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Official reviews of The Whole Love


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pitchfork has been pretty terrible for recent wilco albums. I think they gave Ghost is Born and Sky Blue Sky a 6 and Wilco the album a 7...so yeah, they don't really know anything.

 

Their review of AGIB is really the only one they have done that has been way off base.

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sounds about on par for Via Chicago opinions ;)

Truth.

 

AGIB is pretty overblown on VC because face it,... we love jams. VC is the only place on the web I know that loves AGIB so much that some people consider it better than YHF. VC loves jams, and those same people run to the defense of SBS. Whether these are good jams doesn't matter because most VC fans will swoon over Nels Cline playing. Most of the jams during this era felt pretty drowsy. They're detailed, but not nuanced.

 

Wilco (The Album) had plenty of nice details, and much less in terms of jams. The return to less jam-oriented songs helped. I still hear people complain about how boring Deeper Down is when there's so much nuance in every step of that song. The concept is a little trite for sure, but the execution in that song is magnificent. I can't speak for why AGIB and SBS fans don't like subtlety and nuance, but this is where I usually see the divide.

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Truth.

 

AGIB is pretty overblown on VC because face it,... we love jams. VC is the only place on the web I know that loves AGIB so much that some people consider it better than YHF. VC loves jams, and those same people run to the defense of SBS. Whether these are good jams doesn't matter because most VC fans will swoon over Nels Cline playing. Most of the jams during this era felt pretty drowsy. They're detailed, but not nuanced.

 

Wilco (The Album) had plenty of nice details, and much less in terms of jams. The return to less jam-oriented songs helped. I still hear people complain about how boring Deeper Down is when there's so much nuance in every step of that song. The concept is a little trite for sure, but the execution in that song is magnificent. I can't speak for why AGIB and SBS fans don't like subtlety and nuance, but this is where I usually see the divide.

wait, what?

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wait, what?

 

Aug has a vastly different perspective than I do on this matter, but it's nice reading a different idea than the usual, "the latte swigging, Animal Collective worshipping, Pitchfork reading hipsters loved all the weird noises on YHF and AGIB, but then dismissed SBS and WTA as 'dad rock' because they weren't 'experimental' enough' conclusion. I don't know maybe I do like 'jams,' I am aware of Phish drummer Jon Fishman's advancements in using a Vaccuum Cleaner as musical instrument. I think may have one Leftover Salmon disc buried in a pile somewhere. Something, something, something String Cheese Incident.

 

--Mike

 

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I bet pitchfork will love the first track and meh the rest.

To be fair I think they were complimentary about WTA if I recall. I would imagine this album will get an 8.2 rating from Pitchfork, bless 'em. They will swoon over 'Art of Almost' though, as indeed they should, because it is a fine song.

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Aug has a vastly different perspective than I do on this matter, but it's nice reading a different idea than the usual, "the latte swigging, Animal Collective worshipping, Pitchfork reading hipsters loved all the weird noises on YHF and AGIB, but then dismissed SBS and WTA as 'dad rock' because they weren't 'experimental' enough' conclusion. I don't know maybe I do like 'jams,' I am aware of Phish drummer Jon Fishman's advancements in using a Vaccuum Cleaner as musical instrument. I think may have one Leftover Salmon disc buried in a pile somewhere. Something, something, something String Cheese Incident.

 

--Mike

I definitely don't think those noises are weird: but they're foreign and I like it. I like to think that they helped convey the idea radio interference/static that disrupts communication. I've always thought Yankee Hotel Foxtrot as an album about communication of love and the many barriers in between that model. I hope that makes sense to someone.

 

And to be fair, I still like some songs from the AGIB/SBS era like like Handshake Drugs, Company In My Back, and You Are My Face. And my opinion comes pretty close to that of Pitchfork's in regards to AGIB and SBS. They already gave I Might a 7 which is fairly decent and good. When they give something an 8 or higher, they want year and or genre defining stuff. It's like learning to accept that Rolling Stones' stars rating has no meaning or that Peter Travers gives everything 4 stars.

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Yes, it is an interesting, different perspective. The idea that SBS fans are the ones who cannot appreciate nuance seems bizarre to me. And wrong...but then I am wrong about lots of stuff, so who knows? I've never seen anyone group AGiB and SBS as any kind of tag team either. The fact that each of them has at least one extended guitar jam isn't enough to make them close siblings to me. AGiB seems much more similar to YHF than SBS, I think...but one of the things that first drew me to the band was how disparate each of their albums seemed, including the last two mentioned. Anyway, interesting perspective...

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Guest Speed Racer

re: Pitchfork, I think they'll give this a high 7-something, because 8 would force them to admit that they like new Wilco, and I don't think Wilco is so lame they're cool to like again with regard to their standards yet.

 

A game I have enjoyed for a while is writing down a series of phrases and seeing how many appear in the review. Possible phrases that will come up for The Whole Love:

 

dad-rock

krautrock

age

ensemble

alt-country s

straightforward

rehab

Jay Bennett

 

After you've made your list, you calculate the percentage achieved, and compare your score to the album's score. If this had been W(TA), I'd have scored a 5.0. If you score higher than the album, you win!

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It’s the shortest twelve minute song I’ve ever heard,

No kiddin'. I was talking with a colleague this afternoon about the album and observed that OSM is twelve minutes but feels like four.

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Guest kechefs

No kiddin'. I was talking with a colleague this afternoon about the album and observed that OSM is twelve minutes but feels like four.

Can we not start calling it osm it deserves to be called by its full name

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