What's the consensus on Wilco (The Album)?

[Sir Stewart]

Day-to-day, the Harvey image is much closer to the real thing. Except instead of a rabbit, Harvey's a computer.

[Who Dat???]

This is how I see it... I agree that it is not their best work, but every band has that one magnum opus that will not be topped by subsequent records... Yes it is true that W(TA) is not a step in a new direction but rather a record of settling into comfortability in a "greatest hits" kind of sense. However, I feel like there are some fantastic things on the album that must be appreciated for what they are. For example, if nothing else, the 3 song run of Deeper Down, One Wing, and Bull Black Nova makes the album for me. Bull Black Nova is a monster of a song that brilliantly captures hysterical madness. For those who do not like the album, this song alone is a sign that the band still creates edgy tunes, if that is what you are looking for. Personally, I enjoy the other tunes like Sonny Feeling for what they are: A band having fun playing music.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

A band having fun playing music.

 

And when all is said and done...that's really the important thing.

[rwilson580]

I listened to (TA) again over the last day or so. I'd just completed my last working day of the year, which might have colored my perceptions a little bit. But this was a way more successful experiment than my last one. I was more appreciative this time out of the straightforward pleasures of this album. Certainly it's not as "out there" as some of their earlier 2000's stuff, perhaps not as multi-layered. But my guess is that Jeff Tweedy doesn't believe that every song has to be a head-scratcher...complexity is fine, new experiences are cool...but these things are subordinate to the primary reason that most of us listen to music. And in the right frame of mind this time, I enjoyed being reminded of those basic building blocks of popular song. Strong melody, interesting vocals, intelligent lyrics, inspired playing, sophisticated arrangements. I think most of us would agree that those elements, as with every Wilco album, are present in (TA) in spades. It's still not my favorite, may never hit that level...but I'll look forward to listening to it next time out.

[Ghost of Electricity]

And when all is said and done...that's really the important thing.

So the important thing about music is not whether it is listenable but if the musicians have fun making it? Wait a minute, that means my band is huge.

[Who Dat???]

So the important thing about music is not whether it is listenable but if the musicians have fun making it? Wait a minute, that means my band is huge.

 

There you go!

[Guest Speed Racer]

I listened to One Wing last night and for the first time, I enjoyed it.

[suites]

I listened to One Wing last night and for the first time, I enjoyed it.

 

 

Really? Have you been locked up for 6 months?

[Sir Stewart]

I listened to One Wing last night and for the first time, I enjoyed it.

 

I'm still waiting on that.

[The High Heat]

I'm liking (the album) a little more now than I did when it came out. I think it's because I just bought tickets to the Durham show on the upcoming tour. Everything seems more interesting knowing a live show is coming up. Perhaps I should song request a cover of "Anticipation" as a reflection of the mood I've been the last few days.

[Vacant Horizon]

late, but here's a few thoughts i've had about the album.

 

Wilco (The Song)

Great, fun song but it is way too loud and compressed. it seems like it was mixed totally different than, country disappeared, for example. worst 'sounding' wilco song on record. too bad.

 

Deeper Down

classic latter day tweedy track. nothing spectacular. in the vein of wishful thinking etc. a little bit warming sounding than WTS, but still a grating.

 

One Wing

best song on the album. wish it was produced a bit better with more space between the instruments. awesome chorus, words, and guitar solo.

 

Bull Black Nova

another good one. like an agib outtake. like the changes, but some of the lyrics about blood and the screaming at the end are a bit much.

 

You & I

okay, but def not album material. should have been a single released along with the album, like Thanks I Get was.

 

You Never Know

meh, pop again, but maybe a bit too pop, whatever that means. you never know is kind of a lame chorus. do like the harrison esqe guitar

 

country disappeard

excellent song. love the drums and very warm sound like the last few albums.

 

solitare

another strong song, if not a stand out. def not filler.

 

i'll fight

don't like this song. would fit on a tweedy solo album though. would rather have Let's Fight on here.

