1703, thankfully his ancestor Leroy restored a lot of good will for them name.

 

--Mike

[mathew]

the ambitious artist: "[They] can only teach us new understandings by forcibly denying us old ones, and that can be bewildering.

They can only freshen and quicken our responses by altering our habitual modes of perception, and that can be disorienting".

 

Its hard to agrue with what anyone has said because this album really challanged my ideas of wilcos music

and at times was hard to get but if you think of the album as a whole its allot like a old prog rock song

u sit through the muddy music until those great moments that just hit

 

Just to add this is awesome to openly discuss evreyones reactions with detail

instead of just saying it sucks or even worse I just love evrything they do(even though i kinda do)

 

and just to get it out of my system A ghost is born is better than YHF (even though i love yhf)

[captain obvious]

Yeah damn shame as his third album was Pitchfork's #2 of 1703, thankfully his ancestor Leroy restored a lot of good will for them name.

 

--Mike

Leroy Bach is not an ancestor of Johann Sebastian Bach.

[Lynch]

Leroy Bach is not an ancestor of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Thanks, Captain Obvious, for clearing that up.

[froggie]

> Actually, I do. And throw Dire Straits in there, too. Ooh and Don Henley.

 

i'm listening to Don right now!

 

 

as for AGIB, its not the songs that i dont like (well, a couple) but more thin sound it has that puts me off it

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

And puppies and rainbows and John Lennon

 

[bjorn_skurj]

I think Wilco is a much better band than they were in 1995, or even 1999. I'm not trying to take anything away from A.M., Being There or Summerteeth, all of which are great, but they became something more in the process of making YHF. Something able to deliver a much richer, more nuanced and more sublime experience. They went from being classifiable to transcending categorization. I'm kind of burned out on SBS for the time being, but when I was not, I liked it quite a bit.

[froggie]

i love jeff's voice at the moment after he quit smoking. much more powerful, although the band in general still sounds the same as since 2004

[Spawn's dad]

I don't really dislike any of those songs. In fact, I really liked the album when it first leaked. Listened to it a ton all spring. But by the time of the actual release date it had kind of faded into a "Gee, that's nice, but I don't feel like listening to it right now" kind of thing for me, and hasn't returned to the rotation.

 

I think the last time I listened to Wilco in any form was when I saw them in concert in October. It was a good show, and they have several good albums, I just haven't really been in the mood for any of it lately. No big deal.

 

Pretty much exactly where I landed on the subject, though I don't think I've listened to Wilco since last spring. Still, for me, it was a marked improvement from that previous album.

[Leo]

I think Wilco is a much better band than they were in 1995, or even 1999. I'm not trying to take anything away from A.M., Being There or Summerteeth, all of which are great, but they became something more in the process of making YHF. Something able to deliver a much richer, more nuanced and more sublime experience. They went from being classifiable to transcending categorization. I'm kind of burned out on SBS for the time being, but when I was not, I liked it quite a bit.

Sums it up perfectly for me. You must be a writer/mind-reader (journalist) or something.

[H.Stone]

i love jeff's voice at the moment after he quit smoking. much more powerful

 

I agree. His voice is sublime right now.

[Jesusetc84]

I think Wilco is a much better band than they were in 1995, or even 1999. I'm not trying to take anything away from A.M., Being There or Summerteeth, all of which are great, but they became something more in the process of making YHF. Something able to deliver a much richer, more nuanced and more sublime experience. They went from being classifiable to transcending categorization. I'm kind of burned out on SBS for the time being, but when I was not, I liked it quite a bit.

 

I see it the opposite...I agree with A.M., Being There, Summer Teeth, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot being a progression, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot being an unclassifiable peak.

 

But the last two albums for me have been a backslide...the sound of a band who's peaked and really doesn't know what to do next. A Ghost is Born is still high quality, but Sky Blue Sky is no Summer Teeth or Being There, that's for damn sure.

 

 

Sky Blue Sky to me is like Wilco's Goathead Soup, Self-Portrait, Monster, Expirement Jet Trash No Star, Candy Apple Grey, or any number of albums that are just "okay" coming on the tail end of a series of masterpieces.

 

Tweedy is at his peak as a musician/ performer, I'll admit. His voice is less raspy than it used to be, and more dynamic. His guitar playing has improved a lot over the past 5 years too; but when you ask me what my 20 favorite Wilco songs are, you'll still get about 6 YHF songs, 6 Summer Teeth songs and various others. There is only maybe one song I'd consider for my top 20 on SBS, and that's "Impossible Germany".

 

Hopefully we'll have a new Wilco album by summer 2009.

[hh44]

A new album in '08/'09 would be good. A new album with a new lineup would be great. Stirratt can stay, of course.

[mpolak21]

I totally agree with everything in this post, except that I felt AGIB was a huge step down after the 3 great albums that preceded it. I also think someone in the band needs to have the balls to say, "This song sucks" (Shake It Off) or "This idea sucks" (the 10-minute "drone") when that's the case. Jeff is a great songwriter -- just think about Via Chicago, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart and Jesus, etc -- but everybody writes clunkers, and dreck like Shake It Off (or the still mercifully unreleased Millionaire) is best suited for the living room only, IMHO. Unfortunately, there was a time when people probably got fired for not towing the party line, and though that time has likely passed, I would imagine that none of these guys wants to lose what is undoubtedly their most lucrative steady gig ever.

