Sky Blue Sky - Confession of a Relatively New Fan

[Guest Speed Racer]

You get to start the thread, not run the show. I mean, you're gushing about an album about acceptance and bitching because you can't accept that people don't like it?

 

Not everyone is into soft rock albums about acceptance and recovery. Nothing wrong with that.

[bleedorange]

I think songs 2-5 are great. But it has a weak opener and the songs after that early stretch just aren't that good.

 

I'll admit that I think it's strange that fans actually came aboard because of Sky Blue Sky. Had that been my introduction to the band, I would have written them off as a group with nothing to really say beyond treacly sentimentality with trite lyrics. I just don't think it's a very good album and it has my 3 least favorite Wilco songs (Leave Me Like You Found Me, What Light, and Please Be Patient With Me).

 

As for my history, I was a huge Uncle Tupelo fan who lost track of Wilco until YHF came out. Instantly loved that album as well as the three that came before it. Loved AGIB and still do.

 

I bristle at the people who say Jeff wrote better when he was going through his addiction, etc., because I think that's a stupid argument. However, I do think that there is no longer any tension in Wilco's music. Whether that was a product of his relationship with Bennett or other issues (during AGIB) or something entirely different, I don't really know. But there is something missing now and it all started out with Sky Blue Sky.

 

I thought the songwriting was a little better on WTA (just a little, though), and this new one might see a slight uptick as well. But there just isn't as much raw emotion or drama in the music anymore and any attempts to add it have felt really forced (Bull Black Nova).

[LaughingDog]

I think songs 2-5 are great. But it has a weak opener and the songs after that early stretch just aren't that good.

 

I'll admit that I think it's strange that fans actually came aboard because of Sky Blue Sky. Had that been my introduction to the band, I would have written them off as a group with nothing to really say beyond treacly sentimentality with trite lyrics.

 

Similarly, Wilco fans that became fans through SBS would have a hard time believing people got into them through Being There. They'd probably write that off as something as well (I'm not even going to go there...). It's all subjective - the one thread tying it all together is that I think most fans enjoy all of their albums. Some fans like some albums more than others. That's all. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.

 

I thought the songwriting was a little better on WTA (just a little, though), and this new one might see a slight uptick as well. But there just isn't as much raw emotion or drama in the music anymore and any attempts to add it have felt really forced (Bull Black Nova).

 

TWL is dripping with emotion. One Sunday Morning is hands down the most emotional song they've recorded since the GIB sessions. Rising Red Lung, Whole Love, Born Alone, Black Moon...

 

Dramatic? Try Art of Almost, I Might...

 

I don't know how much you've listened to the new album, but if you listen to it more I really hope the emotion and drama translates, because it's definitely there!

[cryptique]

It took me quite a long time to warm up to SBS and accept it as a worthy member of the Wilco canon. I still can't stand two songs on it ("What Light" in particular) and I still feel like it's a "neutered" version of Wilco (i.e., no balls, anywhere really, on that record), but there are some good songs and some good playing.

 

I never lost my initial disappointment over how sedate, almost half-hearted, the record sounds. You've got motherfucking Glenn Kotche in the band, LET HIM BANG ON SOME SHIT. And not just in a song or two. I like rockin' Wilco better than mellow Wilco; always have and always will.

 

I do like SBS, and I've even been one of the people to defend it here, but I won't pretend that it ranks very highly for me among other Wilco albums. I'd put it over W(TA) (because I'd put just about anything over that record), and maybe over A.M. (maybe) ... but I think the new one trumps it (though perhaps not by much) and it's definitely outranked by all the others.

 

Someone said earlier that SBS was Wilco merely being "lovely," without any weight behind it. I agree with that. There's nothing inherently wrong with "lovely," but that's not why I became a Wilco fan. They can make such an album if they want, but that doesn't mean their longtime fans will like it. Not that they should automatically cater to those fans, and it's not as if we're an inflexible lot -- we hung with them as they progressed from AM to YHF, after all -- but SBS felt like a step backwards, and still does to me, even though I've found a way to like it.

