Why is there such disappointment over Wilco(The Album)?

[realrival]

Mods: If there is already a thread for W(TA), which I assume there is, please move this post there. I couldn't find it.

 

 

Hey everyone,

 

I might be the odd girl out on this one but I actually think Wilco(The Album)is pretty good. I don't love it, well, I love "Country Disappeared" and "You and I" (and I know that's particularly unpopular to like, but God help me I love it) but overall I think it's good. I love Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born and I really like Summerteeth, but really, I'd put W(TA) next. For me I keep hoping for the next Yankee Hotel Foxtrot but that's really not fair to the band. If I just take W(TA) for what it is (a where we've been, where we are album) I enjoy it. Tweedy said it was like cleansing their palette and to me that's just what it sounds like. And it also suggests that the next album will be different.

 

The lyrics are strong (with the exception of I'll fight- rhyming hill with mill was a particular low point- though truthfully I like that song too). I do get a little tired of Nels' solos and I really wish Tweedy would use his low voice more (Pot Kettle Black, Kamera etc) but it still sounds good and it doesn't suggest to me comfortability, I don't think that Wilco has found their sound and that's what they're going to keep doing (if I felt that way maybe I'd be a little less appreciative of W(TA). They are all too curious about music to let this be their sound; they also know how quickly that can go stale for the fans and the bands, themselves.

 

I like the majority of the songs on W(TA); I don't love them all, but I like them.

 

I'm just wondering why no one seems to like W(TA) that much or if they do there's always backlash for saying so. What is it about W(TA) that's so disappointing?

[lamradio]

I like WTA.. It's a pretty good album.... But that's just it... Until WTA, in my opinion all of Wilco's albums were great (yes even Sky Blue Sky is a great album)... WTA is the first pretty good album...

[lost highway]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I think the first half is flawless. WTA is a really cool album.

[cosplusisin]

I pretty much feel the same way as you do, realrival. It's very good. I like every song. And it's a lot of fun. And "You and I" is probably my favourite on there. I wouldn't say I was disappointed with W(TA). And when I saw them for the W(TA) tour, somehow it was my favourite Wilco show that I've been to. So I really like where they're at now, even if I like their older songs a bit more than their newer songs. I feel that Wilco is far from past their prime, like a lot of people think, and I'm really excited for their next album.

[Sir Stewart]

I like WTA.. It's a pretty good album.... But that's just it... Until WTA, in my opinion all of Wilco's albums were great (yes even Sky Blue Sky is a great album)... WTA is the first pretty good album...

 

This sums it up for me too.

[br2497]

I liked the album a lot. How come Bull Black Nova doesn't get more attention? I think that song is brilliant.

[MarkyMark77]

I dig it. "One Wing" is a masterpiece, and "Country Disappeared" recalls Being There. I think, if anything, it's not as varied as the other albums, and there really isn't anything ragged: it's all very "produced". Not a bad thing, I suppose, but that might explain the disdain for it.

[welch79]

How come Bull Black Nova doesn't get more attention? I think that song is brilliant.

agreed.

[br2497]

One Wing is an absolute masterpiece.

[worldrecordplayer]

count me among those who really like W(TA). Some folks I've spoken to who don't like it because it's missing the noise and avant garde soundscapes (their thoughts, not mine). Personally, I think it's an excellent release of consistently really good songs, and some that have become favorites (Wilco, You Never Know, One Wing).

[uncool2pillow]

There are some great songs (One Wing, My Country Disappeared), but some not so great (You And I, Everlasting Everything [their worst, IMO]) and very, very bland production. I think BBN is a poor attempt to recapture the KrautRock vibe of Spiders. Overall, it's their weakest album. I like it better than many do, but it is their weakest, I think.

[Moss]

I like WTA.. It's a pretty good album.... But that's just it... Until WTA, in my opinion all of Wilco's albums were great (yes even Sky Blue Sky is a great album)... WTA is the first pretty good album...

 

This sums up my thoughts about as well as anything.

