SarahC Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 wilco could play mode scales on kazoos with nels playing spoons and i would buy the record and love it.... Link to post Share on other sites
Orpheum07 Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Any info on the preorder for the album? I saw on the site that it's supposed to start this week. Link to post Share on other sites
nodep5 Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I have now given this one full listen and will go through it many more times but my overall feeling is Wilco is just a very different band these days. While there are some nice songs on here, the immediacy and mystery of Ghost and Yankee and even the lyrics of Summerteeth are gone. Personally I still don't like SBS and it was the first wilco album where there are just some bad songs on there (You are my face and Side with the Seeds are the best). So far I feel that Bull Black Nova is the most exciting and interesting song, You and I and Solitaire are beautiful songs, deeper down has some great lyrics, but I did find my attention waning. The first four songs almost feel as if they belong on a different album then the rest. There is no sense of mystery in the first listen of this album, although I do agree that most of these songs will be quite good live. Wilco is trending more towards the Grateful Dead these days with studio songs the are constructed nicely but don't live up to their potential until they are worked through live. Jeff Tweedy has worked through his demons and that is what is missing from these last two efforts. He as well as the band have moved on into new intellectual territories, I just miss the old Wilco. I mean think about the fact that the entire mood of Ghost was someone disappearing into themselves, retreating farther within. The first song on this is the exact opposite sentiment and while it is a nice song it just shows that the demons that once drove the sound and soul of this band are gone. Of course I am happy that they are in a better space, of course and with a new outlook comes new songs constructed from different places. With all that being said there is still some wonderful song craft in here and something to hold onto for most of the fans of this remarkable band.... Now if you will excuse me I need to go give it a few more listens. You don't miss the old Wilco, you miss the tortured experimental period of early 2000's. AM is the old Wilco and was pretty straight forward and meant a ton to me at the time and Being There was "my" album when I was 19 years old and that was pretty straight forward. Wilco was only Radiohead Jr. for maybe one album, and that comparison is weak even on that one album. SBS was more "Wilco" that AGIB was. I'm starting to heat up> Link to post Share on other sites
kidsmoke Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I agreed with a lot of what you said, nodep, but you lost me with this sentence: "Wilco is a rock band who is admittedly not in their peak but still very worth it." I think they are very much at their peak. Link to post Share on other sites
cooperissup3r Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 What does everyone think of "I'll Fight"? I can't tell if it's more of a statement or more of a sarcastic take on blind patriotism. Link to post Share on other sites
Ashtray Jr. Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I agreed with a lot of what you said, nodep, but you lost me with this sentence: "Wilco is a rock band who is admittedly not in their peak but still very worth it." I think they are very much at their peak. I was just about to do this, you beat me to it/ Link to post Share on other sites
Jesusetc84 Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 What does everyone think of "I'll Fight"? I can't tell if it's more of a statement or more of a sarcastic take on blind patriotism. I see it as a statement about class structures. The poor man being bought by the affluent man to take his place in the war. Link to post Share on other sites
solace Posted May 13, 2009 Author Share Posted May 13, 2009 i'm of the mind that Wilco's peak was from '96-02, but they still have a lot of great things to offer us these days if people want to say they've been coasting these last 2-3 albums, that's fine, but they're coasting in a pretty high gear compared to a lot of bands. Link to post Share on other sites
c0ldr0ses Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I'm not terribly sure of the intent of "I'll fight", but the first thing I noticed was how close to "on and on and on" it sounds. Link to post Share on other sites
Gobias Industries Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I worked through it today once in headphones. Still haven't given it speaker treatment. Regardless of that, at least in my first run-through A. You Never Know is basically George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" to a freakish degree, and B. I was not the most impressed with the last two tracks, which could have to do with track ordering and all. Otherwise, pretty damn good for a first run-through Link to post Share on other sites
babble Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 You don't miss the old Wilco, you miss the tortured experimental period of early 2000's. AM is the old Wilco and was pretty straight forward and meant a ton to me at the time and Being There was "my" album when I was 19 years old and that was pretty straight forward. Wilco was only Radiohead Jr. for maybe one album, and that comparison is weak even on that one album. SBS was more "Wilco" that AGIB was. I'm starting to heat up> Um thanks for the "heated" response but I have been around long enough to know old vs new Wilco and what this band is like now. Wilco began evolving into an experimental band during the Being There days but of course they were still in that alt country phase. SBS always seemed like a progression from the AM, Being there alt country days and that to me was odd seeing that they are a collection of experimental musicians. I mean I have sat through a Nels show in which he sang through the pickups on his guitar for 12 minutes. The sound was undoubtly different then the previous 3 albums for SBS. The bottom line here is that there really is no old wilco and that was an errant phrase to use on my part. This band has shifted personalities and moods so often that you really can't nail them down but yea it does seem like the sonic exploration of the past is for the most part over. Link to post Share on other sites