 

(Its reputation has likely also been bolstered by its successor, to which it is superior in nearly every way.)

[roadhse ma]

It is the Album I will share 1st to a friend as an introduction and usually hooks them.

Then their ready to go deeper down.

After that ....yeah back catalog...

[Smokestack Joe]

Led Zeppelin put out classic records but not all of them were revered by critics and fans. They had a lot of great classic rocks songs and then some were quite lame and unheralded. But their legacy turned out fine.

[Mr. Heartbreak]

I do think that there is no longer any tension in Wilco's music. Whether that was a product of his relationship with Bennett or other issues (during AGIB) or something entirely different, I don't really know. But there is something missing now and it all started out with Sky Blue Sky.

This is exactly how I feel.

Not only was SBS a huge letdown after the great run of BT>AGIB, it was also quite boring and insipid to many of us fans. I felt particularly distressed by this, because I have been through a lengthy recovery process myself. I wanted to like the songs that related to that, but they just weren't very good. In fact, What Light and Leave Me Like You Found Me and Please Be Patient With Me regularly get hated on as among the least worthy songs in the entire Wilco catalog.

 

For me, even the "fan favorites" on SBS are incredibly weak. Impossible Germany has some of the lamest lyrics Jeff has ever committed to paper; Side With The Seeds opens with one of the most pathetic displays of strained vocal cords I've ever heard (seriously, it's painfully bad); Either Way is pleasant, but slight; the title track is also pleasant, but it's a total retread of Far, Far Away, a much better song; You Are My Face, probably the best song on the album, contains the line "I remember my mother's brother's father's sister's husband" or whatever the fuck it is, again, one of the weakest lyrics of Jeff's career; and the last two songs to close the album are painfully bad. So yeah, it ranks at the bottom of their catalog for me.

 

By the way, I think even the band realizes how weak the album is. Just look at their setlists, and you'll see that the only tunes that have really survived are Impossible Germany (cue the Nels wankfest...woo hoo!) and You Are My Face, with possibly a Walken at the end of a show to get people rawkin' out.

[BobbyLewis222]

You get to start the thread, not run the show. I mean, you're gushing about an album about acceptance and bitching because you can't accept that people don't like it?

 

Not everyone is into soft rock albums about acceptance and recovery. Nothing wrong with that.

 

That is not at all what I meant. Saying 'it sucks' does not help me understand why people dont like the CD.

[spongebob]

That is not at all what I meant. Saying 'it sucks' does not help me understand why people dont like the CD.

 

The album isn't bad. It's just not what longtime fans were expecting. Jeff was calling it a r@b, soul/get down and boogie album in the press, and it was the first studio disc with Mr. Cline on guitar. I know I was expecting an album where the band took a lot of risks; however, it was more conventional than I had hoped for. It is a fine album, and I pop it in from time to time. It doesn't suck....it is wildly uneven and not what was expected. But its not my band, and Wilco can make whatever album they want to. I am enjoying TWL. It is closer to what I thought SBS was going to sound like. Don't get me started on WTA.

[choo-choo-charlie]

That is not at all what I meant. Saying 'it sucks' does not help me understand why people dont like the CD.

 

I prefer the vinyl myself. SBS was my first new Wilco record after becoming a fan via ST and KT, then BT + AM, then YHF + AGIB. It was a fun experience to hear the first batch of new material from the band, and I enjoyed most of it. I also associate the record with certain things that were going on in my life, which I why I'll return to it somewhat regularly. Good memories. Everyone connects different albums and songs to different things in their lives. People find their own meaning in music. And there's nothing wrong with that.

 

That being said -- and like it's been said before -- it's just that SBS is stacked up against a remarkable run of records that it ends up towards the bottom of people's lists. But there have been arguments that the newer material is still too fresh, that it hasn't had time to resonate with people the way older records have. Some recall being instantly blown away by albums like YHF and AGIB right when they came out. I feel that way about The Whole Love -- it reminds me of how I felt when I first heard Wilco, and I can't stop hearing songs from it in my head throughout the day...

