Published Wilco (the album) articles and reviews

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

Funny I was thinking the same thing, it does seem a lot of Wilco features have involved cutting and pasting what's already been written about the band up to the point of the new release and then adding some current spin on it. I am sure if you dig hard enough Jeff's probably said "this is the best Wilco lineup" about each one, he was right if/when he said about the Tweedy/Bennett/Bach/Stirratt/Kotche lineup naturally.

 

--Mike

Yea, he probably has. There's nothing wrong with it, in fact it would be strange if he didn't keep saying it. Why would he continue playing with certain guys if he didn't think they were the ebst lin-up for the band to have?

 

It's already looking like every W(TA) review will be pretty much the same thing. I'm terrified, but curious to read Pitchfork's review. You KNWO they'll focus on stuff that has nothing to do with the album itself.

 

I don't get it, anyone that likes Wilco enough to read these articles already knows that Wilco "rose from the ashes of alt-country behemoths Uncle Tupelo," knows about all the YHF drama, and the situations with Jay. So why must every article mention them?

[mpolak21]

Yea, he probably has. There's nothing wrong with it, in fact it would be strange if he didn't keep saying it. Why would he continue playing with certain guys if he didn't think they were the ebst lin-up for the band to have?

 

It's already looking like every W(TA) review will be pretty much the same thing. I'm terrified, but curious to read Pitchfork's review. You KNWO they'll focus on stuff that has nothing to do with the album itself.

 

I don't get it, anyone that likes Wilco enough to read these articles already knows that Wilco "rose from the ashes of alt-country behemoths Uncle Tupelo," knows about all the YHF drama, and the situations with Jay. So why must every article mention them?

 

I assume the logic behind it is if someone buys a rock mag that hasn't heard of Wilco, but is still going to read the magazine front to back, they might not know the entire story. It's a little annoying from a fan's perspective for sure, but for instance when I was 16 and reading about Tweedy for the first time in Guitar World in 2002, I didn't know Uncle Tupelo from Tupelo Honey.

 

My lineup comment was a little unnecessarily snarky, and actually pre-this lineup I really don't remember Jeff claiming it was the definitive version of Wilco. I still feel it's a little like Lou Reed saying the post-John Cale era VU is the definitive version of the Velvets, but you know I'll live.

 

--Mike.

[Preferred B]

From Spin:

 

http://www.spin.com/reviews/wilco-wilco-album-nonesuch

 

Wilco, 'Wilco (the album)' (Nonesuch)

Jeff Tweedy's reassuring songbook helps us accept life's never-ending flaws.

BY DAVID MARCHESE 06.16.09 9:57 AM

 

4/5 stars

 

 

As far as rock'n'roll is concerned, status quo is for suckers. New boss same as the old boss? fuck 'em both. Accordingly, in their own insular way, Wilco have spent their 15-year existence struggling against stasis. Whether it's alt-country, '70s-influenced chamber pop, Woody Guthrie covers, or Radiohead-refracted Americana, frontman Jeff Tweedy has felt compelled to dress his innate tunefulness in all manner of disguise. The band lived according to shark logic: Keep moving or die.

 

Until now. If 2007's Sky Blue Sky was an amiable, if mildly flaccid, return to rootsy songwriting fundamentals after the migraines-and-motorik meandering of 2004's A Ghost Is Born, then Wilco (the album), the band's seventh studio effort, treats verse-chorus-verse basics like holy truths. The result is the rare rock album about acceptance. And it's fantastic.

 

Maybe it took Tweedy some time to find solid footing after a mid-decade addiction to painkillers. Or perhaps he and fellow original member John Stirratt (bass) are only now studio simpatico with latecomers Glenn Kotche (drums), Mikael Jorgensen (keyboards), Pat Sansone (guitar, keyboards, percussion), and Nels Cline (lead guitar, whose swooping birdsong solos are a highlight here). Whatever the reason, the Chicago sextet finally seems comfortable with itself -- and wants you to buy in. On lead-off track "Wilco (the song)," Tweedy delivers the soft sell over a confident Velvets chug. "Do you dabble in depression?" he asks. "Are you being attacked?" Don't worry: "Wilco will love you." It may read like a wink, but when couched in such sturdy songcraft (the bridge soars), it sounds like fact. If all advertisements were this persuasive, I'd be even more broke.

 

After that initial statement of purpose, Tweedy spends the rest of the album gracefully to terms with the things he can't control. (Dollars to donuts that the Serenity prayer was hanging from the bathroom door of wherever he clocked his rehab.) On the eerie "Deeper Down," a spidery guitar line, ride cymbal, and 16th-note harpsichord pulse skitter around the singer as he shakes hands with unknowing: "I adore the meaninglessness," he declares, "of the 'this' we can't express." Later, Feist guests on the simply gorgeous "You and I," which abides by a different kind of mystery. "However close we get sometimes," she and Tweedy sing in close harmony, "it's like we never met." That could be a frightening realization, but the gently strummed acoustic guitar, warm keyboard chording, and lilting vocals suggest the awe that arrives by acknowledging your lover's mystery as part of what makes them magical. Likewise, "You Never Know," a standout among the album's handful of crisp rockers, floats the phrase "I don't care anymore" over zippy slide fills and Abbey Road "ooh oohs," turning an admission of defeat into an existential victory.

 

The only missteps come when Wilco move away from tweedy's front-porch Zen homilies and the band's otherwise tight arrangements. "Bull Black Nova" is a road noir that lunges from tense staccato guitar and one-note piano plinking into a noisy jam that confuses motion with progress. And hazy atmospherics undercut the apocalyptic lyrics of "Country Disappeared." But when the biggest problems with an album are a couple of arguable form-function misfits, why fight it? Resistance for its own sake will only take you so far. As Wilco (the album) proves, sometimes submission is a beautiful thing.

[Plumplechook]

Entertainment Weekly brings the hate. Not enough Nels wig outs thinks Clark Collis:

 

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20285485,00.html

 

Review by Clark Collis

 

Jeff Tweedy's decision to give Wilco's new album the most
 prosaic moniker in rock history initially seemed like evidence of his dry wit. Listening to the band's seventh studio collection, you have to wonder if that choice isn't also a subconscious admission that his ideas cupboard is temporarily bare.