 

sonny feeling

kind of goofy. again, would like this more if it was produced better. just a wall of sound is fatiguing.

 

everlasting everything

i like this song. one of the best on the album. maybe fourth best, but i do not like the huge production of the chorus.

 

overall, it's got some good songs. a classic in one wing. i could've LOVED this album if it had not been so poorly mastered and produced. there is no excuse for it and i can't believe there hasn't been any discussion of this issue.

[froggie]

 

You Never Know

meh, pop again, but maybe a bit too pop, whatever that means. you never know is kind of a lame chorus. do like the harrison esqe guitar

 

 

 

come on... that's a Traveling Wilburys reunion where Harrison jumped out of the grave and let Jeff sing the vocals

[dave41]

I didn't see this mentioned anywhere, but there's a nice little addition to the album page on wilcoworld, Wilco (the album) Instrumentation Credits.

[willywoody]

 

 

overall, it's got some good songs. a classic in one wing. i could've LOVED this album if it had not been so poorly mastered and produced. there is no excuse for it and i can't believe there hasn't been any discussion of this issue.

I think you're right on the sound of the songs.

[a-me-with-a-you]

I think WTA is their most playful record since Summerteeth, and you can feel the fun coming out of the speakers. More than half the songs sound really good: Wilco (The Song), Deeper Down, One Wing, Bull Black Nova, Country Disappeared, Solitaire and Everlasting Everything.

 

You & I, Sonny Feeling, I'll Fight and You Never Know are clearly lesser quality songs in my opinion.

 

Considering I also don't like two or three tracks on Sky Blue Sky that's not too bad for fresh material by a band that's been putting out records since '95. People should give this album a break, they wanted this album to be SBS the sequel and that's just not Wilco.

[Guest Ordinary Beehive]

Despite a few recent listens, my opinon of W(ta) hasn't changed: I still think it is pretty weak.

[mpolak21]

overall, it's got some good songs. a classic in one wing. i could've LOVED this album if it had not been so poorly mastered and produced. there is no excuse for it and i can't believe there hasn't been any discussion of this issue.

 

The production actually was pretty heavily derided/debated here when it leaked, so much so Jeff actually commented on it in some magazine several months ago.

 

Considering I also don't like two or three tracks on Sky Blue Sky that's not too bad for fresh material by a band that's been putting out records since '95. People should give this album a break, they wanted this album to be SBS the sequel and that's just not Wilco.

 

Hmm... I'm not so sure that's the case. You're right on about people harshly judging WTA in comparison to past Wilco works, but I am not sure it's Sky Blue Sky people want them to remake. That album has it's fans for sure, but very generally the biggest critics of WTA were also pretty big critics of SBS. A Ghost is Born and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot are the albums more people want to hear sequels too I think.

 

--Mike

[a-me-with-a-you]

Hmm... I'm not so sure that's the case. You're right on about people harshly judging WTA in comparison to past Wilco works, but I am not sure it's Sky Blue Sky people want them to remake. That album has it's fans for sure, but very generally the biggest critics of WTA were also pretty big critics of SBS. A Ghost is Born and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot are the albums more people want to hear sequels too I think.

 

--Mike

 

I don't really have a finger on the pulse of the Wilco community, I just heard it mentioned here and there by people who first became aware of Wilco through SBS, and all the buzz it got in Europe.

 

I can imagine what you say to be very true indeed, I definitely hear some AGIB in SBS but people who spend less time listening to the albums over and over again might not hear this and talk about "a stylistic change", more than I would.

 

This harsh reception every most recent album is nothing new, I even found to my great surprise and shock, several scathing AGIB fan reviews dating back to '04. So many of the songs they failed to warm up to included many we now consider classics. This will undoubtly be the case for at least two WTA tracks, possibly Country Disappeared and One Wing.

 

P.S. I wish I could find these aforementioned, hilariously wrong reviews. If I still manage to, you can share in the joke.

