Sky Blue Sky

[Tanner]

I'm 19, placing me in the new generation of Wilco fans. I've noticed a lot of the scene relishing "hipster" kids dismiss SBS, and I've heard it called "cheesy" and "cliche." Now that Wilco has achieved popularity and mass appeal, I think the trendy kids are quick to hate. It seems like they only like shit that nobody has heard. I love SBS, and it's simply a beautiful album. It really reveals the virtuosic talents in Wilco. You Are My Face has become my favorite, replacing Impossible Germany. SBS are even better live I feel, and I'm sure the performances have swayed some of the naysayers. I'm so glad Wilco made this album.

[fkinbs]

For being 19 you have a great perspective on things. My suggestion is to never give too much thought to anyone's musical opinion but your own. You can listen to others' opinions, but take them with a grain of salt. Only you can live in your own head.

 

Sometimes I can't listen to Impossible Germany without hearing You Are My Face first. I find the album sequencing to be top notch.

 

I will never say that I will understand the dislike of SBS since this was the album that brought me into the Wilco fold. In the past year I have gotten into every single thing Jeff has ever done, mostly because of the combination of the song Sky Blue Sky and the DVD companion piece to it where Jeff explains where it came from.

 

I've become quite the fan of their entire catalog and have now moved onto the Uncle Tupelo stuff (which will then lead me into Son Volt I'm sure, I already dig Trace quite a bit).

 

To see the disdain for SBS is just strange. They set out to do something simple yet compact and they pulled it off. But people can't get over the fact that things evolve and change and can never be the same. It's pretty universal when it comes to music. The early material is always cannonized and the latter material is always shunned. I see it as a lack of effort on the part of the listener. That may sound harsh but when it comes down to it the people who claim SBS is subpar are really saying that they have a better perspective on where Wilco should head than Wilco.

 

So nod and smile to the hipsters, they obviously know more. But when you get home, enjoy whatever you want to enjoy.

[froggie]

> I will never say that I will understand the dislike of SBS since this was the album that brought me into the Wilco fold

 

 

it doesnt sound like Yankee or Ghost - thats what most people dont like it (IMO!)

[Guest Cousin Tupelo]

> I will never say that I will understand the dislike of SBS since this was the album that brought me into the Wilco fold

 

 

it doesnt sound like Yankee or Ghost - thats what most people dont like it (IMO!)

 

In retrospect of this thread I think dislike and love of SBS falls into two camps:

 

Those who want their musical perspectives stretched by Tweedy and Wilco; and those who, at least at this point in time, welcome being merely reaffirmed and comforted.

 

My $0.02

[Sunken mountain]

My $0.02

 

 

"merely",wow!

[caliber66]

In retrospect of this thread I think dislike and love of SBS falls into two camps:

 

Those who want their musical perspectives stretched by Tweedy and Wilco; and those who, at least at this point in time, welcome being merely reaffirmed and comforted.

 

My $0.02

Can't it just be about what people like and what people don't? Why does there have to be a reason? Seems pretty simple to me.

[Beltmann]

In retrospect of this thread I think dislike and love of SBS falls into two camps:

 

Those who want their musical perspectives stretched by Tweedy and Wilco; and those who, at least at this point in time, welcome being merely reaffirmed and comforted.

 

My $0.02

Such either-or divisions always strike me as artificial. If I feel SBS does not represent Wilco at its finest, does that automatically mean that I'm a listener seeking affirmation rather than challenge? I love having my musical perspectives stretched by any artist--especially Tweedy--but there's room for me to still say that I don't respond to SBS as deeply as YHF, isn't there?

 

I don't want every Wilco album to sound like YHF, but I do want to love every one as much as I love YHF.

[Guest Cousin Tupelo]

Can't it just be about what people like and what people don't? Why does there have to be a reason? Seems pretty simple to me.

 

Why *you* like or don't like something isn't simple. It's based on your range of experience, tastes developed through experience, bias, circumstance, reason, emotion.

 

I honestly don't think you can give thumbs up or thumbs down to any piece of music ("I give it a 78, it's got a great beat but tough to dance to). The emperor can give those judgments; just don't critique his new clothes.

 

I was making a gernerality based on about 11 pages of comments -- people who say they don't like it largely criticize it for being "dull," unflashy, not up to previous efforts (in the latter, the same complaint against each ensuing album).

 

Those who have said they favored it noted the comfort, reaffirmation, the enjoyment of the music for its own sake.

 

That's my observation.

[caliber66]

I honestly don't think you can give thumbs up or thumbs down to any piece of music ("I give it a 78, it's got a great beat but tough to dance to). The emperor can give those judgments; just don't critique his new clothes.

I don't understand this. Care to elaborate?