 

''Wilco will love you, baby,'' Tweedy sings on the opening midtempo rocker, ''Wilco (the song).'' But fans of the band are more
 accustomed to being challenged than adored. Wilco have long used new albums to push themselves, experimenting with dissonant sound collages on 2002's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, seeking inspiration from Krautrock on 2004's A Ghost Is Born, and exploring a mellower vibe on 2007's Sky Blue Sky. While each of those albums represented a change of gear, Wilco (The Album) mostly idles in neutral. Guitar wizard Nels Cline is allowed space to decorate hushed efforts such as ''One Wing'' and ''Everlasting Everything'' with some 
angular trills. Unfortunately, he is rarely given room to really let loose. It's like using a computer as an ambient desk lamp. Guest vocalist Feist is similarly underused in what is essentially a backing-singer role on the
 unmemorable ''You and I.'' Only the ominous ''Bull Black Nova'' — which features some terrific shredding by Cline — hints that this is a band that has made a point of confounding expectations.

 

Tweedy's ability to craft great hooks does make this worth a listen, and maybe the band simply needs a pause to catch its creative breath. Let's just hope the next one isn't called Wilco (another album). B

[hilliard]

John Stirratt Interview

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/blackplasticbag/2009/06/17/qa-wilcos-john-stirratt/

 

 

 

John Stirratt joined legendary alternative country pioneers Uncle Tupelo as a bass player in 1993 for their final release, Anondyne. After Uncle Tupelo’s ugly divorce, Jeff Tweedy was awarded custody of Stirratt and they went on to form the much-lauded Wilco.

 

In a band that used to have a reputation for shedding members, Stirratt has remained a steady force on bass and vocals while collaborating on every Wilco release. He has also pursued other projects, such as a 2004 album with his sister Laurie Stirratt of Blue Mountain, and the band Autumn Defense with his Wilco band mate Pat Sansone.

 

City Paper spoke with Stirratt about Wilco’s seventh studio album, Wilco (the Album) to be released on June 30. The band is scheduled to perform at Wolf Trap on July 8 with Connor Oberst.

 

Washington City Paper: It’s not often that a musician can say they were there at the beginning of an influential musical movement like alternative country. What’s your sense of the legacy left behind by Uncle Tupelo?

 

Stirratt: Well, I was a real part-timer coming in at the end, but it felt a lot like Wilco did in the early days, in that not a lot of people were coming to the shows [laughs]. It’s been fun to watch people’s interest with Uncle Tupelo grow over the years because when it was happening there was not that much interest. They continue to sell records, though, which is great.

 

Washington City Paper: As the longest serving member of Wilco, along with Jeff Tweedy, it’s well documented the changes the band has gone through. What’s the one thing you can point to that has remained the same in Wilco since the beginning?

 

Stirratt: Jeff’s tunes and Jeff’s voice as a centerpiece for the whole thing and how it allows for collaboration.

 

Washington City Paper: Has it gotten harder to work on other projects with your sister or Autumn Defense as Wico’s popularity has grown? Has it helped Autumn Defense by bringing Pat Sansone into Wilco?

 

Stirratt: Bringing Pat in really did help, and it made the schedules consistent. I’d have to say that having a family has been the main factor in determining my time, and that’s a good thing since you tend to do better work when you have to prioritize, as opposed to just wandering into the studio.

 

Washington City Paper: Considering Wilco’s high profile support during the election for then-candidate Obama, is the band still politically engaged or have you put that behind you after the election? Have you ever had someone tell you they won’t listen to your music because of your political stands?

 

Stirratt: [Laughs] I’ve heard rumblings, but no one has told me anything directly.

 

Our history with the president really is an extraordinary thing. We’ve known him since 2004 and he represents what we love about America. And it has been surreal how it all happened.

 

There are political minded members of the band who have not stopped paying attention to what’s going on, but maybe the overt political messages and declarations from the stage will tend to happen only during election years.

 

Washington City Paper : Wilco (the Album) suggests there’s no new overt sonic agenda. Even though Sky Blue Sky wasn’t billed as experimental as you other releases, it still had a definitive sound. Did the impromptu nature of what transpired in New Zealand contribute to putting down an album of just….songs?

 

Stirratt: We were interested in getting the best sound we could get. There have been records in that past that may have had some limitations that are taken for a sonic agenda. We wanted the capability to go for a denser sound, a sturdier higher-fi sound with basic tracks on this release.

 

But every record does have a sort of story, and for this one we were in a very comfortable situation recording in the New Zealand summer when it was winter back home. We did strive to get the best sound, and Jim Scott’s [Wilco (the Album) co-producer and engineer] fingerprints are all over it. There’s also something similar since he [scott] recorded “Can’t Stand It” from Summerteeth. This is the first time we’ve recorded with him since that track. I loved his demeanor then and this record does reflect his sound.

 

Washington City Paper: Wilco has covered several bands — like Steely Dan and Big Star — do you choose a cover based on the influence that an artist has had on the band?

 

Stirratt: It’s prompted by various elements. The Farrelley brothers thought of Wilco and that particular Steely Dan song ["Any Major Dude Will Tell You"] for a movie, so that was somewhat dictated to us, and covering Big Star’s “Thirteen” for a tribute album was really indicative of all of our love for Big Star. It’s different scenarios each time. But it is more of a request nature.

 

Washington City Paper: Sky Blue Sky drew some Grateful Dead comparisons, is there a sense that bands like the Dead have far more influence than previously thought?

 

Stirratt: The Dead may have a lot more influence on us than people may think, especially American Beauty through Terrapin Station. I have also had people tell me there is a certain timber in Jeff’s voice that is reminiscent of Jerry if you listen real close.

 

Nels [Cline] grew up in California actively buying records at that time, and he would say he was more of a Quicksilver Messenger Service sort of guy, but I know those early Dead records so well and its really stamped on all of our DNA and almost innate now, the same as it is with the Rolling Stones. Though with Sky Blue Sky there were other influences as well that came from all of our record collections.

