Can I get something off my chest?

[Guest Hollinger.]

I just hope they don't fall into a formula with every song building to a big Nels jam. It seems like most of the songs on SBS were the song + 2 minutes of Nels. The guy is a great guitar player, but that's a really generic trap to fall into.

[caliber66]

I just hope they don't fall into a formula with every song building to a big Nels jam. It seems like most of the songs on SBS were the song + 2 minutes of Nels. The guy is a great guitar player, but that's a really generic trap to fall into.

Exactly what I thought when I watched the video in that new song thread.

[LouieB]

Wow....this sucks...

 

Glad I got that off my chest...

 

LouieB

[Central Scrutinizer]

Exactly what I thought when I watched the video in that new song thread.

Obviously what this band needs is some musical tension.

 

Time for a poll: which band member gets thrown under the bus?

[fineartoflife]

Wow....this sucks...

 

Agreed. People saying Wilco is going downhill, losing their importance, it's scary.

 

very scary

[W(TF)]

Agreed. People saying Wilco is going downhill, losing their importance, it's scary.

 

very scary

 

That's still the minority opinion on this forum, but it won't be for long...unless we start banning people.

[LouieB]

Agreed. People saying Wilco is going downhill, losing their importance, it's scary.

 

very scary

Since the band sometimes reads this stuff I am sure Jeff will get right on it and throw someone under the bus (maybe literally) because someone here wants him to. (I sort of assume that post was a joke, although I know most of the others are not...) Or maybe he can invent a time machine and go back 15 years and become the person he was then.

 

For better or worse people change and move on. Wilco is one of the best bands touring at the moment and clearly they are very popular, far more popular than 15 years ago. They have a great catalogue to pick songs from and the promise of more interesting music to come. Somehow I don't think Jeff would trade the past for the present. He works with some great contemporary musicians at the moment and why on earth would he want to change that??

 

LouieB

[fineartoflife]

That's still the minority opinion on this forum, but it won't be for long...unless we start banning people.

 

Are you saying that more people will join the minority?

[Central Scrutinizer]

Since the band sometimes reads this stuff I am sure Jeff will get right on it and throw someone under the bus (maybe literally) because someone here wants him to. (I sort of assume that post was a joke, although I know most of the others are not...) Or maybe he can invent a time machine and go back 15 years and become the person he was then.

 

For better or worse people change and move on. Wilco is one of the best bands touring at the moment and clearly they are very popular, far more popular than 15 years ago. They have a great catalogue to pick songs from and the promise of more interesting music to come. Somehow I don't think Jeff would trade the past for the present. He works with some great contemporary musicians at the moment and why on earth would he want to change that??

 

LouieB

It was most assuredly a joke. If you are fans -- fanatical -- about this band, it is because who they are. And as artists, if they make something that they feel is worthy to put before their fans -- it is important and meaningful to them -- that is who they are. That is your band. You can like or not like particular songs, particular albums, but you can't deny who they are or who they have become. This isn't football where if the band doesn't do well enough this year, you can fire the coach. If it isn't your cup of tea, don't support them because who they are doesn't resonate with you. But we can't conjecture what's best for them or what is the direction that they should go.

[Doug C]

It's music. It moves you or it doesn't. I like hearing lots of opinions and views regarding Wilco. What is a message board for if not to leave messages?

[caliber66]

Agreed. People saying Wilco is going downhill, losing their importance, it's scary.

 

very scary

Why is how other people feel about a rock band you like scary?

[Golden Smoghead]

True Louie, but the OP was talking about the quality of the songwriting, saying it's gone softer, e.g. takes less risks and deals with more mundane subject matter. I think that's a little different from "this band isn't what it was" or "Jeff Tweedy should be the kind of performer he was 15 years ago."

 

I personally remain very dissatisfied with SBS, I find it a bland snoozer of an album. That said, I disagree with OP. I think if you look at the Loose Fur stuff, etc, Jeff is still writing great songs. And som of the SBS songs are fine-good-ok. I just think that the group of songs on SBS tend to be a little TOO midtempo / easy listening. I'd offer that 3 or 4 more risky / uptempo songs would have made the album more interesting, and I think Tweedy has plenty of that stuff in him.

 

In other words, I don't buy it that SBS automatically defines Jeff Tweedy as a songwriter, just because it's his band's latest album.

[W(TF)]

Are you saying that more people will join the minority?

 

 

I was being ironic. This is a Wilco forum.

 

The may bitch about the band or whatever, but they still like Wilco enough to come back here day after day.

[blindgonzo]

My explanation on all of this for me personally comes down to age. I once read an interview where Tweedy talks about not being able to hear music like he once did. That he struggled to find it as emotionally engaging as say when he was 19 or 20. I agree 100%. For me Being There and Summerteeth were not cerebral, they were a roller coaster ride on a gut level. I hung on every word. I was about 20 at the time, think back and you'll remember. Now at the age of 30 when Sky blue Sky comes out, I have moments of that, but mostly I'm coming at it from a more brain oriented place (that sounds stupid). My example would be "You Are My Face", lyrically it sounds cool, but doesn't punch me in the gut, and then I think man that guitar part is cool, and I started thinking and thinking, instead of like the first time I heard "Sunken Treasure" when my reaction was I'm crying all of a sudden.