[Vacant Horizon]

i like it as well as any. it grew on me, once i could get past the production. i just think some of the songs are compressed, the wilco song being one of them. it's too bad. i know the vinyl sounds better, or so i've read. it's just really frustrating because the production from yhf to sbs is warm, immediate and flawless. to hear one of my favorite bands go 'loud' is sad. one of the reasons i like wilco is because of their production. let's get o'rourke back for the new one, or let pat produce, the autumn defense records are very well produced.

[locke456]

i like it as well as any. it grew on me, once i could get past the production. i just think some of the songs are compressed, the wilco song being one of them. it's too bad. i know the vinyl sounds better, or so i've read. it's just really frustrating because the production from yhf to sbs is warm, immediate and flawless. to hear one of my favorite bands go 'loud' is sad. one of the reasons i like wilco is because of their production. let's get o'rourke back for the new one, or let pat produce, the autumn defense records are very well produced.

 

yeah...i know that often "the vinyl sounds better" is code for "i'm cooler than you because i listen to records", but i just got the WTA vinyl yesterday and before then i would have absolutely agreed with everyone who says the album is "pretty good". but after listening to the vinyl, i've been converted; this album is just as good (if a bit less unique) than any wilco album, for me. tweedy himself, i think, described it as a sort of "greatest hits" album, and that disappoints me a bit...i think if you're a huge wilco fan, you want another weird, exploratory album more than a greatest hits sound that doesn't do much that's new.

 

all that said, though, the vinyl DOES sound way better, and i can hear a lot on it i just can't hear on the CD. for example, "deeper down" is one of my favorite tracks off the album because there's a depth to it on the vinyl that just doesn't exist on the CD version, which sounds overly compressed and dry. i don't know how to explain it, but all the complaints that WTA wasn't "experimental" enough when it came out sort of dissolved for me when i could "actually" hear it for the first time on vinyl.

[dtram]

yeah...i know that often "the vinyl sounds better" is code for "i'm cooler than you because i listen to records", but i just got the WTA vinyl yesterday and before then i would have absolutely agreed with everyone who says the album is "pretty good". but after listening to the vinyl, i've been converted; this album is just as good (if a bit less unique) than any wilco album, for me. tweedy himself, i think, described it as a sort of "greatest hits" album, and that disappoints me a bit...i think if you're a huge wilco fan, you want another weird, exploratory album more than a greatest hits sound that doesn't do much that's new.

 

all that said, though, the vinyl DOES sound way better, and i can hear a lot on it i just can't hear on the CD. for example, "deeper down" is one of my favorite tracks off the album because there's a depth to it on the vinyl that just doesn't exist on the CD version, which sounds overly compressed and dry. i don't know how to explain it, but all the complaints that WTA wasn't "experimental" enough when it came out sort of dissolved for me when i could "actually" hear it for the first time on vinyl.

Any chance on ripping it and putting it up on rapidshare or something like that? I have had trouble getting into it, yes i bought it, and would love to see if the loudness wars are the cause.

[Guest Speed Racer]

I think the songs are subpar. And the music is subpar. Wilco or any other band, it's an album that goes in one ear and out the other for me. Even Sky Blue Sky left a taste in my mouth, even if it was a lousy taste.

[Kalle]

To answer the thread title's question:

 

Because it's the worst album Wilco has put out since A.M. (and I think majority of us will agree on that).

 

 

It's not a bad album, but it's not a great album. I'm convinced that if any other band other than Wilco put out WTA we would be losing our shit over them, but Wilco's back catalogue is its downfall a lot of the time, they have a lot to live up to.

[anthony]

To answer the thread title's question:

 

Because it's the worst album Wilco has put out since A.M. (and I think majority of us will agree on that).

 

 

It's not a bad album, but it's not a great album. I'm convinced that if any other band other than Wilco put out WTA we would be losing our shit over them, but Wilco's back catalogue is its downfall a lot of the time, they have a lot to live up to.

 

Yes. This is how I feel about WTA.