 

Washington City Paper: Do you feel successful in knocking down the album by album narratives constructed for you, like “the second best band out of Uncle Tupelo”, “the band from that movie about how bad record companies suck”, and “the band with a revolving door of members” by the virtues of focusing on playing and releasing music? Do you have a sense that you don’t have to listen to the chatter any more?

 

Stirratt: It has been nice to leave that stuff behind and get to a state of what the band is now. This new record [Wilco (the Album] I have to say is really honest record and a good snapshot of where the band is. The current line up has a lot of room to grow and the sky really is the limit.

 

Washington City Paper: The band dealt with the leak of Wilco (the Album) by immediately steaming the album off the Wilco site. How much does thinking of piracy and the business side occupy you guys?

 

Stirratt: Well, we cast our lot with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and there really is no way to backtrack on that model. I think the principles behind that idea are sound—that if you have a good record it’s going to be something people are going to want to buy later. The leak is almost part of the process now and you get ready for it and stream the album immediately.

 

Washington City Paper: Favorite song to play live on the current tour?

 

Stirratt: I’m looking forward to playing “Everlasting” and “Deeper Down” from the new album.

[hilliard]

Glen Kotche interview

http://www.aznightbuzz.com/stories/296394.php

 

 

 

This time, don't expect Wilco to get brush-off

Grammy-winning band last played in Tucson in '96

By Coley Ward

CWARD@AZSTARNET.COM

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.11.2009

Next Thursday, Wilco will play a show in Tucson for the first time in nearly 13 years.

Why so long between visits?

Maybe because their last trip to town wasn't so hot.

The band had only been together for a couple of years when it played at The Rock, 136 N. Park Ave., in the fall in 1996.

The Tucson Weekly reported at the time that Wilco was booked for an early show and their set was cut short because the club didn't want to disrupt a dance theme night.

Predictably, the band didn't appreciate the early hook.

Curtis McCrary, who used to schedule acts for Club Congress and now works for the Rialto Theatre, says former Wilco member Jay Bennett, who left the band in 2001, told him the group came up with their own nickname for Tucson.

"They started calling it Sucton," McCrary says.

Bennett died on May 25 at the age of 42. He had filed a lawsuit against Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy earlier in the month for breach of contract.

Wilco was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo after singer Jay Farrar left the band (and eventually formed Son Volt).

The band's fourth studio album, "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," won them rave reviews and spawned a 2002 movie, "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart," which documents the making of the album. Wilco's fifth disc, "A Ghost Is Born," won them a pair of Grammys and helped them cement a reputation as America's biggest indie rock band.

Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, who joined the band in 2000, recently talked to Caliente by phone.

There's a rumor that Wilco's song "Hotel Arizona"was written about Hotel Congress. Is that true?

"I remember someone saying that the song was about Hotel Congress," he says. "I love that place. I've been there before. I played a solo show there two years ago, so I'm familiar with the hotel."

Will Wilco play "Hotel Arizona" when you perform at Centennial Hall on June 18?

"We hadn't played that song live until maybe the last year, but I guess maybe if people vote for it on our Web site (wilcoworld.net). Every night we get a printout of what songs get the most votes, and we work them into our set."

Why hadn't you played it live until recently?

"You don't want to represent one record too much in one show. There were so many great songs from 'Being There.' That was a song that I wasn't too crazy about when I joined the band. Musically, I thought it was too straight ahead. But, it actually is quite fun to play live."

On "Yankee Foxtrot Hotel" and "A Ghost is Born" you drummed using found instruments. On "Sky Blue Sky" you used a traditional drum set. Did you use any found instruments on "Wilco (The Album)"?

"Yes, on a couple songs. On one of them, 'Dark Neon,' I used lots of different junk metal set all over the drums. Pizza pans and other stuff like that. That song didn't make it onto the album, but it'll be available eventually. On another song, 'Full Black Nova,' I put different hunks of metal on the cymbals and drums. It fits nicely with the super paranoid lyrics."

In his review of "Sky Blue Sky," Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield describes Wilco as "the kind of band that really likes to make people complain." Do you agree?

"No. We definitely don't go out of our way to make people complain. Any band that is ambitious creatively is not going to remake the same record over and over again. We're a collection of individuals who like to grow and just because we have luck with a certain formula doesn't mean we're going to do it again. But in order for us to do something we believe in and be invested we have to change it up. Any band is going to run into that resistance to change."

What's your favorite track on the new album?

"It's tough, because the record is still fresh and I'm really pleased with the record and love it. "Deeper Down," the second track, is my favorite. There's a lot of really beautiful and interesting parts to that song."

[Preferred B]

Everyone seems to be excited about playing Deeper Down! I'm really glad that they're waiting for the 3-night stand at the Wiltern to debut it, though.***

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

***I completely made this up

[Dude]

Entertainment Weekly brings the hate. Not enough Nels wig outs thinks Clark Collis:

 

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20285485,00.html

 

That's a D minus review with a B grade.

[nodep5]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jun/19/jeff-tweedy-puts-wilco-back-course/

 

interview with Tweedy

[bleedorange]

That's a D minus review with a B grade.

 

I know. I read that review and got to the bottom and fully expected to see nothing higher than a "C-"...and he gave it a "B"??? Oh well. I disagree with the review. I'm not sure what he is looking for from Nels, but I think his playing on this album is great. They know how to really use his skills without it feeling tacked on like it did for a lot of SBS.

[hilliard]

http://landofpunt.com/2009/06/17/wilco-the-album-the-album-review/

[tongue-tied]

Greg Saunier from Deerhoof wrote a letter to Nels! From Deerhoof's Myspace

 

~ LETTER TO WILCO

hi nels

how ya been

 

 

 

meant to check out a second of the wilco album and ended up unable to stop listening - tell your compatriots if you get the chance how much i love it!

 

i hear so much of you on it, and not so much "on top of" the music but

 

 

 

wait sorry to interrupt myself but i just got the joke in You Never Know, didnt George Harrison get sued for My Sweet Lord, and now you guys rip him off!