 

 

Hmmm, good point. Maybe this is why I love SBS so much. I'm 21, and the first time I heard You Are My Face and Side With The Seeds I was hit very hard emotionally. Those songs just get inside of me, make me respond without thought. It's a beautiful thing.

[fineartoflife]

Why is how other people feel about a rock band you like scary?

 

Sorry for my stupid comments, I shouldn't be so easily offended by any of these claims, my fault.

 

I just have a hard time because I really believe that there is much good to come, and any thoughts otherwise make me worried that i am wrong, which is also stupid, cause who knows, right?

[Central Scrutinizer]

True Louie, but the OP was talking about the quality of the songwriting, saying it's gone softer, e.g. takes less risks and deals with more mundane subject matter. I think that's a little different from "this band isn't what it was" or "Jeff Tweedy should be the kind of performer he was 15 years ago."

 

I personally remain very dissatisfied with SBS, I find it a bland snoozer of an album. That said, I disagree with OP. I think if you look at the Loose Fur stuff, etc, Jeff is still writing great songs. And some of the SBS songs are fine-good-ok. I just think that the group of songs on SBS tend to be a little TOO midtempo / easy listening. I'd offer that 3 or 4 more risky / uptempo songs would have made the album more interesting, and I think Tweedy has plenty of that stuff in him.

 

In other words, I don't buy it that SBS automatically defines Jeff Tweedy as a songwriter, just because it's his band's latest album.

 

I appreciate your views of SBS.

 

Tweedy admittedly takes great pains to select tracks from among the bands recorded work, painstakingly sets the order of those songs that make the album (Let's Not Get Carried Away, for instance, didn't). My point is this is the album that he chose to make -- true some decisions are forced due to circumstances -- but this is the album he chose to release -- and in interviews talked positively (said at one of the home concerts that he thought it was their best album).

 

Love it, hate it, shred it. Wish what he might have done, rue what he didn't. But it is the same guy that at one time did something that you more deeply embraced. And may yet again. Anticipate what he/they can and will accomplish. But I can't begin to profess to know who Jeff Tweedy and Co. are, and who they should be. I'm thankful for what they've done and are doing.

[magazine called sunset]

Love it, hate it, shred it. Wish what he might have done, rue what he didn't. But it is the same guy that at one time did something that you more deeply embraced. And may yet again. Anticipate what he/they can and will accomplish. But I can't begin to profess to know who Jeff Tweedy and Co. are, and who they should be. I'm thankful for what they've done and are doing.

 

Very nicely and succinctly worded!

 

I'm still enamored.

[uncool2pillow]

I just read this in the Onion's AV Club after playing around w/ google. I thought it was pertinent to this thread.

 

My question is: Could anybody imagine the Wilco record that would make everybody happy? I can't imagine it. So you're confronted with that reality

[caliber66]

Sorry for my stupid comments, I shouldn't be so easily offended by any of these claims, my fault.

 

I just have a hard time because I really believe that there is much good to come, and any thoughts otherwise make me worried that i am wrong, which is also stupid, cause who knows, right?

Hey man, just like what you like and don't worry about what anyone else says.

[ction]

I can tell you this with all certainty...Sky Blue Sky definitely ranks last among all Wilco albums when those albums are ranked in the order in which they were released. You can take that to the bank and thank your teller for the lollipop.

[myboyblue]

I can tell you this with all certainty...Sky Blue Sky definitely ranks last among all Wilco albums when those albums are ranked in the order in which they were released. You can take that to the bank and thank your teller for the lollipop.

 

This will be a completely different story upon the release of the next Wilco album. I guarantee it.

[cryptique]

Hey man, just like what you like and don't worry about what anyone else says.

"don't let anyone change your bag"

[caliber66]

"don't let anyone change your bag"

I don't like that song.

[jakobnicholas]

I like where Wilco's at.

 

 

I would just like to see them add some pop or studio layers or some kind of pizazz to their next album.

 

 

I was listening to R.E.M.'s Green earlier, and was amazed at how damned fantastic it sounded. Some songs like Get Up are great, crunchy pop....other songs like The Wrong Child are achingly beautiful.....other songs are haunting, like I Remember California or World Leader Pretend.

 

 

 

I feel like Wilco is kind of in a jammy rock mode. And that's fine. They can do whatever the hell they want.

 

 

But, to me, Being There and Summerteeh are great because they have it all. Summerteeth has the variety of Being There, with sweet 70's pop sounds thrown in....which I like. A Ghost is Born is ballsy, which I like.

 

Sky Blue Sky is nice. And I listen to it. But it's just nice.

[Wailin]

I can tell you this with all certainty...Sky Blue Sky definitely ranks last among all Wilco albums when those albums are ranked in the order in which they were released. You can take that to the bank and thank your teller for the lollipop.

 

Don't be so sure about that.