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Wilco (The Forgotten Album)


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If we're weighing in with our HO's, my pick for weakest track ever has to be Deeper Down. It was convenient as a pissbreak song for theatre shows but other than that I have no use for it at all. My touring companion said that he would loudly boo anyone who used their golden ticket request on that song and I was inclined to agree with him.

 

But also my HO is that One Wing and Bull Black Nova are quite conspicuous in their absence from setlists over the past year or so. If you play Far Far Away more often than either of those tracks, something is up.

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If we're weighing in with our HO's, my pick for weakest track ever has to be Deeper Down. It was convenient as a pissbreak song for theatre shows but other than that I have no use for it at all. My touring companion said that he would loudly boo anyone who used their golden ticket request on that song and I was inclined to agree with him.

 

But also my HO is that One Wing and Bull Black Nova are quite conspicuous in their absence from setlists over the past year or so. If you play Far Far Away more often than either of those tracks, something is up.

Ah the great variation of our loves & less than love's...

When I was in line for the all request Jeff Tweedy show this last year, both myself & the guy in front of me wanted "Deeper Down" as the song that we most wanted to hear...we also gave Jeff an out of choosing whatever was easiest, by giving a few songs to choose from, but two folks in line for that all request show chose that as their #1.

I've seen lots of folks not liking another one I adore "Everlasting Everything"- this was requested the first night both by myself, & another person directly in front of me in line (remember there are only about 3 dozen or so folks whose requests are taken, and they are the faithful/fanatical) & Jeff commented that he was not only pleased to see this one getting requested, but that no less than Bill Fay had told him he thought it was the best song he'd ever written.

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I love every album wilco releases. But each in a different way.

 

W(TA) in retrospect seems like a perfect bridge between SBS and TWL. I think sonically TWL blends the best elements from the 2 records that came before it by the current line up. I don't think it is really fair to judge the earlier records against the 07 to present albums because it was entirely a different line up.

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I've lost sight of what we were really talking about here, and that is, why don't they play anything from this album? When was the last time they played something from it? (consults WilcoBase)...... They played Bull Black Nova last October, and haven't played more than one song from that album in concert in about a year, maybe more.

 

Is it possible that they don't like it? Or do those songs bring back some sort of bad memories?

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And I really don't understand why people bring that hate on this website. I dislike coming on here and reading things that people post that are only negative towards the band. And it's not that negative criticism is bad, I just view this as a place to commonly love this unifying thing not hate on it. This is a Wilco forum. If you don't like, don't listen to it, and don't complain about it.

 

Some people have been here for almost ten years. If it was all sunshine positive all the time, that wouldn't be the case.

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I think I've discussed my disdain for the album several times on this board, so I won't go into it too heavy..but the primary reason why WTA was a failure "in my opinion" is because it seemed completely rushed out, almost an afterthought album. The majority of tracks feel half baked compared to their other material...ESPECIALLY when you compare it to Whole Love, which was rich in detail, and a much more solid album.

 

During the press tour before Whole Love came out Tweedy said multiple times that they "took their time" getting this one right. I can only assume that Jeff himself knows the album was a bit lazy. Considering it's not all that old, and they rarely play tracks off it (the last two times I saw them, not one track)..It can't be too far from the truth.

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Plus it's got a camel on the cover, the opener is a self-referential statement previously unimaginable in their career, there's a merely passable duet with a less-than-stellar guest, the album title blows, etc.

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Plus it's got a camel on the cover, the opener is a self-referential statement previously unimaginable in their career, there's a merely passable duet with a less-than-stellar guest, the album title blows, etc.

 

I think You Never Know is the worst song on the record. Not only do I dislike the strange and completely unfitting George Harrison tribute, I find the words to be offensive and demeaning to their fans/listeners. The chorus "I don't care anymore" was pretty much the thesis statement of the entire album. 

 

The song is basically saying..."Grow up, your problems are meaningless"

 

 

 

 

 

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I never really took that song in that way, if anything I thought it to be more of a "somebody's always got it worse that you, so these little things bogging you down shouldn't matter very much" kinda thing.

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Are we helping people see the error of their ways? :lol

I'm sure there are people out there who don't much like Sunken Treasure or Poor Places, but honestly, as has been mentioned in this thread earlier, how many home runs can you hit in a row? With a catalogue as incredible as Wilco's, they're bound to whiff occasionally. Just because you love it, that doesn't mean the general consensus is one of love for it.

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i actually like the lyrics of Hate it Here. They are very earnest, much like most of the record. I think the album may have been "too personal" for some people. The album feels like a diary entry, it's fairly straight forward and lacking abstract lyrics, but it's a very emotional record to me. The album feels like an apology record to his wife for all those years where drugs turned him into a demon. It's an after rehab record. The opening line "maybe the sun will shine today" of Either Way sets the tone for the entire record. It's an album about coming into the light again after years of being in the darkness.

 

THAT'S why I love it.



but dont' get me wrong, I consider YHF one of the best records ever recorded. In my top 3 personally, right along with OK Computer and Abbey Road.

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I never really took that song in that way, if anything I thought it to be more of a "somebody's always got it worse that you, so these little things bogging you down shouldn't matter very much" kinda thing.

 

and not to get too personal, but the album came out in a very difficult time in my life, and having Tweedy (an idol of mine) release a song about people's problems being meaningless kinda of pissed me off. So there is my unhealthy bias.

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Seems weird that relatively rockin' songs like "Wilco (the song)", "You Never Know", "Sonny Feeling", etc. are considered so subpar by the band that they have completely vanished from their live show.  These songs are really that much worse than "Walken" or "Born Alone", the latter of which they play every single night?

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Seems weird that relatively rockin' songs like "Wilco (the song)", "You Never Know", "Sonny Feeling", etc. are considered so subpar by the band that they have completely vanished from their live show.  These songs are really that much worse than "Walken" or "Born Alone", the latter of which they play every single night?

 

I would be fine if both of these were dropped -- I would rather hear Sonny Feeling or You Never Know. I remember hearing Born Alone for the first time in Fish Creek, WI at a Tweedy solo show, I thought the lyric

 

I was born to die alone

Alone

 

was a bit cheesy.

 

I probably haven't listened to SBS since last 4th of July - I will give it another listen this year. Can't remember the last the last time I listened to WTA.

 

I always enjoy watching the DVD that came with the SBS deluxe.

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