 

 

 

anyway i hear the trippy and creative and fun and surprising fully integrated into the songs themselves in a new way this time. lots of other firsts too - jeff screams, the snare sound is actually "produced", glenn does an actual rimshot. you guys gave yourself license this time to not be strict about anything and the result is proving to be irresistable. it's like a story unfolding when you listen to it, you never know what's coming in the songwriting, the lyrics, and the colorful production/instrumentation. it's amazing how much this approach fits jeff's songwriting and yet how much an aesthetic of purity has dominated wilco's past records and not allowed this mood to shine through as much as now. kind of makes me think of the Fiery Furnaces, this story-like unfolding and the constant changing of sound palette, all those crazy stompboxes.

 

 

 

and such great melodies too, i look forward to hearing everything many more times and singing along etc...

 

 

 

which reminds me, you know Peter Bjorn and John, they had that song Young Folks and when they did it live, they'd often get in touch with a woman to sing the female vocal part just for that show. I know this because they asked Satomi to sing it at Fuji Rock a couple years ago, and it turned out great. I don't know your plan for You And I but you won't be short on singers who will know this extremely catchy song in every city you play...

 

 

 

anyway thanks for the inspiration

 

greg

 

[cryptique]

Mike Ragogna weighs in via Huffington Post:

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Wilco - Wilco (The Album)

 

Oh, Tweedy, must we go all first person in the first song on an album that's self-titled? We know, it's supposed to be a song to the fans, and it's been on the net to ponder for a while now, but...really? Wilco's going to love, maybe even protect us from all our personal ills and demons ("...a sonic shoulder to cry on")? And another question or two: Was "Bull Black Nova" invented so Nels Cline could play his ass off and not quit the band (considering this is practically a singer-songwriter album in disguise)? Has someone been listening to George Harrison's Dark Horse period, World Party and Danny O'Keefe's Breezy Stories album? Speaking of parties, what's up with that cover with a camel in a Shriner's cap?

 

Ah, we kid, it's all good, this is a fine record, really. The songs are laden with fat, beefy hooks although there isn't the usual amount of boundary pushing here. On the other hand, can't these fellers record some guilty pleasures now and then, like the sublime "One Wing" with Cline playing a restrained koo-koo in the last minute or so? There's also "You And I," a coo-y duet with pop pixie Feist that's the more than obvious hit, you hear that, powers-that-be? Then again, there's another potential hit in "You Never Know" with its Harrison guitar-ish licks and big vocal chorus on "...I don't caaaaaaaare anymore" that takes the listener back to Cracker Box Palace.

 

No, the influences don't stop there: "Country Disappeared" has enough of the late Chris Bell's phrasings to get you a little misty for "Look Up" or "I Am The Cosmos"; "I'll Fight" has some great oldies swipes, specifically, from The Zombies' "Tell Her No"; the personal read on "Solitaire," with its doubled vocals and acoustic atmospherics, is almost as charming as "You And I," though it's a bit more sullen; and if one needs a fun, happy summer sing-a-long that will have you bummed out when you realize its about the exact opposite thing the music infers, then "Sunny Feeling" is the song for you. The closing track is another buzz-kill of sorts, but it sums up an album that reels you into all its happy happy, joy joy...then sends your children running from a party where a camel with a Shriner's cap came specifically to eat your kids. Pretty cool.

[echo]

A nice interview with Jeff regarding the new album and more:

 

http://wp.as.remarkablewit.com/2009/06/wilco-the-interview/

 

WILCO: The Interview

 

Are you under the impression this isn’t your life?

Do you dabble in depression? Is someone twisting a knife in your back?

Are you under attack? Wilco, Wilco will love you baby…”

 

The last time I saw Jeff Tweedy, he was giving a solo show in Burlington, Vermont. This was a few months ago. I crossed many states just to be there, and watch him perform, sans band, and cherry pick songs from his vast back catalog of my favorite music. He unveiled new songs like “Solitaire” and “Everlasting Everything,” and played a reconstituted “Spiders,” during which the audience of a few hundred sang in unison, “It’s good to be alone.” It was an amazing show, and well worth the drive.

 

I last interviewed Tweedy in 2004 for this magazine, when the Chicago-native had just gotten out of rehab to treat his addiction to pain killers and manage his panic disorder. The band was readying the release of A Ghost is Born, their ambitious follow-up to the career-defining Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The road that lead them to Ghost was fraught with internal struggles and external victories-in 1995, Tweedy launched Wilco after an acrimonious split with Uncle Tupelo co-captain Jay Farrar, who went on to found Son Volt. Their first album, A.M., sold poorly in the shadow of Son Volt’s Trace, but was a solid debut, featuring alt.-country gem after alt.-country gem. The 1996 double album Being There increased their critical standing and remains a major work in rock and roll, a “Catcher in the Rye” for music lovers. Tweedy’s musical partner at this time was band multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett, who helped Tweedy realize the pop-tastic visions of 1999’s Summerteeth and reach the avant-garde heights of 2001’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. But like all early Wilco members save bassist John Stirratt, Bennett (who sadly passes away this May) and the band eventually parted ways. His strained exit was captured in I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, which also documents the band’s struggle with their record company, Reprise, over Foxtrot’s commercial value-they would eventually leave the label for Nonesuch after Reprise squashed its release.

 

The story of Wilco 2.0 has been a fruitful one. A Ghost is Born’s epic guitar jams introduced the world at large to new member Nils Cline, a guitar hero’s guitar hero. Their incendiary concerts were immortalized on the live album Kicking Television, and the band’s new musical rapport (from adding members Pat Sansone and Mikael Jorgensen to the lineup, which since 2001 has included the imaginative drum work of Glenn Kotche) was the highlight of last year’s Sky Blue Sky. Their new DVD, Ashes of American Flags, shows the band on the road, icing up, achieving lift off, and viewing the disappearance of small town America through their tour bus windows.

 

In June, they released their seventh LP, Wilco (The Album), the first record to feature the same lineup as the album before. With meditations on marriage and commitment (”One Wing,” “I’ll Fight”) a duet with Canadian singer/songwriter Feist (”You and I”) and some excellent rockers (”Bull Black Nova,” “Sonny Feeling”), it’s another great record from a band who seems incapable of making a bad one.

Jeff Tweedy in 2009 seems like a dude in a pretty good mood. He’d go on to rock Jazz Fest a few days after this interview, which would be the final show of a very long tour. We talked to Tweedy about Wilco (The Album), playing solo, and the spectre of “dad rock.”