[Guest Cousin Tupelo]

Such either-or divisions always strike me as artificial. If I feel SBS does not represent Wilco at its finest, does that automatically mean that I'm a listener seeking affirmation rather than challenge? I love having my musical perspectives stretched by any artist--especially Tweedy--but there's room for me to still say that I don't respond to SBS as deeply as YHF, isn't there?

 

I don't want every Wilco album to sound like YHF, but I do want to love every one as much as I love YHF.

 

And you love YHF as much as you do because of your tastes based on your range of experience, that what you've heard before. Each new artist/album tested against your range of experience, allowing it to pull your range of tastes into new directions you're willing to go, or reaffirm those areas where you're comfortable and don't wish to be lulled from. Each album or song is deeply personal -- particularly those which mean the most to you. Often it had nothing to do with the some, or the lyrics or the artist.

 

Again I'm just making an observation based on comments made. There is no yea or nay. I hope.

 

For what it's worth.

[Guest Cousin Tupelo]

I don't understand this. Care to elaborate?

 

As long as I'm not being baited, sure.

 

I believe if you honestly listen and judge anything you listen to, you can't have a complete negative or complete positive opinion of it because there are no absolutes. You can't listen to 10 seconds of a song or 1 track of an album and say "I like it because I like it." "I hate it because I hate it." You can say it but your range of judgment and depth of opinion are as threadbare as the emperor's new clothes.

[caliber66]

As long as I'm not being baited, sure.

 

I believe if you honestly listen and judge anything you listen to, you can't have a complete negative or complete positive opinion of it because there are no absolutes. You can't listen to 10 seconds of a song or 1 track of an album and say "I like it because I like it." "I hate it because I hate it." You can say it but your range of judgment and depth of opinion are as threadbare as the emperor's new clothes.

I don't tend to put so much thought and energy into listening to music. If I like it, then I do, and if I don't, then I don't. I don't believe that you have, or anyone else has, a better idea of what I like or why I like it than I do.

[Guest Cousin Tupelo]

I don't tend to put so much thought and energy into listening to music. If I like it, then I do, and if I don't, then I don't. I don't believe that you have, or anyone else has, a better idea of what I like or why I like it than I do.

I think no one else but you can decide what you like and don't like; but I don't think it's a simple decision that you make about it; or even that the decision you can make about something today might not be a different decision a month or a year down the road. Your opinion is based on your range of experience and tastes developed to that point in time. When you listen to that song, that time is gone. You've experienced the music and your opinion is further shaped by having experienced it. You like it or don't like it based on how it compared to your past experience and your tastes based on all of that, as well as whatever abstract emotions and thoughts are tied to it. You can *hate* a song but that won't stop the melody of it from rattling around in your head for a week.

[Guest Moses]

i don't think anyone talks enough about how music makes you feel, though. we talk too much about what we think, and our opinions.

 

but for me, music is about something more transcedent - about how i feel the music emotionally and physically. this is why Trey is, and probably always will be, my favorite guitar player - his guitar work elicits some feeling i can't even really describe. and this is why Jeff is and definitely always will be my favorite songwriter and lyricist - his lyrics and his musical structure, instrumentation, melody, etc. elicit another such feeling.

 

i'm not sure if that makes a whole lot of sense...

 

i bring it up though because it's the best way for me to state my opinion, or whatever, about SBS - it just doesn't elicit that same feeling past Wilco records have. i like it fine. it has moments, specifically in You Are My Face and Impossible Germany that feel great to me, as well as Please Be Patient With Me, but other than that, i don't feel it like i feel, say, Being There.

 

i haven't chosen not to like SBS as much, for some idealistic reason, i just simply don't.

[sweetheart-mine]

there is some music that i like a lot or can't stand, and that's all it calls out in me. but jeff tweedy's music affects me so much and so deeply that i simply can't not think about it. the thoughts and the reflections make the music that much more enriching and irresistible. it's a boiling pot of music, emotion, and thought, to me, and wow, i really love all of it.

 

by the way, i'm a definite sbs fan.

[Guest Cousin Tupelo]

i don't think anyone talks enough about how music makes you feel, though. we talk too much about what we think, and our opinions.

 

but for me, music is about something more transcedent - about how i feel the music emotionally and physically. this is why Trey is, and probably always will be, my favorite guitar player - his guitar work elicits some feeling i can't even really describe. and this is why Jeff is and definitely always will be my favorite songwriter and lyricist - his lyrics and his musical structure, instrumentation, melody, etc. elicit another such feeling.

 

i'm not sure if that makes a whole lot of sense...

 

i bring it up though because it's the best way for me to state my opinion, or whatever, about SBS - it just doesn't elicit that same feeling past Wilco records have. i like it fine. it has moments, specifically in You Are My Face and Impossible Germany that feel great to me, as well as Please Be Patient With Me, but other than that, i don't feel it like i feel, say, Being There.