Preferred B Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I see it as a statement about class structures. The poor man being bought by the affluent man to take his place in the war.That seems to be what I'm getting. And if so I just love how the chorus, absent that context, could totally be seen as a sappy love song chorus and nothing else. That's what I was hearing the first time. Link to post Share on other sites
Jesusetc84 Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 i'm of the mind that Wilco's peak was from '96-02, but they still have a lot of great things to offer us these days if people want to say they've been coasting these last 2-3 albums, that's fine, but they're coasting in a pretty high gear compared to a lot of bands. I can sort of see that. To me each album was better than the one before until YHF. Then AGIB was still great, but a slight dip. SBS to me honestly made me think that Tweedy had run out of gas, but this one is not only a great record onto itself, it also excites me about Wilco's future. Link to post Share on other sites
babble Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Why does "You Never Know" feel like 70's album rock? Not a bad thing necessarily just odd and there was that same 70's rock vibe on SBS. Link to post Share on other sites
replacements75 Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I see it as a statement about class structures. The poor man being bought by the affluent man to take his place in the war. Has Jeff said that's what it is about because I was kind of getting the feeling that it was written from the perspective of a soldier going to fight in a war only to send money home to his wife/ family (or her husband i suppose) and if he was to die his love would live on in his children. I could also see it as a statement about those who go to fight for our freedoms though it definitely seems like a more personal statement like that of the soldier sending his pay check home. Sort of in the same vein as "When Roses Bloom.." Link to post Share on other sites
kidsmoke Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Aw I think a Jeff & John duet of You & I would be ridiculously cute. I second this notion. Also, I'm surprised at the lukewarm response to Country Disappeared! I'm pretty smitten with it, myself. Tweedy does some of his prettiest singing ever on this album. John & Pat too. Link to post Share on other sites
Jesusetc84 Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Why does "You Never Know" feel like 70's album rock? Not a bad thing necessarily just odd and there was that same 70's rock vibe on SBS. See 70s rock is so broad. "You Never Know" feels like something off "All Things Must Pass". That's a good 70s rock sound. "Walken" sounds like something from a Doobie Brothers album. That's a not so good 70s rock sound. Link to post Share on other sites
Preferred B Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I don't think Jeff has said anything yet about what the song (I'll Fight) means. But though I need to listen some more to get the lyrics, I thought I remember gold being mentioned, "a deal was made" "I was paid" etc. Doesn't mean it can't have more than one meaning for people though. Link to post Share on other sites
SarahC Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I second this notion. Also, I'm surprised at the lukewarm response to Country Disappeared! I'm pretty smitten with it, myself. Tweedy does some of his prettiest singing ever on this album. John & Pat too.i agree. the melody to this song is gorgeous. ahhhh what i would give to write a song remotely close to this! Link to post Share on other sites
replacements75 Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I don't think Jeff has said anything yet about what the song (I'll Fight) means. But though I need to listen some more to get the lyrics, I thought I remember gold being mentioned, "a deal was made" "I was paid" etc. Yeah i remember all that too but there is a whole lot about family and living on and seems like its a statement about sacrifice and the things you will do for the ones you love. Especially the "like Jesus" line. Link to post Share on other sites
Jesusetc84 Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 i agree. the melody to this song is gorgeous. ahhhh what i would give to write a song remotely close to this! I second this. It's such a beautiful melody. Link to post Share on other sites
solace Posted May 13, 2009 Author Share Posted May 13, 2009 I can sort of see that. To me each album was better than the one before until YHF. Then AGIB was still great, but a slight dip. SBS to me honestly made me think that Tweedy had run out of gas, but this one is not only a great record onto itself, it also excites me about Wilco's future. right... they haven't been on a downward slide since YHF (esp since this new one is better than SBS, and I may end up liking it more than AGIB after all is said and done), just up and down. i see it as them finding their groove... then the lineup will change again after the tours for this album, and they'll start the cycle over again Link to post Share on other sites
mfwahl Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 3 listens in still loving it, so I'm drinking a Diet Coke and wearing a beard in celebration of the band's work. Link to post Share on other sites
SarahC Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I second this. It's such a beautiful melody.i reckon it might be my favorite song on the record. Link to post Share on other sites
solace Posted May 13, 2009 Author Share Posted May 13, 2009 i don't hate Country, but if i had to pick a least fave at this point, it'd be that, Deeper Down, or I'll Fight. i like all 3 tho Link to post Share on other sites
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