 

Oddly enough, I don't have the problem many do with relating to SBS, but I still don't like the album. I don't like the production, the vocals, or most of the music. I even relate personally to the whole narrative of Please Be Patient With Me, but as a song, I don't think it's even in Jeff's top 50. I also don't believe that age difference has much to do with anything, either, as I'm actually about three years older than Jeff, and also married. Suburban angst can be done beautifully ("Please beware the quiet front yard") or it can be done in a way that's pretty mundane, even cheesy ("What am I gonna do when I run out of shirts to fold?").

 

I love these guys, and will probably always buy whatever they put out, even if I haven't heard any of it in advance, but the slide in quality of writing is really depressing to me. I know Jeff has said in interviews he felt like he didn't have to encode things in this album, but a little more creativity in the writing might have helped me overlook some of what I disliked musically in most of the songs. It's great to see SBS nominated for a grammy for Rock Album of the Year, but not because it deserves to win ... it's great because it could turn on a whole new generation to Being There, S/T and YHF, and those records really deserve to be heard.

 

I think you brought up some great points here. My feeling is that O'Rourke was kind of the "this idea sucks" guy with Tweedy for awhile. I think O'Rourke really brought a lot to the table mixing YHF and was a great asset in the making of A Ghost is Born (I happen to love this album, though I feel I may be too emotionally attached to it to really judge it). I also love both of the Loose Fur records. I understand your points about Ghost, there are a couple of songs that I feel they didn't quite get as well in the studio as they did when they were playing them live in 2002/2003, but in a strange way the colder production kind of works for me in the context of the album, just like Bennett's wall of sound works on Summerteeth.

 

My hope is that Nels will eventually step up a little more with the songwriting. I've never understood why in the Bennett vs. Cline debates, no one brings up that while Nels is a better guitar player than Jay, is he really a better fit in terms of the songwriting? As much as I love Ghost is Born, save for Muzzle of Bees, I'm not sure anything will match the run of songs Tweedy and Bennett wrote for YHF. And there's just nothing on Sky Blue Sky that hits those highs for me either... maybe You Are My Face.

 

My perfection combination for a Wilco album would be Tweedy and Bennett writing the songs, O'Rourke in charge of mixing. Nels on guitar, Kotche on drums, John on bass, whomever on keyboards (Leroy's my personal favorite, so let's say him). I don't see myself ever getting bored with what that lineup puts together, however there's no way that's ever going to happen, and what we have right now isn't half-bad. What's hopeful is that the majority of the players in the current lineup are still relatively new, and in time I could see them really jelling as well in the studio as they have live. Still that Tweedy/Bennett with O'Rourke set up actually developing beyond YHF, would have been a hell of thing to see, and would have probably pushed all three of those men over the edge.

 

--Mike

[bjorn_skurj]

Sums it up perfectly for me. You must be a writer/mind-reader (journalist) or something.

Thank you. I am just a cog in a machine.

[Lynch]

As much as I love the new Wilco more and more, I can relate to those who don't . I used to be a rabid, devoted Tragically Hip fan, but since Phantom Power their albums have increasingly bored me. Granted, each of their newer albums has a couple of great songs on them, but as a whole, they just don't capture me like they used to. Some tunes on their last few albums are just painful to listen to.

[Guest Jules]

As much as I love the new Wilco more and more, I can relate to those who don't . I used to be a rabid, devoted Tragically Hip fan, but since Phantom Power their albums have increasingly bored me. Granted, each of their newer albums has a couple of great songs on them, but as a whole, they just don't capture me like they used to. Some tunes on their last few albums are just painful to listen to.

Did you just turn this into a Tragically Hip thread?

[Lynch]

Did you just turn this into a Tragically Hip thread?

No, just sharing a random fact. Sorry, I just woke up........

[Golden Smoghead]

I think someone just needs to drag Jeff to an Old Crow Medicine Show concert, get some damn banjo and fiddle back into his veins. Something like that... I think you do get some of it still in his solo work, so I'm happy if he just keeps up doing the solo stuff here and there as Wilco slides further into jam-band territory (I am decidedly anti-jam-band).

 

Also I agree loosely with someone who said there's a progression towards YHF and that AGIB was pretty-good because it simply held onto a lot of the high ground that YHF grabbed. But for my money, I just love that rough, simple, loose-yet-intense-underneath feel that was so brilliant on Anodyne and AM.

 

I'm interested to see where the band goes next, in any event. And SBS has definitely grown on me, though I don't think I will ever be able to just sit and listen to the album.

[Analogman]

as Wilco slides further into jam-band territory

 

I don't get this - I see people saying this from time to time - but I don't recall ever hearing Wilco doing any sort of "jamming".

 

There are some songs that go on a bit - such as Impossible Germany - but do they really play it any different that the studio arrangement, let alone do some sort of free form playing from night to night?

 

I have not really heard any of the shows from the last year - so I don't know.

[mountain bed]

I don't get this - I see people saying this from time to time - but I don't recall ever hearing Wilco doing any sort of "jamming".

 

There are some songs that go on a bit - such as Impossible Germany - but do they really play it any different that the studio arrangement, let alone do some sort of free form playing from night to night?

 

I have not really heard any of the shows from the last year - so I don't know.

HA! I don't see it either. With the exception of Spiders there really isn't anything that gets "jammed-out". Even in IG there are a number of cues that seem pretty orchestrated.

 

I think we can rest easy. Wilco is a song-based band, and will remain so. Of course, I've been wrong before!