Rank The Studio Albums

[junkiesmile]

So

ST

BT

YHF

TWL

AGIB

Am

SBS

WTF

 

[smells like flowers]

I had BT and listened to it quite a bit but I didn't really get into Wilco until ST came out. The whole album still blows me away. Not a weak song IMHO. Not that I think there's a weak song on BT it's just that ST really got my attention.

My experience was similar, but I went from AM to ST (didn't get to know BT til a year or so later). I used to have a 30-minute commute to a small town and the drive would take me past old farms, corn fields and produce stands. A friend had given me a copy of ST for Christmas ('99) and I can still remember hearing the track Summerteeth for the first time, with the birds chirping, and realizing how many layers there were to the whole record -- it would take dozens of listens to hear and appreciate all the sounds. It was the record that made me fall in love with Wilco.

[choo-choo-charlie]

I think in time, Summerteeth will grow to become more and more appreciated -- more so than it is among the fans. Even though I know what the big labels were going for back in the day, it still makes me chuckle to think that a few suits thought Summerteeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot were lacking catchy songs.

[IndyZen]

Tough question, all the discs are great in their own way...sort of like The Beatles in that regard. But, if I had to be nailed down on it, I would rank them as follows:

1) Being There (the first half being virtually perfect)

2) Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

3) Summerteeth

4) The Whole Love (though this could move up or down over the course of more time...right now I am loving it as much as any Wilco disc.)

5) A Ghost Is Born

6) Sky Blue Sky

7) Wilco (the album)

8) A.M.

9) Kicking Television

 

purposely did not rank the Mermaid Session releases...but if I did, they would be between 6 and 7

 

Bottom line, Wilco are one of the few bands that I feel have consistently put out great discs from beginning to current. There is not a whole lot of quality difference between Being There (my number 1) and Sky Blue Sky (my number 6)...all of those discs are classic releases that I listen to with as much frequency as any other artist in rock/pop history.

[darkneon]

A Ghost Is Born

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Wilco (the album)

Being There

Summerteeth

Sky Blue Sky

AM

[Quixote]

I think in time, Summerteeth will grow to become more and more appreciated -- more so than it is among the fans. Even though I know what the big labels were going for back in the day, it still makes me chuckle to think that a few suits thought Summerteeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot were lacking catchy songs.

 

I agree, especially regarding Summerteeth. The late '90s were the halcyon days of alt-pop on the radio. Although the album was more sophisticated than, say, Fastball or Barenaked Ladies, I can't help thinking songs like "I'm Always in Love" or "ELT" wouldn't have garnered airplay.

 

My rankings:

 

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Summerteeth

Being There

The Whole Love -

A Ghost Is Born

Sky Blue Sky

A.M.

Wilco (the album)

[choo-choo-charlie]

 

I agree, especially regarding Summerteeth. The late '90s were the halcyon days of alt-pop on the radio. Although the album was more sophisticated than, say, Fastball or Barenaked Ladies, I can't help thinking songs like "I'm Always in Love" or "ELT" wouldn't have garnered airplay.

 

 

I think so too. While I love the whole album, I think either of those songs you mentioned are better than "Can't Stand It." They went back in the studio at the label's request and wrote, recorded and released that as the single?

[Quixote]

It is puzzling. I wonderif the label really felt like "Can't Stand It" would be a strong single, or if they just were tired of trying to find a single and since they'd requested the song in the first place, they decided to just go ahead and release it. I don't think "Can't Stand It" is bad, but it's never struck me as radio-friendly (I mean, it has bells/chimes for one thing) or immediately catchy.

[choo-choo-charlie]

I enjoy Can't Stand It, but think there are several songs that would've been much stronger for a single.

[calvino]

I enjoy Can't Stand It, but think there are several songs that would've been much stronger for a single.

 

Did the record company or the band pick it for a single? I am sure the band had some say, I'd imagine, either way.

 

I like the song, especially the live versions when Bennett was still in the band.

[choo-choo-charlie]

 

Did the record company or the band pick it for a single? I am sure the band had some say, I'd imagine, either way.

 

I like the song, especially the live versions when Bennett was still in the band.

 

 

 

From what I recall reading in "Learning How to Die," Summerteeth was finished, but Reprise didn't hear a single and asked Wilco to return to the studio and record another song to be released as the single. The product of those sessions was "Can't Stand It." So it was the label's decision.

[rwilson580]

Yeah, plus they received input from some outside party to help ensure its hitdom. As one who does find many of the songs on this album a trifle over-produced, this should put "Can't Stand It" at the top of my bitch list. But, strangely, that song has never bothered me much.

[choo-choo-charlie]

Maybe they should've gone with the magic four-chord formula that has produced dozens of hits!