 

When did you write the songs for this album?

Over the last year or so, since the last one come out. As opposed to the songs on the last record, which had been accumulating over the years, this one there’s really nothing that’s any older than Sky Blue Sky. I don’t think any of these songs were even around when we were recording Sky Blue Sky, so it’s a fresher batch.

 

What led you to record the record in New Zealand?

We went there and we were doing a benefit record with Neil Finn and the guys from Radiohead and Johnny Marr and we were having a great time and sounded really great in the studio, and Jim Scott was there with us, who had worked on our records before, and we did a little bit of recording, a little bit of demoing of different things. And we could get a lot of work done really quickly, because we were all set up and ready to go. When that project ended, we asked Neil Finn if he had anybody else coming into the studio for awhile, and if he had any open time, which he did, so we just stayed an extra nine days and knocked out the basics for almost the whole record.

 

Was it nice to record there?

Yeah, it’s a lovely place to stay, and I think the longest I ever stayed anywhere outside of the United States. So yeah, it got to be a home away from home, and for a large portion of that, my family lived with me, and Glenn and John’s families were there the whole time, and so it was a pretty lovely experience for everyone, really. Summer time there, it’s not summer time in Chicago, I can tell you that much.

 

How was it working with Feist on “You and I”?

It was great. She’s an amazing singer and a great friend. We got to be friends over the last year pretty quickly, and I have a lot of admiration for her and her records. So we were really glad that it worked out.

 

Did you spend a lot of time working on the lyrics to the songs, or was it more spur of the moment?

I spent a fair amount of time editing the lyrics and allowing the songs to kind of evolve. It’s a hard question to answer because anytime there’s anything worthwhile, it certainly “feels” like it happened on the spur of the moment, but it’s a composite of lots of spurs of the moment, hopefully. And over time, you catch up with those, and then you have full set of lyrics you’ve thought of and you feel comfortable singing.

 

I read that some of these songs were written in character.

I’ve always been sort of ambivalent about that approach to writing because I think it’s really hard to do, and I don’t think you every fully mask the person who’s writing; it usually comes through loud and clear, no matter how deeply into the third person you wanna get. But it’s something I’ve tried many times over the past few records, writing from different angles and perspectives, and sometimes it helps as a device to try to get a set of lyrics finished. But as it turned out, I thought this record ended up with more lyrics that used that approach than past records, in a character driven way.

 

What’s going on in “Bull Black Nova”? There’s a lot of blood in that song.

I don’t know what’s going on in that song. Well, nothing good is going on, I can tell you that. Except for the notion that however desperate to flee something that you wish you hadn’t done, you’re not going to be able to outrun it-so I guess that’s the moral of the story in that song. But I don’t know if I want to elaborate that much, at this point. It’s pretty there. [Laughs]

 

What’s the story behind “Wilco (The Song)”?

Initially, I thought it would be funny to write a song that sounded like an infomercial of some sort. I had other lyrics in the place of where I sing “Wilco” at one point, and I tried a lot of different things, but everything sounded too serious, including “let go,” “oh no,” and different things like that. I just kept coming back to “Wilco,” and that was certainly the most fun thing to sing when I was playing it for the other guys in the band. Eventually, it sounded silly to sing anything else, and it made the song a little funnier in our opinion.

 

Was that written for The Colbert Report or before?

We were playing around with it before The Colbert Report, and it seemed like it would be fun to play a song that wasn’t on any record and use the opportunity to play something that was exciting and new to us. Then all that Joe the Plumber crap started happening so we thought it would be funny to play “Wilco (The Song).”

 

It’s very catchy. I’ve been singing it all day in my head.

Could be worse, I guess. That’s sort of the unofficial motto for Wilco: could be worse.

 

The song “I’ll Fight” has some similarities to “On and On.” Do you agree?

Not that I hear, no, I don’t agree. I mean, I don’t doubt that it’s there, I’ve heard someone else say that, but musically, they’re very, very different, and emotionally they’re very, very different, so I don’t hear it. I mean, I hear there’s a repetitiveness in the choruses on the songs that are similar, but beyond that, I don’t think of them as being related. Other than, just as much as any songs I write are inherently related to each other.

 

In the song you sing “I’ll die like Jesus on the Cross,” How do you imagine that will play in different parts of the country?

I have no idea. First of all, I don’t know why it would be anything offensive to anybody, if that’s what you’re asking. It would never stop me even if I did think it was something offensive. I think from the character’s perspective, that’s definitely a noble way to die, for a principle. If somebody can’t understand that, they’re offended, interpreting the song with me equating myself with Jesus or whatever, that’s, as most is often is the case, based on their ignorance, and I have no sympathy for them.

 

Did you have a similar transformation to the one that you sing about in “Solitaire”?

Well, I mean, yes. I’ve definitely gone through a pretty major significant life change over the past couple of years. I think it’s pretty well-documented, and any healthier person who took a lot of pain killers, and was an addict, and struggled with those kind of things, I don’t know if you can have much more of a profound crossroads in your life than something like that. But having said that, I don’t know if that song is about that. I think it’s still sort of character-driven, in a way, I don’t know if I’m really singing from that experience. I never felt personally that I was “cold as gasoline,” so I can’t identify with that part of the song; except that I know people who I imagine to be able to look at the world without as much emotional upheaval as I tend to do.

 

With “You Never Know,” do those lyrics address your audience in a way?

Well, all lyrics address your audience. Every thing you write addresses the listener. So I don’t know if I know exactly what you mean. Am I telling our fans that, no [laughs]. No, it’s character-driven as well. Someone pretending to have a certain handle on things and that they don’t really have, when inevitably, you never know. It’s a pretty straightforward sentiment. In overwhelming evidence, you don’t ever know.

 

You say on the new DVD that music has the ability to create images in people’s minds. Do you think music has the power to stir memories as well?