[rwilson580]

One thing I don't understand...with all the complaints about SBS being a little too laid back, a little too mellow....is the almost universal reverence for "Being There." Don't get me wrong, I love BT. Without reservation...as I do SBS. And the albums seem to push the same buttons for me. My wife has no patience for the noise I get into...but these are two Wilco albums she can get behind. To put it in the most damning, bring-on-the-flames way possible -- if you slid "Leave Me As You Find Me" into Being There -- would it really change the vibe of the album one bit? Would it sound out of place with all those nice relaxing songs on Being There?

 

You're right -- my wife doesn't like the noise in Misunderstood. But then she doesn't get Shake It Off either. Or Side With the Seeds. Being There is a beautiful album, and, again, I love it. But challenging it ain't.

 

Hmm...some say that SBS was a step back. Perhaps. I wonder...if the sainted Being There had been released in 2007...what would we be saying about that? Seriously, I wonder...

 

And don't even get me started on Summerteeth....

[bleedorange]

The songs on Being There are much better. Plus, I don't think the "vibe" of the two albums is all that similar. I think sticking any songs from one on to the other would make them sound severely out of place.

 

I also think the wide-ranging styles on Being There blend together well, and the album has something to say as a whole about the nature of living and existing against the backdrop of the life of a rock star and the fans. It's an absolutely brilliant album. I don't understand what "challenging" has to do with it.

 

Sky Blue Sky has none of that, on top of being fairly one-note.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Yeah, that comparison actually made me laugh out loud. Being There is about being misunderstood, being a rock star with no time and still no money, fucking up relationships and let's be honest, Dreamer in My Dreams is miles and miles and miles away from ANYTHING on SBS. Raw, emotional, fun, genius, and youthful. You can't replicate youthfulness. SBS is about hanging jeans on the door while your kids scream at you from the bathroom, sitting on the couch and moping when your wife is out, and settling into a calm adulthood.

 

Also, I want to point out that you mistitled "Leave Me Like You Found Me" - trivial, perhaps, but it suggests to me that you never listen to the song. And certainly if it was a great song you'd listen to it, right?

[bleedorange]

Plus, "Leave Me (Like You Found Me)" would kill the vibe on any album.

[Guest Speed Racer]

I think it could counteract the effects of Cialis and Viagra, even.

[bleedorange]

I think it could counteract the effects of Cialis and Viagra, even.

 

So, in other words, instead of calling your doctor after it has been four hours...one just needs to put on track nine of Sky Blue Sky? Sounds like good medical advice.

[Guest Speed Racer]

I was just going to make that joke myself. Maybe it's in the fine print?

[jakobnicholas]

I also think the wide-ranging styles on Being There blend together well,

 

That's it! To me, that nails why Being There is brilliant and great and Sky Blue Sky falls short.

The unconventional jams and sounds in some songs on Sky Blue Sky might fit wonderfully on other records, but for me they stand out like sore thumbs and ruin the vibe of SBS.

 

I believe that Sky Blue Sky was meant to be a recovery/acceptance/moving-forward record that had no studio trickery and was meant to sound natural and beautiful. I really like that this album was made and that Jeff/Wilco attempted a "pretty" record. I just wish it went further in that direction (One True Vine...a beautiful song...should been on the record in my opinion).

 

It sounds as if Jeff and the band feared making a record that was TOO soft and bland, so they added some "edgy" elements (noodling jam on Side With the Seeds, herky-jerky sounds on Shake It Off, the almost-silly wanky guitar and made-for-concert end jam on Walken, and the awkward drum/keyboard stops and starts on Hate It Here) to give the record more attitude or more fun. And that's a good thought by the band. But FOR ME, the specific arrangements and ideas for those songs just are not good.

