Art of Almost

[-seven]

Incredible song.

I'll take a stab at the lyrics.

 

* now edited with the correct lyrics

 

I'm one of those No! I froze

I can't be so far away

from my wasteland

I'll never know

when I might ambulance

or hoist hearts the horns

with my own hands

almost

almost

 

I heard a faint old angel, love ole' true love

but I had other ways

to hurt myself

by like calling

I could open up my heart

and fall

and I could blame it all on dust

the art of almost

almost

almost

almost

 

I'll hold it up

I'll shake the grade grail

disobey across the waves

tomorrow

I'll have all the love

I could ever ache

and I'll leave

almost with you

art of almost

almost

[Moss]

The end of this song reminds me of the end of the Soprano's theme where Tony is getting out of his SUV.

[u2roolz]

The ending of the song is the closest thing that the band has done to really tip their cap to the work of Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones & John Bonham.

[TheGoof45]

Thanks for the lyrics! They look good to me, except I'm pretty sure "Disobey" is "Dissipate". Great job though, I had a ton of trouble making out those first two lines.

[mgordy]

Someone posted the lyrics in the whole love speculation and reactions thread. They're a few pages in but I think those are the official lyrics.

[mgordy]

 

ART OF ALMOST

No!

I froze

I canʼt be so

Far away from my wasteland

I never know when I might

Ambulance

Hoist the horns with my own hands

Almost

Almost

I heard a faint olé

True love but

I had other ways to hurt myself

Like calling

I could open up my heart

And fall in and

I could blame it all on dust

The Art of Almost

Almost

Almost

Almost

Iʼll hold it up

Iʼll shake the grail

Disobey across the waves

Tomorrow

Iʼll have all the love I could ever ache

And Iʼll leave almost with you

All of almost

Almost

[Sir Stewart]

The end of this song reminds me of the end of the Soprano's theme where Tony is getting out of his SUV.

Ha! (I didn't want to say it myself)

[Autumnteeth]

Anyone else hear a Yoshimi Flaming lips like thing in here? This is a track I will have to listen to several times but I was blown away on the free preview. Waiting for Whole Love LP CD set to bring me right

[Fatah Ruark]

I foresee many a Wilco set ending with this song. Great stuff.

[-seven]

Someone posted the lyrics in the whole love speculation and reactions thread. They're a few pages in but I think those are the official lyrics.

 

I didn't see that but I looked back and didn't see any confirmation that they were the official lyrics.

The "I heard a faint ole'" part doesn't seem right to me. We'll see in due time.

In any case. This song is so great. I hope they open with this in Central Park....and then end with One Sunday Morning.

[Robby]

I'm sorry, I have been really holding back in saying anything on this site about the new album. I have come to realize that my initial impressions about Wilco aren't always lasting ones. That's one of the main reasons I really like Wilco. They are an accquired taste that cannot immediately be absorbed and judged in one listening. However, their music usually stays with you for several years and becomes more appreciated over time.

 

All that being said, the Art Of Almost sounds like an '80's Genesis song to me and I don't mean that in a good way. It was jaw dropping to hear this song compared to IATTBYH. I think Nels has been unfairly criticized on this board, but I believe this song is a good example of him literally saving the song at it's closing.

 

Sorry to be negative, I really like other songs on this album, but this is not one of them.

[Guest Jules]

OK but the drumming is ridiculously good.

[mus2009]

Jonny Greenwood on bass also, it's a fabulous song & makes I Might sound 10x better

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

You realize Jonny Greenwood is not a bass player, right?

[mus2009]

Last time I start drinking at noon haha. Let's change that to Colin, but hey I'm sure Jonny could play that.

[random painted highway]

Well, technically, Pat would be Jonny Greenwood considering the amazing string sections he's writing.

[lost highway]

I wanna see the album credits. I'm curious who gets 'co-writing' credits with Tweedy and on which songs. I'm also curious if they were able to get such intense, hi-fi, string sounds at the loft, or if those were done in another room.

[Ghost of Electricity]

I'm interested to see how much Pat actually plays on the record. In the "Almost" vid it doesn't look like he plays at all, and it seems like everything i'm hearing is or could be nels, jeff, or mike depending on song/instrument.