[ih8music]

It has a bunch of really good songs, a couple of great ones, and one stinker (You & I), IMO.

 

It also feels like a very "safe" album from them -- and that just doesn't hold up against the rest of their catalog, especially ST->YHF->AGIB.

 

To their credit, when played live, I loved the WTA songs nearly as much as the older tracks. That makes me wonder if the problem was more on the production side of the fence than the songs themselves. (or it could just be that they're kick-ass live musicians who can make anything sound great)

[choo-choo-charlie]

A.M. > W(TA)

[cryptique]

I just think it's the weakest Wilco album (yes, weaker than A.M.). This is an amazingly talented band, but I don't sense that their full potential is being reached with the music they've recorded lately. Part of that lies in the songwriting -- as long as Jeff thinks that songs like "You And I" and "You Never Know" are good enough for Wilco, the band will fall short of greatness. But part of it is also the arrangements, which have become pedestrian and uninteresting, for the most part. Too much gloss, not enough grit, rawness, or soul.

 

And I'm a major dissenter on "Bull Black Nova." I think that song is mediocre in virtually every way. Its lyrics sound like they were written in middle school, and while its instrumentation is the rawest and most dissonant on the album (usually good things in my book), it's just not a very memorable tune.

 

Jeff just sounds tapped out on this record -- lacking inspiration. His lyrical themes are mundane and forgettable (and don't get me wrong -- I think the mundane can inspire great art -- but in this case, it didn't). He has a fabulously talented band behind him but doesn't put them to good use (Glenn's brilliance has been largely wasted on the last two albums).

 

Ultimately, it comes down to whether I want to listen to it. Prior to W(TA), I have always preferred to listen to entire Wilco albums from start to finish (even Sky Blue Sky, which took me a long time to warm up to*). I haven't wanted to listen to this album all the way through since shortly after it was released. On the rare occasions that I queue it up, I'll hit some highlights and ignore the rest ... and when I do try to listen to those other songs, I cringe.

 

 

* - OK, I admit that I skip "What Light" ... but I listen to everything else.

[embiggen]

I found it boring compared to their other stuff, but that's just me.

[nodep5]

For me, I'm just not connected with the band in its current state. I remember listening to Kicking Television and thinking, this just isn't the Wilco I fell in love with. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a huge fan and loved SBS and wore W(TA)out when it came out, but at the end of the day it is too ..............something, too.....just so. I blame the lineup. Too much talent can become predictable. I'll take Jeff's songwriting, Jay B's sloppy quirkiness anyday over the current polished noodling.

[bleedorange]

I think it's a step up from Sky Blue Sky, but it's telling that I never get the urge to listen to either of those albums.

[spacepanda]

Most of the songs sound like stale rehashes of things they had done better before. Sonny Feeling and Everlasting Everything sound like second-rate Summerteeth rejects, Bull Black Nova sounds like a bad rework of Spiders or another YHF/AGIB-era "experimental" song, Wilco The Song sounds like a neutered version of a Being There rocker (and way too similar to Werewolves in London, while we're at it)...

 

I also think the whole "fun, loose" thing works against it a bit. Honestly, Wilco The Song sounds like a novelty, not something I'm supposed to take serious. I certainly don't think music has to be super self-conscious, or arty, or miserable, but there's a difference between a song with fun and humor, and a novelty. And I think Wilco were on the wrong side of that line.

 

But in the end, it just doesn't sound like they were pushing themselves to do something new. I might make similar complaints about Sky Blue Sky being kind of stale and dull in parts, but at least it sounds like an evolution, like the band members were innovating into a new sound and had new ideas. WTA just sounds like they straight up didn't have much in the idea bank.

 

It's not a BAD album, of course — I think Deeper Down and One Wing are among their best songs. But I haven't listened to it since it first came out. I won't make any pronouncements as to what the band SHOULD be doing, but I will say I liked Wilco's music better when it had an experimental, boundary-pushing edge, and that edge is totally missing on WTA.