 

[Mr. Heartbreak]

I didn't really get into Wilco until ST came out. The whole album still blows me away.

I agree with this. I'm still stunned to see anyone place ST below #3 in their rankings.

[mpolak21]

I agree with this. I'm still stunned to see anyone place ST below #3 in their rankings.

 

For me it's:

 

[Oil Can Boyd]

I view them as falling into tiers.

YHF, AGiB, ST, TWL

BT

AM, SBS, W(TA)

I agree with this.

[bleedorange]

I agree with this.

 

My tiers would look like this:

 

YHF, AGIB, BT

ST

AM, TWL

W(ta), SBS

[mpolak21]

I'll play:

 

ST, YHF, AGIB

BT, TWL

SBS

AM

WTA

 

--Mike

[-seven]

BT, ST, YHF, AGIB

AM, SBS, WTA, TWL

[rwilson580]

Definitely:

 

YHF, AGiB

BT, SBS, WL

ST

AM, (TA)

[junkiesmile]

BT, ST, YHF, AGIB

AM, SBS, WTA, TWL

TWL last? Really?

[-seven]

TWL last? Really?

 

No, not last. I just see them in two tiers.

That's just chronological inside the tiers.

[Deanmarr]

Summerteeth

YHF

Being There

Ghost

The Whole Love

Sky

AM

Wilco

[spui]

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

A Ghost Is Born

Summerteeth

The Whole Love

Being There

Wilco (The Album)

Sky Blue Sky

A.M.

[linclink]

Wilco occasionally sounds like various eras of The Beatles...but more so they feel like The Beatles to me. So both dodging the question & speaking in Beatlese...not an exact science, but a rough roadmap...

If Uncle Tupelo is like earlier era Beatles ("Please Please Me", "With The Beatles", "A Hard Days Night" & "Beatles For Sale") where their roots are on display at the same time they are reshaping things, then "A.M." is the bridge between the past & future- meaning it's essentially most like their version of "Help"- elements of the past are there, but it's not only improved, it's expanded into areas that are about to take off into realms previously unanticipated & unimagined. "Help" is my fave early Beatles album, but from "Rubber Soul" onwards I couldn't pick a fave. I prefer "A.M." to any Uncle Tupelo & to the best Son Volt (I'm much less of a Son Volt/Jay F. fan...& much more of a Jay B. fan) & it'd either be "Help", or whatever other later early era fave you'd like that came after the first couple ("Please Please Me" & "With The Beatles")

"Being There" is where things become pretty much "Rubber Soul" worthy, and like "Rubber Soul" there are still some kinds of elements of the earlier work there, but it's morphed and/or morphing in a major manner, & it exists alongside totally new vistas of wonder...it could also be viewed as an amalgamation of "Help" & "Rubber Soul"...

"Summerteeth", "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" & "A Ghost Is Born" are all albums I, generally speaking, tend to prefer to the first two. With "Summerteeth" being maybe more "Revolver" than "Rubber Soul", but either one works & then full blown next step into "Sgt. Pepper", or "Revolver"/"Sgt. Pepper" with "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"... & then "A Ghost Is Born" probably feels a bit more like "The Beatles (The White Album)", but you can also toss in the other non-Pepper '67 Psychedelic era works (since The White Album still carries some of that feel as well) collected on "Magical Mystery Tour" & the loose tracks from before & around the time of The White Album. The main point being that The Beatles later era music was not the same as the early era because they were shot through an extraordinary prism of changes, and Wilco's sound had the same thing occur.

My personal favorite era of Wilco is the most recent trio of albums, & these feel, & occasionally sound, essentially like the later era Beatles of "The Beatles (The White Album)", "Let It Be"/"Get Back" & "Abbey Road"...if pressed I'd put "The Whole Love" as my fave, "Wilco (The Album)" as my second fave & "Sky Blue Sky"in third...but...a caveat...like The Beatles albums, my favorite Wilco album is mostly whichever one I'm listening to. I could generally say that "The Whole Love" is pretty much at the top & that "A.M.", while still great, is probably, usually, at the bottom...but keep in mind the distance between top & bottom (let alone anywhere in between there) is very little indeed- they are all great works.

Though I didn't include "Kicking Television: Live In Chicago" & examined just their studio albums (& not even the non-studio works- which are numerous & great- like The Beatles on the two volumes of Past Masters...wish Wilco had a similar collection, or collections...), let me just say that I think Wilco is the best live band on the planet right now, and that this album is a great example of that. My fave live event ever was probably The Beatles rooftop concert from Jan. '69 & that material on "Let It Be"/"Get Back" is a large part of why I'd contend that's it's probably the most underrated album ever. The now classic already live double from Wilco is as great a live album as has ever been released, bar none.