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Sky Blue Sky - Confession of a Relatively New Fan


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Are you a real person?

 

Case in point...

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I don't know that you CAN say the band IS embarassed by any song. You would have to be a real insider to know that, and I have my doubts that this board has any real insiders.

 

I sure hope ction doesn't read this. or that one chick.

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Guest McGuffin

It's a very good record that gets a bad rap because it's it a catalog of great records. Anyway, f*%k what they (we) say on the board- an emotional connection to music will trump cork-sniffery every single time.

 

Welcome to VC

 

This isn't my opinion, but I've seen the opinion stated that SBS is a "catalog of great records," as you say. I've seen others say that WTA is the same thing. Now, I'm seeing people state that TWL is, wait for it, the same darn thing.

 

How many catalogs of great records can Wilco put out. Pretty soon, they'll have to release catalogs of catalogs.

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This isn't my opinion, but I've seen the opinion stated that SBS is a "catalog of great records," as you say. I've seen others say that WTA is the same thing. Now, I'm seeing people state that TWL is, wait for it, the same darn thing.

 

How many catalogs of great records can Wilco put out. Pretty soon, they'll have to release catalogs of catalogs.

 

I think ghost was saying that SBS is in a catalog of great records, not is a catalog of great records. I could be wrong though :shifty

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It's a great album. If it would have came out after Being There or Summerteeth people would consider it a masterpiece.

It did come out, about 9 to 11 years after Being There and Summerteeth came out. And I still don't find it great because of the grating Eagles era rock. Some of it still shined like Side With The Seeds, but I still find Impossible Germany impossibly worn and stretched, even with all the talent Nels poured into the song. Nels, you're awesome, but, you can't salvage it. The entire album is like sitting in the back of a car through a 4000 mile trip over an unchanging canvas of grass. Yes, there's plenty of details, just very uninteresting and bland details.

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One of the main problems with SBS - and the same could be said for WTA - is that fans are divided on many of the songs. I don't mean slightly divided, I mean passionately. "I hate Walken." "I love Shake It Off." "What Light is one of Wilco's worst songs." "Impossible Germany is one of my favorite songs." Etc, etc. People feel really strongly pro or con about maybe every song. Contrast that with ST, YHF and even AGIB. Sure, there were a few songs that some people didn't like, but there was an awful lot of talk like "Best Wilco record yet" and "I love every song on this album." I know different people like different things, but there hasn't been much to agree on for fans with these last two efforts, other than a general sense of "lackluster," "not their best effort," "not cohesive," "on a downhill slide," and so on.

 

By the way, that doesn't mean that these albums suck. It is really, to me, a testimonial to the greatness of the Wilco catalogue that the bar is so, so high. To produce Being There, then Summerteeth, then YHF is a masterful accomplishment. The downside is that, naturally, everyone wants more...and more means "stuff that is just as great." Instead of more high water marks, we've gotten albums with maybe a couple great songs, and some good ones, with maybe a few clunkers. Still, the worst Wilco songs are probably better than about 80-90% of what's out there.

 

Sorry for all the quotation marks, but ...

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Guest Speed Racer

the worst Wilco songs are probably better than about 80-90% of what's out there.

 

I'd listen to nothing but KC and Jojo for a full year before I'd listen to The Song I Shant Name again.

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One of the main problems with SBS - and the same could be said for WTA - is that fans are divided on many of the songs. I don't mean slightly divided, I mean passionately. "I hate Walken." "I love Shake It Off." "What Light is one of Wilco's worst songs." "Impossible Germany is one of my favorite songs." Etc, etc. People feel really strongly pro or con about maybe every song. Contrast that with ST, YHF and even AGIB. Sure, there were a few songs that some people didn't like, but there was an awful lot of talk like "Best Wilco record yet" and "I love every song on this album." I know different people like different things, but there hasn't been much to agree on for fans with these last two efforts, other than a general sense of "lackluster," "not their best effort," "not cohesive," "on a downhill slide," and so on.

 

By the way, that doesn't mean that these albums suck. It is really, to me, a testimonial to the greatness of the Wilco catalogue that the bar is so, so high. To produce Being There, then Summerteeth, then YHF is a masterful accomplishment. The downside is that, naturally, everyone wants more...and more means "stuff that is just as great." Instead of more high water marks, we've gotten albums with maybe a couple great songs, and some good ones, with maybe a few clunkers. Still, the worst Wilco songs are probably better than about 80-90% of what's out there.

 

Sorry for all the quotation marks, but ...

 

Yes.

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I'd listen to nothing but KC and Jojo for a full year before I'd listen to The Song I Shant Name again.

 

We get it. You hate the song. Why don't you change your name to reflect that and spare us all the angst.

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Guest Speed Racer

even with all the talent Nels poured into the song. Nels, you're awesome, but, you can't salvage it. The entire album is like sitting in the back of a car through a 4000 mile trip over an unchanging canvas of grass. Yes, there's plenty of details, just very uninteresting and bland details.

 

That, and Nels' appearances in Wilco so far seem to be limited to "notes played really fast together with OMGOMGOMG feedback!" I've heard other stuff Nels has done, and his Wilco appearances either seem to be of this caliber or smooth jazz territory. When they say on the new album that he really "unleashes," I sure hope that doesn't mean, "UNLEASHED! - in the backyard with a peanut butter kong and a cute stuffed animal chew toy" like SBS and W(TA).

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I certainly don't hate it -- it was my first "new" Wilco album and I absolutely loved it. That said, after exposing myself to everything else they had done up to that point, it settled into my 4th/5th favorite (and now with TWL it'll likely fall to 5th/6th). That's not a condemnation of SBS, but more a statement of how great the rest of their catalog is.

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I have no hatred for Sky Blue Sky. It has one of the few Wilco songs I do not like - Leave Me (Like You Found Me). It has a a song I am so-so about - Walken. I like or love the other 10 songs. 10 out of 12 is good, but for me this ranks it below several of their other albums. Still listen to it quite a bit, especially as my kids like it a lot.

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