[choo-choo-charlie]

 

P.S. I wish I could find these aforementioned, hilariously wrong reviews. If I still manage to, you can share in the joke.

 

While it's not necessarily a "wrong" review overall, I've always enjoyed the miscalculation in this AllMusic review of Kicking Television.

 

"...tunes like 'Ashes of American Flags' and 'Handshake Drugs' are never going to be crowd-pleasers in the manner of 'Casino Queen'..."

[a-me-with-a-you]

While it's not necessarily a "wrong" review overall, I've always enjoyed the miscalculation in this AllMusic review of Kicking Television.

 

"...tunes like 'Ashes of American Flags' and 'Handshake Drugs' are never going to be crowd-pleasers in the manner of 'Casino Queen'..."

The review has some truth to it, but that particular part makes me cringe. It astounds me how an easy rocker like "Casino Queen" can be picked over the complex and rich melody of "Handshake Drugs" or the musical and lyrical poetry of "Ashes". Now, if they had said "Kingpin", I'd have given them more credit. Besides, they forget about "Kicking Television", which is as good an angry, scorching rocker as any of the early ones. And it's a b-side for crying out loud. Take an a-side like "I'm A Wheel", forget about it, there's smoke coming out of those guitars.

 

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/8680-a-ghost-is-born/

 

...songs so sleepy and hazy ("At Least That's What You Said", "Muzzle of Bees", "Hell Is Chrome") that they practically invite idle speculation about Tweedy's prehab pill regimen. Sluggish and flat, they're the opposite of the idea-packed YHF material, with the affected quirks that fill out the arrangements unable to dispel the overall grogginess.

What a great way to sink your credibility. Citing three of the very best songs of the album as sleepy and hazy. I guess they didn't appreciate the darker, brooding tone Tweedy was going for in AGIB. They even call the album "gloomy", like thats' a bad thing for an experimental rock album.

 

In the words of Louis Armstrong, "There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell them".

[choo-choo-charlie]

The review has some truth to it, but that particular part makes me cringe. It astounds me how an easy rocker like "Casino Queen" can be picked over the complex and rich melody of "Handshake Drugs" or the musical and lyrical poetry of "Ashes". Now, if they had said "Kingpin", I'd have given them more credit. Besides, they forget about "Kicking Television", which is as good an angry, scorching rocker as any of the early ones. And it's a b-side for crying out loud. Take an a-side like "I'm A Wheel", forget about it, there's smoke coming out of those guitars.

 

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/8680-a-ghost-is-born/

 

 

What a great way to sink your credibility. Citing three of the very best songs of the album as sleepy and hazy. I guess they didn't appreciate the darker, brooding tone Tweedy was going for in AGIB. They even call the album "gloomy", like thats' a bad thing for an experimental rock album.

 

In the words of Louis Armstrong, "There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell them".

 

Love the Louis quote...it's in reference to people having to ask what jazz is.

[peteboiler]

IMO, I like it. I don't like it as much as their previous CD's, and don't listen to it as often, but it does have some brilliance to it. I can handle THE SONG. Think it's fun. One Wing is amazing. I can listen to YOU AND I, although it is not a fav. COUNTRY DISAPPEARED is my favorite on the album. I can listen to it from start to finish - well, excluding EVERLASTING EVERYTHING. Hate that damn song. Doesn't sound like Wilco at all. Bob

[a-me-with-a-you]

Is it a given that "One Wing" is the most popular new song? B/c it gets mentioned a lot around here.

[tinnitus photography]

There isn't a song in Wilco's canon that isn't a pop song.

 

 

"Less Than You Think"?

"Hamami"?

[choo-choo-charlie]

"Less Than You Think"?

"Hamami"?

 

There might be some who'd argue for "Less Than You Think," but I don't feel "Hamami" can really even be counted as part of the "official" canon...more like a sound experiment with a title than an actual song.