[lost highway]

I think the nature of the Almost beast is less of a purely live recording setup. I think there was a lot of layering done in various sessions. The scattered footage showed Pat playing producer from the Ikea couch, but I bet there were days when he was patching up moogs, or guitars and fuzzboxes, or whatever. I want to know more about how they worked with the string section. I have already said how I think this album has the most successful use of strings of any Wilco record. They sound integral, not like an afterthought.

[Lotti]

Friends, it is clear to all that The Visitors from the Abba has the full ancestor effect to this song. It has same intro segment of electronic moody - even if Mr Benny and Mr Bjorn in themself fashion make the tipping hat to the fart fart fart on der autobahn of the Kraftwerk combo (who make big mistake in reject to the sequin for style boost). And after all is paranoid and shifty in same feature then follows energy explosion similarity - though Mr Jeff Tweedy forget full effect of the cymbal at end for conducive feel for the stomp party and Mr Nels fierce speed version of guitar solo as from The Eagle finale has the overdone tempo for the coordinate of those who have made plenty time with schnapps - for who has not at end of stomp party, no? These are quiblings as always when in comparison with untouchable style of the Abba, but I send congrats to Mr Jeff Tweedy as being star pupil from current pop times who carry mantle of the lemon flares to next generate in your land. We expect special boots party in two weeks when village shop has special skidoo delivery of new pop platter - with three skidoo in full load of the schnapps to accompany ha ha! Happiness for all for sure and dangerous time to be a handsome husky as we say in Sweden!

Welfare!

[ih8music]

I'm interested to see how much Pat actually plays on the record. In the "Almost" vid it doesn't look like he plays at all, and it seems like everything i'm hearing is or could be nels, jeff, or mike depending on song/instrument.

I could totally be wrong, but the solo in Standing O sounds like it's Pat, or at the very least a Pat/Nels solo-battle. At least I can see him rocking it out at a live show.

[JAK2112]

The production on this song is absolutely incredible. I really want to know how Glenn got his snare sound, it's so tight and crisp.

[Albert Tatlock]

[lost highway]

The production on this song is absolutely incredible. I really want to know how Glenn got his snare sound, it's so tight and crisp.

 

Part of it I think is that little drum booth they have. A dead little drum room with little natural reverb. Couple that with Glenn's dry taste in drum tuning, using moon gels, tape, towels and extra heads, and you get some really tight drums. Only a drummer as good as Glenn can sound so good on such "small" sounding drums.

 

I'm actually not wild about the overabundance of hi hat swish on the rock out ending, but why complain about a single wart on something otherwise so perfect?

[Moozey]

Hey there, long time lurker- first time poster.

 

I thought I should chime in here on this particular thread. I've been reading everyone's responses to the album and I agree with a lot of it- It's great. I haven't really stopped listening to it. But what I don't understand is the praise that everyone is giving Art of Almost? Am I the only who thinks this is a half-baked song? For me it's easily one of, if not the weakest songs on the album. When I watched the 'Almost' teaser that was released not long ago I was ecstatic, I was the most excited I'd been for an album in a long, long time, let a lone a Wilco record.

 

The first half of the song is great. I enjoy it (bar the intro where the strings come in- sounds a bit tacky to me), but it's all down hill from there.. the guitar playing throughout the outro may well be the most extreme thing Nels has put on a Wilco recording but it fails to get to where it should go, whether or not it's the level of his guitar in the mix I don't know, but it seems to fall short of the mark and is no where near the most interesting thing he's recorded with the band.

 

My biggest beef with the outro however is John's bass playing. His playing is flawless throughout the first half of this song and the rest of the album for that matter, but his playing during the outro is really what ruins it for me (eg, the slide he does at the 6:12 mark). It sounds sloppy as hell. At points it sounds like he's hitting dud notes (whenever he slides). Sure they might be correct as far as musical theory is concerned, but it sounds wrong to me. Maybe for me this is just one part of the record where they shouldn't have put his bass so high in the mix.

 

Anyway, that's all I've got to say. Great record but I don't get all the excitement over this track.