Sky Blue Sky

[Jake]

why all the hate for What Light?

Seriously. It's the only song I really, really like on the album. The rest is either boring or ruined by Cline's awful guitar jazz art noise.

[Moe_Syzlak]

Well since we're all giving our opinions of SBS.... AGAIN! ... I'll go too.

 

It was in my top five albums of 2007, but the only song on the album I absolutely LOVE is YAMF. The rest is very listenable, but nothing blows me away. The only song I skip EVERY time is On and On and On (still can't figure out what anyone sees in that one, but hey, to each their own!).

[Central Scrutinizer]

Well since we're all giving our opinions of SBS.... AGAIN! ... I'll go too.

 

It was in my top five albums of 2007, but the only song on the album I absolutely LOVE is YAMF. The rest is very listenable, but nothing blows me away. The only song I skip EVERY time is On and On and On (still can't figure out what anyone sees in that one, but hey, to each their own!).

I went on hiatus after YHF. I did not go out and buy AGIB when it was released, and I burned out on Wilco for a while. I was heading up to Chicago for my Dad's 80th birthday when SBS was released and I bought that on a whim along with Kicking Television. By happenstance I got bumped from my rental car and to make good, they put me in a Eclipse Spyder 8cyl convertible with an incredible stereo. So for three days I listened to those three albums exclusively. the last two days I pulled out KT and listened to SBS exclusively. I fell in love with that album. But more than a year later, I realize what I fell in love with was the set of emotions and where I was at that time and how that album was a tuning fork chiming with just the right vibration. I looked forward to all of those songs being played live but other than Impossible Germany, they paled in comparison to many other songs by thy current lineup performed live. It's been a while since I listened to it, but my wife or daughter will put it in ever once in a while and I'll enjoy it.

 

A few people mentioned "Sunday Morning" albums, and I think that sounds about right for SBS. There are Sunday albums that just sound incredible and match mood and spirit of the setting. They're not monumental albums. But they're usually well-crafted, emotional without being too deep or thought-provoking, and they fit in that calm, softly respective spirit.

[froggie]

It was in my top five albums of 2007, but the only song on the album I absolutely LOVE is YAMF. The rest is very listenable, but nothing blows me away. The only song I skip EVERY time is On and On and On (still can't figure out what anyone sees in that one, but hey, to each their own!).

 

how can you skip that one - has your CD got a hidden track at the end

 

i love the tune, though

[MrMilk]

Haha yes I'm sure we've all written these thoughts before, but heck we love this band so why not go back into the rabbit hole?

 

Like many I feel that Sky Blue Sky is a memento of the time. It reminds me of my experiences of mid-2007, and I think the album's wistful feel really helps to make that connection. I'm not sure if for example Summerteeth (with its blaring keyboards) was my soundtrack in that time that I would be able to make the same connection. (Although I think Summerteeth is great.) SBS really is what it is and reflects a moment (for Jeff, the band and the listener). Where YHF (still my fave probably) is an incredible album of tunes meshed with bizarre sounds, I think SBS is an album of tunes meshed with feelings. But maybe my feelings about the records also reflect what was happening to me when the records came out.

 

I do think that SBS the album is a little up and down:

 

Classics: YAMF, Impossible Germany

Near-Classics: Seeds, OnOnOn

Good: Hate It Here, Either Way, What Light, Walken, Please Be Patient

Meh: SBS, Leave Me Like

Stinkers: Shake It Off

 

- I always hated Shake It Off (it's a serious momentum killer on the record and in concert).

- SBS the song never did it for me either, just seems really lightweight. It's even worse that it's sandwiched between the heavyweights Germany and Seeds.

- Hate It Here has incredible energy live but for me hasn't aged very well. I loved it when the record first came out but now it seems too cheesy.

- I also loved Seeds when the record first came out and thought that it was the best song on the record. But it too hasn't aged as well for me. I still think it's a near-classic but I think it's a rung below YAMF and Impossible Germany perhaps because structurally it's pretty generic (Verse Verse Breakdown Verse Breakdown). Having said that it is still an amazing song and the breakdowns are probably the best moments on the record.

- YAMF and Impossible Germany are just fucking off the hook. When you hear those songs you know that this Jeff and the band have still "got it".

- OnOnOn surprised me. I heard some early bootlegs and I was pretty underwhelmed. I was nigh-on devastated that it was the last song on the record - I feel you really have to put one of your best songs in that position. I was sad to think that OnOnOn was shaping up to be one of their best songs. However, the performance on record is very moving, particularly in the instrumental break. I had the fortune of seeing them play this song live in Amsterdam and it was even more powerful. Live John sings in unison with Jeff in the last verse and it just sends shivers up your spine.

- Rest of the album is pretty much "good" or "meh".

 

So overall I think it's a good album with some classics on there. I don't think we should complain too much

 

And a new record and DVD to come out in the space of 6 months. That's fantastic!

 

Mike

[bobbob1313]

I think I like SBS as much as I do at least partly because the first time I heard it was half an hour after the Living Room Show I went to.

[Central Scrutinizer]

I think I like SBS as much as I do at least partly because the first time I heard it was half an hour after the Living Room Show I went to.

oooooh sure. Rub it in.