Well, music seems to have an ability-beyond any other art forms, in my opinion-to stir up emotional memories. And, I guess, literal memories. The best I can get at it over the years, is that music exists to help people remember emotions. Not necessarily the emotions that are contained within the song itself, but most accurately the emotions that are contained within people that they have trouble getting to. And songs are functional in that way, in a lot of cases. And music, handed down over many, many years, helps people remember, not necessarily what happened, but what people felt like when things happened. And it has an ability to communicate over generations, the idea that we’re not that different. So, I can go on all day about that stuff. I love thinking about it. And in the movie, I’m embarrassed to hear myself thinking out loud about those types of things, because I don’t know if I’ve ever formulated anything I would regard as a coherent philosophy about it; it’s just something I like to think about.

 

Do you get images in your head when you play the songs live?

[Laughs] I don’t know. You’re more of a vessel, or a conduit, live-there’s a lot of things going on. You’re dealing with the technicalities of performing and you’re trying not to forget things. You’re muscles are doing things that they’ve learned to do to make the sound that you’re hoping to hear, so there’s multiple, multiple layers of things going on when you’re performing. In the studio, too. But I imagine I wouldn’t be able to remember the words if there weren’t images attached to them. That’s kind of the point, I suppose. I think it would be much more difficult to just memorize words. I think there’s gotta be some kind of mnemonic thing happening even if I’m not aware of it. Sometimes just the shape of my hands on the guitar neck will remind me of what the words are. It’s hard to remember the words of my songs sometimes, unless I’ve got a guitar in my hands.

 

Last year you guys did every Wilco song live. What lead you to do that, and what was like?

It was a blast, I was really proud of the band’s ability to possess the songs, I was happy that there weren’t many songs in the Wilco catalog that I despised playing, there were a couple, but for the most part, I felt pretty confident that I didn’t done anything harmful to the world by making up all these songs. And it’s been beneficial to the band. I mean, one of the other reasons behind it was that the band had been around longer than any other version of the band, and it just felt like, let’s go the whole way and know the whole catalog, and we can be fully Wilco from here on out. And that’s paid off, I think. It’s nice that with a minimal amount of practice now, we can pull out those songs, and stick them in the set. It’s just better feeling to have access to all that.

 

What’s it like having Nils Cline in the band?

It’s great. He’s an amazing musician, and more importantly, he’s a fantastic, lovely human being, and a close friend. It’s enormously helpful to have someone that brilliantly musical in the band, and it’s enormously helpful for me as a songwriter to have someone I can bounce an idea off of and say, does that really work musically, or is there an easier way to get from here to here musically? Nils isn’t alone in that regard, most everybody in the band knows their way around music theory better than I do. I mean I guess over the years, I know what I’m doing, but you get the idea.

 

What was your musical background?

I got a guitar when I was a kid and took lessons and I hated it. Then I started playing guitar entering in my teen years and picked it up. But I don’t really have a musical background other than listening to records and trying to play them.

 

For the I’m Not There soundtrack, you do a great cover of “Simple Twist of Fate.” Was that your pick?

The producers or the music supervisor asked me if I was interested, and I said absolutely. They had a, not necessarily a time period, but a specific one of Dylan’s characters, they wanted me to approach from a song perspective, so they sent me a CD based on that specific Bob Dylan. And so I just picked some songs and recorded a few of them, and that one ended up on the soundtrack, and another one ended up on a bonus version, “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight.” It’s a fantastic song. I love it.

 

Not a lot of lead singers in bands play solo shows. Why do you continue to do it?

It’s a really good thing for me to do. It keeps me in touch with what it takes to make a song work, by myself with a guitar. I’m allowed to play a much more spontaneous performance than would ever be popular with a six-piece band. I don’t really need to write a set list, I get up there and play whatever song pops into my head, so there’s a flow to the show that just kind of happens The environment, it would be very difficult, for Wilco as a band to do that, based on all the gear, and the amount of time it takes between songs for some people. It would be difficult for the crew to follow along in a situation like that. So it’s been a liberating experience, and at the time I think it’s good to be confronted with the sheer terror of playing by yourself some times.

 

I just saw you play a solo show in Vermont. Do you remember anything about it?

I don’t remember what I played or anything. I remember I had a good time. It was a really nice audience. I don’t have any negative memories of it at all… should I have some negative memories of it?

 

No, no, it was really great.

That’s encouraging.

 

How would you describe your relationship with your audience? On stage, you get into dialogues with them a lot.

I get into what, battles?

 

No, um, dialogues?

I don’t know-it’s hit or miss. Sometimes I get a good feeling, and a good rapport going, and sometimes I feel extremely painfully awkward. I try to be honest, I try to just be myself as much as can and relate what I’m thinking about, and sometimes I talk too much, sometimes I talk too little. I guess what I’m getting at is… I haven’t figured that out at all. I feel comfortable on stage and I feel comfortable talking to people. I’m very positive at this point in my life that there’s not anything I could do up there that would hurt anybody, or hurt myself; and in the long run, I doubt there’s anything I could do that would matter to much one way or the other that could hurt my career, or anything like that. Hopefully, I can make [a show] feel unique and special, and feel like there’s moments that are a one of a kind thing. Other than that, I just hope for the best whenever I open my mouth in between songs.

 

Your last album got a mixed critical reaction, and the term “dad rock” was thrown around. But it seemed like everyone eventually came around, especially after they heard the songs live. Did you think that the critical reaction you got was fair?

In the grand scheme of things, I thought that the critical reaction was probably better than I could have hoped for, and people were pretty warmly receptive to the record. If you make a bunch of records over a pretty long period of time, I think Wilco’s really ahead of the game. We haven’t been universally panned as far as I know, and I think that’s the closest we’ve come, and I consider that kind of a minor miracle.

 

But at the end of the day it doesn’t make any difference to me. I think that was a great record, and it was something I was very proud of and still am. It’s funny, the only thing I was curious about, in sort a detached way, was seeing some of the reviews, and some of the ways people interpreted things that weren’t my perceptions of the record, like the whole idea of it being mellow and things like that. I can’t say that anybody’s wrong or anything, they’re probably right. But I kind of got this theory in my head, that if we’d put some other song first besides “Either Way,” the perception might have been different. I’ve just gotten used to the first song really dictating the way people review the record. So with this record, I’d like to just get the first song out of the way and make an infomercial; hopefully it will cleanse the pallet for the rest of the record.

 

Yeah, that’d be funny if all the reviews were like, “Yeah, Wilco’s a totally joke band now.”