 

If those handful of songs, for example, coulda had a sound like Outtasite Outtamind, Summerteeth (the song) or Standing O (maybe the most under-rated Whole Love song based on things I've read), I think Sky Blue Sky would sail smoothly start to finish. But as it is, the contrast in styles is too jarring for me. The album just sounds messy in parts.

 

Being There, some could argue, gets a little messy with Misunderstood, Kingpin and Dreamer In My Dreams. But I'd hugely disagree. Misunderstood is an alert to the listener of what's to come. Kingpin and Dreamer in My Dreams were placed on 2nd disc, and seem to fit the vibe of the more-loose sounding b-side-ish 2nd disc.

[spongebob]

One thing I don't understand...with all the complaints about SBS being a little too laid back, a little too mellow....is the almost universal reverence for "Being There." Don't get me wrong, I love BT. Without reservation...as I do SBS. And the albums seem to push the same buttons for me. My wife has no patience for the noise I get into...but these are two Wilco albums she can get behind. To put it in the most damning, bring-on-the-flames way possible -- if you slid "Leave Me As You Find Me" into Being There -- would it really change the vibe of the album one bit? Would it sound out of place with all those nice relaxing songs on Being There?

 

You're right -- my wife doesn't like the noise in Misunderstood. But then she doesn't get Shake It Off either. Or Side With the Seeds. Being There is a beautiful album, and, again, I love it. But challenging it ain't.

 

Hmm...some say that SBS was a step back. Perhaps. I wonder...if the sainted Being There had been released in 2007...what would we be saying about that? Seriously, I wonder...

 

And don't even get me started on Summerteeth....

 

This is what I love about Wilco. There is something for everyone. I love BT and ST. They are almost perfect, but not quite.

[rwilson580]

Sorry about the song title. No, I don't skip the song. When I'm on a Wilco bender, I don't skip SBS. And if I'm doing SBS, I don't skip LMLYFM. It's not a favorite, but not one I dislike either. Jeff Tweedy has written a lot of songs like that one.

 

My primary point was addressed to those who accuse SBS of being too mellow. If so, BT is definitely subject to the same charge. Again, not my charge.

 

I was wrong to stress the vibe / similar buttons argument too strongly. That's not literally true of any Wilco albums for me...they're all unique experiences. In fact, though, if you held a gun to my head, I do prefer the SBS vibe. I probably slightly prefer the album overall. SBS has a couple songs I could do without. But the first six songs are that strong for me.

 

I hope I didn't misspell any words that might distract from my actual points.

[Guest Speed Racer]

My primary point was addressed to those who accuse SBS of being too mellow. If so, BT is definitely subject to the same charge. Again, not my charge.

 

Whose charge? Maybe that person could weigh in then?

 

Hey, I don't care if you misspell words but if you quote a song as an example of something good and you don't know its name, and that name is repeated throughout the song, it makes me think you don't listen to it.

[bleedorange]

Sorry about the song title. No, I don't skip the song. When I'm on a Wilco bender, I don't skip SBS. And if I'm doing SBS, I don't skip LMLYFM. It's not a favorite, but not one I dislike either. Jeff Tweedy has written a lot of songs like that one.

 

My primary point was addressed to those who accuse SBS of being too mellow. If so, BT is definitely subject to the same charge. Again, not my charge.

 

I was wrong to stress the vibe / similar buttons argument too strongly. That's not literally true of any Wilco albums for me...they're all unique experiences. In fact, though, if you held a gun to my head, I do prefer the SBS vibe. I probably slightly prefer the album overall. SBS has a couple songs I could do without. But the first six songs are that strong for me.

 

I hope I didn't misspell any words that might distract from my actual points.

 

I don't see how an album with Misunderstood, Monday, Outtasite, I Got You, Hotel Arizona, Dreamer in My Dreams, can be described as mellow.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Speaking of misspellings, I think Volkswagen missed out on a huge marketing opportunity by not having a "Lease Me Like You Found Me" sales event when they were doing the SBS thing.

[choo-choo-charlie]

It's no longer impossible to get a car from Germany.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Zero money down OR 0.0% financing. Either way, Drivers Wanted.