 

i haven't chosen not to like SBS as much, for some idealistic reason, i just simply don't.

 

What you are saying makes a whole lot of sense. Because what strikes you resonates with your range of experience of music, your "instincts" (probably not a good word) are developed by your experience. Your tastes -- in all forms of art -- precede and live outside of what you can verbalize.

 

You don't "choose not to like it as much", your tastes and how they've been developed and influenced by your range of experience define your reaction before you can verbalize your reaction.

 

I'm pretty sure *I'm not making a whole lot of sense.

[Guest Cousin Tupelo]

there is some music that i like a lot or can't stand, and that's all it calls out in me. but jeff tweedy's music affects me so much and so deeply that i simply can't not think about it. the thoughts and the reflections make the music that much more enriching and irresistible. it's a boiling pot of music, emotion, and thought, to me, and wow, i really love all of it.

 

by the way, i'm a definite sbs fan.

 

That's a great description. I think your tastes -- in all forms of art -- exist outside of what you can verbalize. That's why genres and "periods" exist because new influences open our range of sensibilities. Our "hearts," "souls," "arete" take us in directions we immerse ourselves in; then we try to make sense of it.

 

My original analogy was that one could argue that Tweedy was, himself, moving in new directions with BT, ST, YHF, AGIB. People followed along every step of the way, some didn't; left behind at particular, familiar junctions. Those who followed, debated, talked, considered and reasoned why they enjoyed it, learned from it, were led to explore other music within a genre or of similar styles.

 

If there's one thing that everyone can agree with, SBS did not break any new musical styles; rather, IMHO it sought excellence and solace within the familiar.

[Sunken mountain]

My original analogy was that one could argue that Tweedy was, himself, moving in new directions with BT, ST, YHF, AGIB. People followed along every step of the way, some didn't; left behind at particular, familiar junctions. Those who followed, debated, talked, considered and reasoned why they enjoyed it, learned from it, were led to explore other music within a genre or of similar styles.

 

If there's one thing that everyone can agree with, SBS did not break any new musical styles; rather, IMHO it sought excellence and solace within the familiar.

 

Thanks God you have the words for my opinions

[Guest Cousin Tupelo]

Thanks God you have the words for my opinions

 

Ouch. Sorry, again.

[sweetheart-mine]

you may be right that sbs didn't break any new musical styles, but i'm confused about that because sbs strikes me as unique. i mean, it reminds me of nothing and no one else; to my ears it has its very own sound. of course, that may be because i'm not up on a lot of other music from the last ten years or so!

 

you sure can say "immerse ourselves" again -- it's been a long time since i've been as immersed as i've been in tweedy and wilco for the past year. have listened almost every day, starting way back and then to sbs. and like you say, i do try to make sense of why their music has taken me over so wholly.

[Guest Cousin Tupelo]

you may be right that sbs didn't break any new musical styles, but i'm confused about that because sbs strikes me as unique. i mean, it reminds me of nothing and no one else; to my ears it has its very own sound. of course, that may be because i'm not up on a lot of other music from the last ten years or so!

 

you sure can say "immerse ourselves" again -- it's been a long time since i've been as immersed as i've been in tweedy and wilco for the past year. have listened almost every day, starting way back and then to sbs. and like you say, i do try to make sense of why their music has taken me over so wholly.

 

One Tweedy interviewer put it to Jeff -- and he acknowledged it -- the recording approach harkened back to the late 60s early 70s, when albums were crafted and developed collectively, rather than the disparate approach of separate tracks, even recorded in separate studios, and created pulled together by some further disparate producer.

 

I wouldn't characterize it as a "tribute album" but there are sounds throughout that offer glimpses to the best of another time. This might be the album Tweedy imagined he would record if he could, back when he was listening to his older siblings records before he connected with Farrar.

[sweetheart-mine]

One Tweedy interviewer put it to Jeff -- and he acknowledged it -- the recording approach harkened back to the late 60s early 70s, when albums were crafted and developed collectively, rather than the disparate approach of separate tracks, even recorded in separate studios, and created pulled together by some further disparate producer.

oh yah, i've read him talking about that too, and do like that about it. it still sounds like its own self to me in other ways, but the late '60s and early '70s were my big time with rock music and there may be a kind of familiarity about sbs that i'm not aware of and just sneaks in. i wasn't thinking about the recording approach when i first read you.

[markosis]

In retrospect of this thread I think dislike and love of SBS falls into two camps:

 

You forgot the 3rd camp, which I belong to:

 

People that like good rock and roll.

[dls]

I like SBS. Hearing the songs live make me enjoy the album even more. I don't care why I like the album, and I don't care why anyone else doesn't like the album.

[froggie]

I like SBS. Hearing the songs live make me enjoy the album even more. I don't care why I like the album, and I don't care why anyone else doesn't like the album.