Yeah, the new album is totally about Wilco, and it’s a goofy pop record.

 

Do you think your fan base has done a good job of keeping up with your many changes? Do you think you’ve left any behind, or do you think they’ve all come along?

I don’t really have any thoughts on it, other than that, we tend to play to big audiences everywhere we go, bigger than I would have thought looking at record sales. A lot of the time we play way bigger places than I would imagine bands that sell more records than us even play. And it seems like it’s been a constant growth, on a lot of different levels. Personally, I feel like it’s been worth doing because artistically. It’s been a constant growth and evolution, and that’s something to feel good about. But if we lost people… I mean I’d be shocked if we didn’t lose people, but I guess the point is they need to be replaced by other people, if they’re going away. And then I think also there’s a curious faction in our fan base, of people who seem to stick around because they want to commiserate about it not being what it was, three records ago or something, but maybe they just enjoy being let down.

[Dude]

A Ghost is Born’s epic guitar jams introduced the world at large to new member Nils Cline, a guitar hero’s guitar hero.

 

[Analogman]

But I don’t really have a musical background other than listening to records and trying to play them.

 

It's nice to read that statement.

[Dude]

For the I’m Not There soundtrack, you do a great cover of “Simple Twist of Fate.” Was that your pick?

The producers or the music supervisor asked me if I was interested, and I said absolutely. They had a, not necessarily a time period, but a specific one of Dylan’s characters, they wanted me to approach from a song perspective, so they sent me a CD based on that specific Bob Dylan. And so I just picked some songs and recorded a few of them, and that one ended up on the soundtrack, and another one ended up on a bonus version, “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight.” It’s a fantastic song. I love it.

 

Sure would love to hear this. It's not listed anywhere on the Googlesphere, nor in the bonus tracks here:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'm_Not_There_(soundtrack)

[LouisvilleGreg]

That whole interview was great, but I especially love this part: "And then I think also there’s a curious faction in our fan base, of people who seem to stick around because they want to commiserate about it not being what it was, three records ago or something, but maybe they just enjoy being let down." I think he's talking directly to me. It's not just Wilco though, I'm always nostalgic for the past. In 2012, I'll be wishing I was back here in good ol' 2009.

[hilliard]

http://www.mercurynews.com/music/ci_12679870

[Plumplechook]

Review from today's edition of 'The Independent' (UK daily newspaper). This might be the the most favorable review I've read so far:

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-wilco-wilco-the-album-nonesuch-1719714.html

 

Reviewed by Andy Gill

 

Friday, 26 June 2009

 

 

With the magnificent Wilco (the album), Wilco (the band) reach the point that REM were at around the time of Automatic for the People: a group at the peak of its powers, offering hope and consolation in the face of growing discord, and an undimmed faith in the transformative power of rock'n'roll.

 

It's an album in the classic sense of The Band and Nevermind, beautifully conceived to reflect misgivings about its changing era, and executed with the kind of intelligence that can fool one into thinking it's instinctive.

 

It's not, of course: the blend of genial welcome and spiky antagonism effected by the way the trenchant rock-guitar riff of "Wilco (The Song)" is topped with squalls of abstract guitar noise, takes more than mere accident to achieve. Likewise, the way the album arcs from initial suspicion to the optimism of "Everlasting Everything" is so deftly executed, with little flurries of guitar notes percolating through the track's final stages like birds of hope fluttering out into the world. Such things can only be created with dedication and deliberation, their success – ironically – measured by how well that deliberation is disguised as spontaneity.

 

Like many a classic-rock album, Wilco seeks to encompass an entire history of rock within its tracks – in Jeff Tweedy's case, a history steeped in his prevailing 1960s influences, but not bound by them. Wilco repeatedly conjures up familiar pop-memory landscapes from a few smart flourishes – as with the McCartneyesque melody and wisps of Harrisonic guitar in "You Never Know", the Band-style keyboard and guitar textures of "Country Disappeared", and most spectacularly in the way that the pedal-steel guitar, harpsichord, electric sitar and theremin of "Deeper Down" evoke the heady psychedelia of late-1960s Elektra records.

 

The album deals cheerfully with themes such as disillusion and disappointment, bringing an understated heroism to such matters as ageing and amorous breakdown. The minimum requirements for sustenance of a relationship are sketched in "You and I", while the howling guitar solo that caps the charming "One Wing" emphasises the bitterness of lines such as "You were a blessing and I was a curse/ I did my best not to make things worse for you". "Country Disappeared" broods over Bush's hijacking of American goodwill, while the worldly-wise "You Never Know" gazes wryly upon youthful melodrama: "C'mon, children, you're acting like children! Every generation thinks it's the end of the world!" And as Wilco (the album) demonstrates, every generation gets its due inheritance eventually.

[auctioneer69]

Review from today's edition of 'The Independent' (UK daily newspaper). This might be the the most favorable review I've read so far:

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-wilco-wilco-the-album-nonesuch-1719714.html

 

Reviewed by Andy Gill

 

Friday, 26 June 2009

 

 

With the magnificent Wilco (the album), Wilco (the band) reach the point that REM were at around the time of Automatic for the People: a group at the peak of its powers, offering hope and consolation in the face of growing discord, and an undimmed faith in the transformative power of rock'n'roll.

 

It's an album in the classic sense of The Band and Nevermind, beautifully conceived to reflect misgivings about its changing era, and executed with the kind of intelligence that can fool one into thinking it's instinctive.

 

It's not, of course: the blend of genial welcome and spiky antagonism effected by the way the trenchant rock-guitar riff of "Wilco (The Song)" is topped with squalls of abstract guitar noise, takes more than mere accident to achieve. Likewise, the way the album arcs from initial suspicion to the optimism of "Everlasting Everything" is so deftly executed, with little flurries of guitar notes percolating through the track's final stages like birds of hope fluttering out into the world. Such things can only be created with dedication and deliberation, their success – ironically – measured by how well that deliberation is disguised as spontaneity.

 

Like many a classic-rock album, Wilco seeks to encompass an entire history of rock within its tracks – in Jeff Tweedy's case, a history steeped in his prevailing 1960s influences, but not bound by them. Wilco repeatedly conjures up familiar pop-memory landscapes from a few smart flourishes – as with the McCartneyesque melody and wisps of Harrisonic guitar in "You Never Know", the Band-style keyboard and guitar textures of "Country Disappeared", and most spectacularly in the way that the pedal-steel guitar, harpsichord, electric sitar and theremin of "Deeper Down" evoke the heady psychedelia of late-1960s Elektra records.

 

The album deals cheerfully with themes such as disillusion and disappointment, bringing an understated heroism to such matters as ageing and amorous breakdown. The minimum requirements for sustenance of a relationship are sketched in "You and I", while the howling guitar solo that caps the charming "One Wing" emphasises the bitterness of lines such as "You were a blessing and I was a curse/ I did my best not to make things worse for you". "Country Disappeared" broods over Bush's hijacking of American goodwill, while the worldly-wise "You Never Know" gazes wryly upon youthful melodrama: "C'mon, children, you're acting like children! Every generation thinks it's the end of the world!" And as Wilco (the album) demonstrates, every generation gets its due inheritance eventually.

 

Great review from one of the best reviewers out there (someone who dares to not award Coldplay and U2 records 4 or 5 stars like many others). And someone who really knows his stuff.

 

Here's a not-so-great review from the Guardian who give it three out of five stars:

 

"Its release may have been overshadowed by the recent death of former member Jay Bennett, but in all other respects the seventh Wilco album contains no great shocks: it's well written, nicely produced and tastefully retro, with a few vaguely experimental bits. An eponymous title this late in a band's career suggests the album is one of two things: definitive, or just typical. It opens strongly with Wilco (the Song), a propulsive chugger that's half Velvet Underground, half Peanuts theme tune, and wholly a pleasure. One Wing contains some distinctive hooks, and Bull Black Nova's mini-freakout is a mid-level psychedelic treat. But Jeff Tweedy's Bowie/Petty mannerisms start to sound repetitive pretty quickly, and ultimately, it's hard to shake the feeling that there are a lot more exciting things happening in rock'n'roll these days than Wilco (the song, the album or the band)."

[Plumplechook]

Review from the Irish Independent newspaper:

 

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/still-rocking-it-1791504.html

 

By John Meagher

Friday June 26 2009

 

Wilco

Wilco (The Album)

(Nonesuch)

HHHHI

You've got to hand it to Jeff Tweedy, Wilco's frontman. When this, their seventh album leaked online about two months ago, Tweedy didn't do what most other musicians of his stature would and complain bitterly in the media about how vile the internet is or bring forward the release date of the album to maximise sales.

Instead, he made the songs freely available to stream on the band's website, but asked downloaders to make a contribution to a charity that helps homeless people in his native Chicago.

It's a mature response that reflects very well on Tweedy and his band and one that's very much in keeping with the upbeat, largely positive, vibe on this album. Much of it is gentle and wistful -- characteristics of their underwhelming previous album, 2007's Sky Blue Sky -- but there's a vitality and sense of fun here that was missing from their last release.

Recorded in New Zealand, there are touches of that country's much-loved Crowded House -- not least in the power pop opener Wilco (The Song), which offers a neat precis of Wilco's career to date, and in One Wing, which showcases Tweedy's ability to marry the loveliest of melodies with moving words, à la Neil Finn.

There's real beauty here, not least in You and I, which finds Tweedy and Leslie Feist offering up a quite delightful duet inspired by a couple trying to keep a fractious relationship together, and in Solitaire, which is resplendent with fragile slide and acoustic guitars.

There are some remnants of the Radiohead-meets-Americana music that Wilco made in the middle part of this decade when Tweedy was troubled with a painkiller addiction -- Bull Black Nova is an edgy, anxious song that tells the story of a man who has killed his girlfriend from his point of view. Its appearance is something of an anomaly among the more conventional folk rock songs here, but as a stand-alone composition it's as special as anything in the band's catalogue.

Wilco (The Album) may not be the group's best album -- 2002's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot still gets that nod -- but Tweedy's muse continues to burn brightly.

Burn it: You and I; Bull Black Nova; Solitaire

- John Meagher

[Plumplechook]

From the London Evening Standard.

 

4 out of 5 stars

 

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/music/article-23712622-details/CDs+of+the+week/article.do

 

There must be reasons why a rock band as assured and talented as Wilco have not achieved greater popularity and a higher profile. One of them must be that the combo are a tad too unpredictable for a world that dislikes surprises. They have been prone in the past to follow a song of unsurpassed melodic loveliness with 10 minutes of horrible droning noises, up with which many will not put.

 

Or perhaps it's something as mundane as the leader's name. Songwriter and singer Jeff Tweedy may as well be called Ken Pullover for all the charisma his monicker exudes. In every other respect he is the ideal frontman: perfectionist, spiky, controlling, sufferer from (and occasional dispenser of) migraines, sometime painkiller addict. The good news is that the group's seventh studio LP finds him in good health and the best of spirits.

 

Perhaps because it was partly conceived in Neil Finn's studio in balmy New Zealand, rather than the bleakly windy environs of hometown Chicago, Wilco (the album) is a record of great warmth. One Wing, You And I, Country Disappeared, Solitaire and Everlasting Everything are all carefully crafted, deceptively gentle songs, whose beauty reveals itself by stealth. All are impeccably performed, with special mention going to the atmospheric guitar stylings of Nels Cline and the firm yet subtle drumming of Glenn Kotche.

 

Wilco (the song) is a wry rocker, while Sonny Feeling affects a gentle swagger. Best of all is Bull Black Nova, the guitar-drenched tale of a killer on the run that summons up the ghost of Television. Set aside your misgivings, be not afraid — there are no monsters here, only joys.

PETE CLARK

[thermocaster]

 

Perhaps because it was partly conceived in Neil Finn's studio in balmy New Zealand, rather than the bleakly windy environs of hometown Chicago, Wilco (the album) is a record of great warmth.

 

Something tells me Pete's only exposure to Chicago was seeing it in IATTBYH. I'm driving up there today and "bleakly windy" is about the last term I'd use to describe Chicago this time of year.

[choo-choo-charlie]

 

perhaps they should do some research. Nels Cline definitely didn't play on AGIB, but joined the band for the tour to promote it.